Strange as it may seem with all of the great new features in UCSM 1.4, this is one of my favorites. To understand the impact, first look at the way disruptive changes were handled prior to this release. When changing a configuration setting on a service profile, updating service profile template, or many policies, if [...]
READ MORE »After upgrading one of my lab systems to 1.4(1i) (released December 20, 2010), all of the fans in my chassis showed as failed. Since each fan module contains two separately monitored fans, this resulted in 24 total warnings in my system (8 x fan module, 16 x fans) – annoying, but cosmetic only. UCSM 1.4(1j) [...]
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Prior to UCSM 1.4, all UCS firmware was delivered as a single bundle – this included UCSM itself, the code for the Fabric Interconnects, IO Modules, blades, mezzanine cards, etc. With UCSM 1.4, code is now delivered in three different packages. This makes it easier for Cisco to release support for new blades, mezzanine cards, [...]
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Ok, so this one isn’t earth-shattering, but I thought it was worth mentioning. Previous to UCSM 1.4, the only way to transfer bundles of firmware to UCSM was via an external server – FTP, TFTP, SCP, or SFTP. In most shops, this isn’t a big deal – you likely already have a utility server of [...]
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One of the most often requested features in the early days of UCS was the ability to directly attach 10GE storage devices (both Ethernet and FCoE based) to the UCS Fabric Interconnects. Up until UCSM 1.4, only two types of Ethernet port configurations existed in UCS – Server Ports (those connected to IO Modules in [...]
READ MORE »Since so many other great bloggers announced earlier this month that Cisco had released UCS Manager 1.4 (codenamed ‘Balboa’), I didn’t see any reason to wade into the fray with yet another summary of the release notes. For one such excellent summary, see Steve Chamber’s post here: http://viewyonder.com/2010/12/20/ciscoucs-1-4-is-here/ Instead I thought it might be useful, [...]
READ MORE »Cisco has released UCS Manager version 1.3(1c). This is the first public release in the 1.3 line, also known as “Aptos+”. Release notes are here: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/ucs_22863.html Haven’t gotten a chance to play with the new version yet, but there are some significant enhancements. Among them… 1 GE support on UCS6120 and UCS6140 Fabric Interconnects On [...]
READ MORE »As a full UCS bundle (including all code – from the lowliest baseboard management controller to the UCS Manager in all it’s process-preserving glory), Cisco has released version 1.2(1). Full release notes are available here. To summarize, this release adds support for the soon-to-be-shipping “M2″ versions of the UCS blades, which support the Intel Xeon [...]
READ MORE »I was recently forwarded some information on the MAC table aging process in the UCS 6100 Fabric Interconnects that I thought was very valuable to share. Prior to this information, I was under the impression (and various documentation had confirmed) that the Fabric Interconnect never ages MAC addresses – in other words, it understands where [...]
READ MORE »@SlackerUK on Twitter asked about moving Service Profiles between UCS clusters. In short, it’s not currently possible with UCS Manager without a bit of manual work. First, create a “logical” backup from UCS Manager. This will create an XML file containing all of the logical configuration of UCS Manager, including your service profiles. Find [...]
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