The document discusses Cisco's Unified Computing System (UCS). It describes UCS as an integrated computing system that is easily managed, flexible, and powerful. It was introduced in 2009 and is used by over 43,000 customers including 85% of Fortune 500 companies. The document outlines how UCS simplifies IT infrastructure by integrating servers, storage, and networking into a unified system that is managed through a single interface.

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High Tech
Datacenter

2. Cisco Unified
Computing System
Robert Evans and Rich Hudak
A Brief Overview And Basic Understanding

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What Is UCS and Why Do We Use?
• UCS = Unified Computing System
• Easily managed
• Very Flexible
• Extremely Powerful and Efficient

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How Old Is The UCS?
The UCS was introduced in 2009

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UCS in the Marketplace
• 43,000+ Unique UCS customers
• Number 1 market share in US for x86 Blades
• More than 85% of all Fortune 500 use UCS
• 100+ World record performance benchmarks to date

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Simplified
Architecture
Unified
Management
Higher
Performance
Scale
Cisco Unified Computing System
• Faster deploy/
provision
• Unification leads to
reduced complexity
• Management via a
single interface
• Networking with
fewer components
• Lower cost and
easier scaling
• Fewer management
touch points
• Stateless: any
resource, any time
• Better TCO/ROI
• Ultimate Scalability
• Enhanced design
capability
• Designed for the
future, today
• Brings out the best of
x86 architecture
• Optimized resource
utilization for compute,
networking, and
management

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• Individual ToR switches to manage (IOS software
& Config)
• Routing/STP topology to maintain
• Discrete servers – BIOS, Boot Order, Firmware,
KVM, etc…
• Nx1GE – no easy scale to 10GE

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Legacy Blade Architecture
SAN
LAN
SAN
LAN
MGMT MGMT
Additional
LAN & SAN
Connections
Additional
Management
Connections
Multiple Ethernet
Connections
Multiple
SAN Connections
Separate Remote
Management per
Chassis
Multiple
Management
Modules
Additional
Management
Connections
Additional
LAN & SAN
Connections

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Traditional Data Center Cabling
From ad hoc and
inconsistent…
to structured but costly and
complex...
to impossible to manage!

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Building A Unified Computing System

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A couple of UCS Installations we manage and assist with
Cabling
On the
Marion
UCS
NWOCA
UCS

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Summit Steel’s UCS C-series

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UCS Components
1
MGMT SANLAN
Fabric Interconnect
UCS Chassis
Heartbeat link (No Data)

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UCS Components
Fabric Interconnect
UCS Blade
IO Module
Cisco
VIC

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Network Interface
Virtualization
10GEEthernet
vHBA
vFC
…
vFC
vHBA
vEth
vNIC
vEth
vNIC
vEth
vNIC
vEth
vNIC
• Stateless computing: 256 PCIe devices
(NICs or HBAs)
• Host Connectivity: PCIe Gen3
• Network Connectivity: Multiple Physical
10Gb, 40Gb ready
Physical Network
256 PCIe
devices
UCS Components
Cisco Virtual Interface Card
Physical 10G Uplink PortPhysical 10G Uplink Port

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Physical look into the UCS

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Storage Support
Network Attached File/Block
No certification required
FC/FCoE
Switch Mode
ETH 1 ETH 2
iSCSI/NAS iSCSI/NAS
ETH 1 ETH 2
iSCSI/NAS/FC/
FCoE
LAN SAN
Cisco MDS
Nexus 5000
iSCSI/NAS/FC/
FCoE
Network Attached
Storage
Direct Attached
Storage
SAN Attached
Storage

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UCS Fabric Interconnect Portfolio
UCS 6296 & 6248
UCS 6120 & 6140
Mar 2013
UCS 6300UCS 6324 (Mini)
* FUTURE SHIPPING EOL / EOS
10GbE 40GbE

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Installing Servers Today: Component Centric
LAN
SAN
•RAID settings
•Disk scrub actions
•Number of vHBAs
•HBA WWN assignments
•FC Boot Parameters
•HBA firmware
•FC Fabric assignments for HBAs
•QoS settings
•Border port assignment per vNIC
•NIC Transmit/Receive Rate Limiting
•VLAN assignments for NICs
•VLAN tagging config for NICs
•Number of vNICs
•PXE settings
•NIC firmware
•Advanced feature settings
•Remote KVM IP settings
•Call Home behavior
•Remote KVM firmware
•Server UUID
•Serial over LAN settings
•Boot order
•IPMI settings
•BIOS scrub actions
•BIOS firmware
•BIOS Settings

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Stateless Computing: UCS Service Profiles
LAN
SAN

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UCS Service Profiles
Configuration Portability
SIM Card
Identity for a Phone
Service Profile
Identity for a Server
UCS Service Profile
Unified Device Management
Network Policy
Storage Policy
Server Policy

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UCS Manager Graphical Interface

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Role Based Administration
• Full Role based administration
• Pre-defined roles
• Customizable Roles (via Privileges)
• Authenticate against external Directory
• Administrators involved in initial Setup.
• Network
• Server
• Storage
• Server Admin does most of the ongoing
administration
• Create organizations “Mgmt Domains”
• Map “Sub Admin’s” to organizations
LAN, SAN, and Server
Tasks Are Grouped
Individually and
Require Explicit Rights

24. Thank you.

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VersaStack Solution
Easy
Seamless Integration
Simplify Deployment
Efficient
Reduce Provisioning Time
Unified Management
Versatile
Flexible Cloud Capabilities
Dynamic Infrastructure
Hypervisor
Management
IBM Storwize V7000
Cisco Nexus & MDS
Cisco UCS Servers

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Cisco
®
UCS B and C
Series Servers, UCS
Manager, UCS Director
Cisco Nexus
®
9000 Switches
IBM Storwize V7000 &
V7000U Disk Systems
Cisco MDS Switches
VersaStack Solution
• Uniform deployment model for compute, network and storage
resources
• ACI-Ready architecture
• Pre-validated by Cisco & IBM thru Cisco Validated Design
• UCS Management
• 160 UCS Server Per Domain, scales to 100s of domains
• Up to 8 nodes and 1056 disks per V7000/V7000U cluster
• 5X more data with Real-time compression
• Automated data optimization with IBM Easy Tier
• Architected with no single point of failure
• Multi Data Center scalable design for disaster tolerance
Highlights
Performance & Scale
Reliability
CVD in Dec 2014 w/
Vmware ESXi 5.5

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L4-7 Services Virtual Machines
Integrated application
containers for secure
workload provisioning
Application Centric
Infrastructure
configuration
Open developer kit for
ecosystem acceleration
Automation Driven by UCS Director
Storage
UCS Director
Nexus Product
Family
Unified Computing
System
Infrastructure Management

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Subject Matter Experts
Define Policies
Policies Used to
Create Service
Profile SAN and
Storage
2
vSwitch
Nexus 1000v
VI
SME
Storage
SME
Server
SME
Network
SME
Server Name
UUID, MAC, WWN
Boot Information
LAN, SAN Config
Firmware Policy
SAN Zoning
Create and MAP LUN
Provision Physical and VI
3
System is ready for Use
4
Server Name
UUID, MAC, WWN
Boot Information
LAN, SAN Config
Firmware Policy
Storage Configuration
Virtual Infrastructure
Configuration
Network Configuration
Application Profile
Virtualization Policy
Server Policy
Network Policy
Storage Policy
Ease & Efficiency with UCS Director