Book Image

Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions

Book Image

Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions

Overview of this book

Cisco Unified Computing System(UCS) provides unique features for the contemporary data centres. Cisco UCS is a unified solution that consolidates computing, network and storage connectivity components along-with centralized management. Cisco UCS reduces TCO and improves scalability and flexibility. Stateless computing blade server's design simplifies the troubleshooting, and Cisco-patented extended memory technology provides higher virtualized servers consolidation results. A hands-on guide to take you through deployment in Cisco UCS. With real-world examples for configuring and deploying Cisco UCS components, this book will prepare you for the practical deployments of Cisco UCS data centre solutions. If you want to learn and enhance your hands-on skills with Cisco UCS solutions, this book is certainly for you. Starting with the description of Cisco UCS equipment options, this hands-on guide then introduces Cisco UCS Emulator which is an excellent resource to practically learn Cisco UCS components' deployment. You will also be introduced to all areas of UCS solutions with practical configuration examples. You will also discover the Cisco UCS Manager, which is the centralized management interface for Cisco UCS. Once you get to know UCS Manager, the book dives deeper into configuring LAN, SAN, identity pools, resource pools, and service profiles for the servers. The book also presents other administration topics including Backup, Restore, user's roles, and high availability cluster configuration. Finally, you will learn about virtualized networking, 3rd party integration tools and testing failure scenarios. You will learn everything you need to know for the rapidly growing Cisco UCS deployments in the real-world.

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Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions
Dec, 2013 | 370 pages
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Table of Contents (19 chapters)
Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions
Implementing Cisco UCS Solutions
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Cisco UCS Physical Architecture and Installing UCS Hardware
Cisco UCS Physical Architecture and Installing UCS Hardware
Looking at the UCS equipment
Understanding the physical architecture of UCS
Understanding FIs
The Cisco UCS 5100 series blade server chassis
IOM modules
Blade servers and rack-mount servers
Getting started with mezzanine adapters
Power capacity and power plug types
Installing UCS chassis components
Cabling FI and IOM
Summary
2
Setting Up Lab Using Cisco UCS Emulator
Setting Up Lab Using Cisco UCS Emulator
Configuring Cisco UCS emulator
Using Cisco UCSPE
Configuring network settings
Configuring hardware settings
Launching UCSM using the platform emulator
UCSPE limitations
Summary
3
Configuring Cisco UCS Using UCS Manager
Configuring Cisco UCS Using UCS Manager
Introducing Cisco UCSM
Walking through the UCSM interface
Starting with the initial configuration
Step-by-step initial configuration
Global configuration policies
UCS Manager – Command Line Interface
Summary
4
Configuring LAN Connectivity
Configuring LAN Connectivity
Understanding Fabric Interconnect switching modes
Introduction to Fabric Interconnect port types
Configuring northbound connectivity to upstream switches
Using pin groups
Configuring southbound connectivity to IOMs
Configuring the last piece of the puzzle – vNICs
Summary
5
Configuring SAN Connectivity
Configuring SAN Connectivity
Learning storage connectivity options
Overview of FC and iSCSI storage
Storage connectivity design considerations
Learning about the FC switching mode
Configuring the FC port channel and trunking
Configuring VSAN and zoning
Learning about VSAN
Configuring FCoE
Manual and automatic uplink pinning
Summary
6
Creating Identity and Resource Pools
Creating Identity and Resource Pools
Understanding identity and resource pools
Learning to create a UUID pool
Learning to create a MAC pool
Learning to create a WWNN pool
Learning to create a WWPN pool
Making your identity pools meaningful
Understanding server pools
Learning to create server pool membership and qualification policies
Summary
7
Creating and Managing Service Profiles
Creating and Managing Service Profiles
Overview of service profiles
Different ways of creating a service profile
Configuring policies
A walkthrough of the service profile creation – expert mode
Creating and applying a service profile template
Summary
8
Managing UCS through Routine and Advanced Management
Managing UCS through Routine and Advanced Management
Licensing Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect
Startup and shutdown of Fabric Interconnects
Controlling blade server power
Status and Locator LED
Configuring logging
Configuring Cisco Call Home
Organizational structure in UCS Manager
Role-based Access Control
Permissions in Multitenancy
Summary
9
Virtual Networking in Cisco UCS
Virtual Networking in Cisco UCS
Understanding IEEE 802.1Q
Learning about VN-Link
Using the NX-OS
Changes in the datacenter
Development of Nexus 1000v
Nexus 1000v components
VEM implementation
VSM implementation
VEM data plane
VSM control plane
Nexus 1000v and physical switches
Nexus and vPath
Deploying VSM
Communication between VSM and VEM
Summary
10
Configuring Backup, Restore, and High Availability
Configuring Backup, Restore, and High Availability
Backing up the Cisco UCS configuration
Creating UCS backup jobs
Restoring backups using GUI
Configuring high-availability clustering
Managing high availability
Summary
11
Cisco UCS Failure Scenarios Testing
Cisco UCS Failure Scenarios Testing
Port-channel uplink failure and recovery on Fabric Interconnect
Server link to Fabric Interconnect failure and recovery
FEX IO modules – failure and recovery
Fabric Interconnect device failure and recovery
UCS chassis failure, reporting, and recovery
Single fiber channel failure and recovery on Fabric Interconnects
Indicating a status with LEDs
Creating a tech-support file
Summary
12
Third-party Application Integration
Third-party Application Integration
Understanding the challenges in Infrastructure
Going deep with UIM
Understanding the discovery mechanism of UIM
Learning about the UIM service life cycle
Integrating VMware vCenter server with UCSM
Summary
Index
Index

Deploying VSM

This is a good example to show how Nexus maintains the division between administrator roles while requiring collaboration at the same time.

  1. Deploying VSM is the responsibility of an SA. The Cisco N1KV series is installed through a GUI installer when the OVA file is used.

  2. Once the VSM deployment is done, NA finishes the installation of the Cisco N1KV switch. Once that job is done, the NA needs to open up the web interface of the Cisco N1KV. It needs to configure the VSM with the appropriate port-group VLAN and also perform the basic configuration of the Cisco N1KV series.

  3. Once the communication gets established, the NA defines the port profiles to be used by the uplink interfaces, VMs, and other virtual interfaces. This is done via SSH to the N1KV switch.

  4. Once the NA finishes defining the port profiles, the SA assigns the uplink port profiles to the appropriate physical NICs and then the port profile to VMs, providing network connectivity to the guest OS and migrating the VSM on...

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