Cisco UCS system top level part

Here is a quick little post because I keep forgetting the top level part for a Cisco UCS system and it always takes me a little while to find it, so I'm putting it here so there is easy access to it for next time I need it.

So without further ado...

N20-Z0001

Enjoy!

Webinar: C Series-UCSM Integration of C-Series Servers

Another Webinar to keep, this one about the Integration between C-Series servers and UCSM. I haven't seen it yet but here is the link to download the recording, Cisco CCO Login required:
WebEx recording: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00054025

Cisco UC on UCS

So the way things are going Cisco is looking to have all UC applications on UCS servers rather than the existing MCS boxes. This is not new and makes complete sense, it's just a little more complex to size.

I've previously written about BE6K (which is fantastic!):
http://twhittle1.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/cucmbe6k-ucs-bundle.html

However what do you do if you need something bigger? The answer is Cisco TRC - Trusted Reference Configurations.

Here is the link which details what the TRCs actually are, including a Bill of Materials (BoM):
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware#UC_on_UCS_Tested_Reference_Configurations
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/UC_Virtualization_Supported_Hardware

And how do you know if your application is supported on these TRCs? Well use these links:
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_in_a_Virtualized_Environment
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_Virtualization_Supported_Applications
They have the same information on them, I've just included them both for reference.

And how many applications will be supported on your TRC hardware? Well this information can be found here:
http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Communications_Virtualization_Downloads_(including_OVA/OVF_Templates)

For example, the OVA Capacity for CUCM 7,500 users requires (2) vCPU (vCPU is equal to core on the processor) and it will use 12gig of RAM, (6 being used and 6 as a reserve), and 110Gb of hard drive space.

Looking at TRC 1 it includes (2) quad core processor, 64Gb RAM, and more than 2Tb of hard Drive.

Taking the given System requirements for CUCM 9.0 for 7500 users, that leaves us 6Core, 52Gb of RAM, and at least 2Tb of hard drive on the UCS Server, this could then be used for other UC Applications.

Brilliant!

Other Links:
Datasheet:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/voicesw/ps6790/ps5748/ps378/solution_overview_c22-597556.html

Webinar: Cisco VIC Advantages

I'm going to start recording all my notes from Webinars which I attend, also with a link to the webinar recording. So here is my first:

Cisco VIC Advantages:

• VIC cards are managed by CIMC, the VIC it has extra copper pins on the board, so it can be managed via the CIMC without the server being powered on, unlike generic interfaces on other servers which require the server to be powered on and a keystroke hit.
•   FIP mode (Fibrechannel initialization mode) allows the port to do FCoE
• VNTAG mode = Adapter FEX mode / NIV Mode
• VIC firmware can be managed out of band on CMIC. It’s not reliant on the OS, it can be done out of band. Flash is actually on the adapter, 2 locations, 1 for the active and one for the backup firmware.
• This means firmware can be put on a adapter without affecting the operation, just put a new firmware in the backup flash location then change the firmware over to make it active later on.
• Firmware is loaded per card, so if there are 2 cards in the UCS server you need to upload the new firmware to each VIC
• Classical Ethernet mode is IEEE 10Gig Ethernet, it can be used to connect to any vendors 10 Gig switches
• vNICs can be swapped between the physical uplink ports. For example if a switch on uplink port 1 goes down the vNICs can be swapped over to port 
• Classic Ethernet mode the failover is manual
• Adapter FEX can be automatic
• VICs are only available in Cisco servers, the reason is because there is no option ROM, it can only be configured via CIMC

Recording Links:

WebEx recording: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00050777
PDF: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00050781
MP4: http://tools.cisco.com/pecx/login?URL=searchCourse%3FcourseId%3D00050848

Cisco VMware parts

When buying VMware virtualisation software from Cisco there are 2 options available vSphere and vCenter.

vSphere is the the hypervisor software which enabled virtualisation on a server. Please note this is licensed per CPU.

vCenter is management software used to manage an estate of virtual machines. The licensing is per instance, so purchasing one vCenter license will allow you to manage a number of  virtual machines.

The maximums details for vSphere and vCenter can be found here:

http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere5/r51/vsphere-51-configuration-maximums.pdf

Cisco UCS C-Series RAID controller notes

Software embedded RAID controllers (UCSC-RAID-ROM5 and UCSC-RAID-ROM55) are not supported by virtualisation software so a physical RAID controller would be required for use in a vmware host.

The Intel Romley architecture removes the IO Hub and directly maps the PCIe lanes to the processor logic. In the C220M3, the Mezz slot (used by UCSC-RAID-11-C220 and UCSC-RAID-MZ-220) and PCI Slot 2 are both mapped to CPU2, therefore in a 1-CPU configuration, the Mezz slot and PCI slot 2 are unavailable for use.

The C220 M3 spec sheet provides information on supported RAID card configurations from Page 21.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10493/C220M3_SFF_SpecSheet.pdf

Cisco UCS Servers - Spare CPUs

When replacing or buying a new CPU for a Cisco UCS server, or any server for that matter, you have to consider more than just the CPU itself, specifically the heat sink and thermal paste. These are low value items when compared to the CPU they are going with but will be enough to mess up an installation so are important.

When you get a new CPU for a UCS server, for example a UCS-CPU-E5-2690= for a C220M. You alos need the relevant heat sink, for example UCSC-HS-C220M3= and the thermal paste (grease) to apply between, for example: UCS-CPU-GREASE2=

UCS C-Series Server data only connection

There are a number of different methods for connecting Cisco C-Series UCS servers back to the Fabric interconnect (FI) depending on the traffic types you want as well as the speed of the link.

UCS servers generally need 2 paths back to the UCS, data and management. I have a feeling there is a way of combining these into 1 but as of this point I cannot find it.

One of the scenarios (possibly the cheapest) involves connecting the data connection directly into the FI. The management connection goes through the FEX as normal and the data connection can plug directly into the FI using an onboard gigabit ethernet port and a GLC-T optic in the FI. The caveat on this is that it would be data only with no support for FC / FCOE. For this you would need to use a PCI-E VIC card in the server.