Showing posts with label CISCO UCS Servers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CISCO UCS Servers. Show all posts

Tuesday 8 January 2019

Understanding the types of CISCO UCS backup and their relevance

Or, CISCO UCS Backup - Explained
Or, Difference between Full State, All configuration, System Configuration, and Logical Configuration Backups in CISCO UCS

Backup and Export Configuration
When you perform a backup through Cisco UCS Manager, you take a snapshot of all or part of the system configuration and export the file to a location on your network. You cannot use Cisco UCS Manager to backup data on the servers.

You can perform a backup while the system is up and running. The backup operation only saves information from the management plane. It does not have any impact on the server or network traffic.











Backup Types
You can perform one or more of the following types of backups through Cisco UCS Manager:

Full state—A binary file that includes a snapshot of the entire system. You can use the file generated from this backup to restore the system during disaster recovery. This file can restore or rebuild the configuration on the original fabric interconnect, or recreate the configuration on a different fabric interconnect. You cannot use this file for an import.

All configuration—An XML file that includes all system and logical configuration settings. You can use the file generated from this backup to import these configuration settings to the original fabric interconnect or to a different fabric interconnect. You cannot use this file for a system restore. This file does not include passwords for locally authenticated users.

System configuration—An XML file that includes all system configuration settings such as usernames, roles, and locales. You can use the file generated from this backup to import these configuration settings to the original fabric interconnect or to a different fabric interconnect. You cannot use this file for a system restore.

Logical configuration—An XML file that includes all logical configuration settings such as service profiles, VLANs, VSANs, pools, and policies. You can use the file generated from this backup to import these configuration settings to the original fabric interconnect or to a different fabric interconnect. You cannot use this file for a system restore.

Reference: CISCO UCS Backup Admin Guide (b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_0_chapter_0100111.pdf).

Cheers, please write me back if you have any query or feedback on this.

Friday 30 December 2016

Creating and configuring new VLANs in CISCO UCS Blade chassis and associating to VMware vSphere Port Groups.

Or, How to create and configure new VLANs in CISCO UCS Blade Chassis?
Or, How to create new VLAN and Virtual Network Port Group in VMware vSphere?

Descriptions:  This article will guide you to create and configure new VLANs in CISCO UCS Blade Chassis and associating that to VMWare vSphere port groups. Here you have two choices, either you can use the newly created VLAN ID details in CISCO UCS with any of the exiting VMware vSphere Port Groups or You can choose to create new Virtual Network Port Group VMware vSphere to associate newly created VLANs ID details.

Scenario:  We are running with a requirement to create a Seprate VLAN for IT Infra Servers. To achieve this requirement, we have to first create and configure the VLAN details in CISCO UCS Blade Chassis and after that we have to associate this VLAN details with newly created VMware Port Group which is created specifically for IT Infra Servers.

Prerequisites:
You must have a VLAN ID, VLAN subnet details, and VLAN Name already decided.
Make sure the VLAN is fully functional at switch level (check and confirm with your network team).
Admin rights or equivalent appropriate rights on CISCO UCS Infra and VMware Infra.


Steps (Configuring new VLANs in CISCO UCS Blade Chassis):

Login to CISCO UCS Blade Chassis using administrative credentials.








Navigate to LAN > VLANs > Right Click on VLANs > Click in Create VLANs
















Give a suitable VLAN Name > Fill the VLAN ID number you received from your network Team > Click OK to save the changes





















Now go to VLAN Groups > Select your VLAN Group > Click on Edit VLAN Group Members











Enable Check Mark on VLAN Name you had created in last step > Click Next > Click on Finish





















Now, Go to Servers tab > Service Profiles > Select the Service Profile for any Blade Servers > Go to vNICs > Modify VLANs > Enable Check mark on the VLAN Name you created already > Click OK

Note: You have to repeat this step for All Service Profiles and each vNICs associated with these Service Profiles.













Steps (Creating Virtual Network Port Group in VMware vSphere):

Login to VMware vSphere Client with administrative access

























Choose the ESXi Host > Go to Configuration tab > Networking > Properties











Click on Add


















Select Virtual Machine > Click Next


















Provide the suitable Network Label > Fill in the VLAN ID Click Next


















Click Finish to close the wizard


















Cheers, please write me back if you have any query or feedback on this.

Saturday 10 December 2016

Installing additional HDDs in exiting RAID5 storage pool of CISCO C240 Rack Server.

Or, How to extend exiting RAID5 storage pool in CISCO C240 Rack Server?

Descriptions/Scenario: This is very generic requirement that, sometime we may need to extend the exiting server’s drive space due to space crunch. If it’s a virtual machine, your life is easy but if it’s a hardware machine, you need to go with lots of things (purchase new HDDs, extend existing RAID space, wait for successful reconstruction completion, expand the logical drive associated with the RAID group you are extending etc..).

In my case, I have a CISCO C240 rack server where I have two RAID groups. RAID1 for OS and RAID5 with one hot-spare drive for data.

The RAID5 data drive in the OS is full and having no space. I have purchased some additional HDDs and inserted in empty slots of my CISCO Serer.


Lets see in below steps what else to be done.

Steps:
Login to CISCO Server management console (CIMC) and verify if all the hardware components are functional well without any error.








Select RAID5 pool > Click on Edit Virtual Drive










Click OK to confirm if prompted in the Pop-up window










Select RAID Level (5)




















Select all the “Unconfigured Good” newly inserted drives > Click on Save Changes




















The configuration process will be started now












Wait for reconstruction task to be completed (it may take longer).











Note: Please check if all the hardware components are working well. Here we got a Moderated Fault because of reconstruction job. Don’t worry, once the reconstruction will be completed, the fault will go away.

If there are other components which are showing fault status, you must take action on that with the help of CISCO Support guys.

Upon the successful completion of “Reconstruction” you can extend the disk from OS inside.

Saturday 19 November 2016

CISCO UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers and Infrastructure Firmware Upgrade Process

Or, How to upgrade firmware of CISCO UCS Mini Blade Chassis and Servers.
Or, How to upgrade firmware of CISCO UCS B200 M3 Blade servers?
Or, Step by step instruction for upgrading Firmware on CISCO UCS B200 M3 Blade Server and Infrastructure.

Descriptions:
To ensure a smooth and hustle free upgrade of firmware for your CISCO UCS mini blade chassis Infra and Blade Servers, its always recommended to first check the inoperability matrix for appropriate hardware and software support as well as compatibility support.
Its better you check with CISCO Tech Support and your software vendor for all kind of dependencies and compatibility checks.

Scenario/Environment:
- Want to upgrade firmware of Infrastructure(Management, Fiber Interconnect etc..) and Blade Servers.
- Current ruining firmware version:              3.1 (1e).
Upgrading to firmware version:                 3.1 (2b).
Blade Server’s Operating System:            VMware ESXi 6.0 U3

Activity Approach:
Upgrade firmware on Infrastructure using auto upgrade method.
- Upgrade firmware on all Blade Servers one by one using service profile.

Sequences/Prerequisites Checks
Verify if there is any hardware error, if yes, please get that fixed first before proceeding with              upgrade.
- Download appropriate firmware version for Infra and Blade carefully. 
  In my case firmware version  for Blade Servers is ‘ucs-k9-bundle-b-series.3.1.2b.B.bin’ and 
  for Infra it is ‘ucs-mini-k9-bundle-  infra.3.1.2b.A.bin’.
- Prepare the upgrade package.
- Create Host Upgrade Package.
- Proceed with Infrastructure firmware upgrade.
- Proceed with Blade Servers upgrade (take one at a time). Make sure you have migrated all the VMs
  from the selected host and ESXi host is kept in maintenance mode.
- Check for any drivers update, if required update the drivers too.


Steps: Preparing the upgrade package

Login to UCS Server console with Administrative access.
Navigate to ‘Equipment’ > Download Tasks > Click on Download Firmware








Click on Browse > Select the firmware you downloaded > Click OK > Wait for firmware package to be uploaded and prepared.
















Steps: Host Firmware Package Creation

Navigate to Servers tab > Go to Policies > Root > Host Firmware Packages > Right Click on Host Firmware Packages > Choose Create Host Firmware Package











Name the Package you wish > In the Blade Package selection area, select the appropriate package > Click OK to complete the package creation.


















After successful creation, the new host package should be appearing in Host Package area.













Steps: Infrastructure firmware upgrade

Navigate to Equipment tab> click on Equipment tree area> Firmware Management > Firmware Auto Install > General > Click on Install Infrastructure Firmware












I got this/below warning because one host in my Infra was failed and it’s still in discovery mode. I know why this warning is coming up, so I checked all boxes to ignore.

Click Next


















In the version selection area, select the appropriate package version you had just created in stage-1. In my case its 3.1 (2b).

Enable check mark on Upgrade Now and Click on Finish


















Verify if the upgrade has been started (it should show in progress).









Wait for Infra firmware upgrade to be completed successfully. Usually it takes 1-3 hrs to complete the upgrade process.


Steps: Host Firmware Upgrade

Navigate to Chassis > Servers > Select the Server you want to proceed with (in my case, Server-1) > In Service Profile section, click on the service profile Hyperlink as highlighted in below screenshot












Go to Policies > Firmware Policies > Host Firmware Package > Select the appropriate package from the drop down list > Click Save Changes















Click Yes to confirm the changes












When prompted (in Pending Activities), enable check mark on Reboot Now > Click OK > Click OK

























Now the upgrade will be initiated for Blade Server-1. You can check the FSM to monitor the upgrade status.








Note:  Repeat the same host upgrade steps for all the Hosts one by one carefully.

Cheers! Please write me back if you have any query or feedback on this.

Sunday 5 June 2016

How to reset memory or DIMM errors of CISCO UCS Blade servers?

Or, Reset ECC memory error on CISCO UCS blade server

In my case: I want to reset memory or DIMM errors on CISCO UCS Blade server number 8, chassis number 1.

Steps:
1. Access your CISCO UCS Management IP using putty
2. Run below command in the sequence
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ca-1-A# scope server 1/8 (here 1 is Chassis number and 8 is blade server number)
ca-1-A /chassis/server # reset-all-memory-errors
ca-1-A /chassis/server* # commit
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You are done now… cheers...

Thursday 18 February 2016

Explained: EccSinglebitErrors and EccMultibitErrors in CISCO UCS Blade Servers

However there are lots of architectural differences in memory errors EccSinglebitErrors and EccMultibitErrors, the most logical difference is as below:

EccSinglebitErrors: These errors are also known as correctable errors which means if you will swap the  memory encountered with this error with another healthy memory in the same blade server, the erroneous memory will become healthy. But if the error counts are huge in number, then it may not work sometime by swapping it.
In this scenario, you have to replace the memory module with new one.

EccMultibitErrors: These errors are also known as non-correctable or in-correctable  errors which means there is no way to solve this error at your end. Even a Single Multibit error is indication of it's hardware fault and it will be resolved only after replacement of DIMM(as per my working experience on such issues with CISCO Tech support).

It looks like below: