Implementing Cisco Data Center Unified Computing (DCUCI)

1: Implement Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers

• Implementing Cisco R-Series Rack Enclosures
  • Unpack the Cisco R42610 rack enclosure
  • Remove the Cisco R-Series rack from the pallet
  • Secure the Cisco R-Series rack to the floor
  • Join Cisco R42610 racks into a suite
  • Install a Cisco RP208-30-U-1 PDU
  • Remove and install side panels
  • Remove and install Cisco R-Series rack doors
  • Use cabling portholes
• Installing Cisco UCS C-Series Server Hardware
  • Review ESD precautions
  • Review how to open Cisco UCS C-Series cases
  • Compare PCIe riser cards across Cisco UCS C-Series models
  • Describe CPU population rules for dual- and quad-socket servers
  • Describe the importance of color coding internal Cisco UCS C-Series components
  • Describe DRAM installation and population rules
  • Describe fan replacement
  • Describe power supply replacement
• Installing Cisco UCS C-Series Servers in a Cisco R-Series Rack Enclosure
  • Install the slide-rail assembly into the Cisco R42610 rack enclosure
  • Attach the mounting brackets to the server
  • Insert the server into the slide rail
  • Attach the cable management arm
  • Connect the Cisco UCS C-Series server to the PDU
  • Connect management and data cables
• Updating Cisco UCS C-Series Firmware with the Host Upgrade Utility
  • Download the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility from Cisco.com
  • Enable KVM and virtual media in Cisco Integrated Management Controller
  • Describe the session options that are available in the KVM
  • Launch virtual media and map the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility ISO image
  • Perform an upgrade of all components
• Provisioning Monitoring and Logging on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server
  • Provision SNMP
  • Provision syslog destinations for server logging data
  • Access data from the system event log
  • Export technical support information
• Provisioning LAN and SAN Connectivity in the Cisco Integrated Management Controller
  • Provision the Cisco UCS P81E VIC to allow FCoE
  • Provision a locally administered MAC address for the A- and B-side 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
  • Enable RSS on Ethernet adapters
  • Provision locally administered addresses for the Fibre Channel interface WWPN and WWNN
  • Provision the Fibre Channel boot target for the A- and B-side Fibre Channel interfaces
• Provisioning RAID on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server
  • Describe the characteristics of RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10
  • Boot the server in the KVM and access the LSI MegaRAID web user interface
  • Add all local hard drives to a RAID 5 array and save the configuration
• Installing VMware ESXi on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server Local RAID Array
  • Open a KVM session to the Cisco UCS C-Series server
  • Map virtual media to the ESXi installer ISO image
  • Install ESXi on the local RAID array
  • Boot ESXi from the local RAID array
  • Configure a management IP address for the ESXi server
  • Connect to the ESXi server with the VMware vSphere Client utility and connect to the VMware File System shared storage LUN on the Fibre Channel storage system

2: Manage the Cisco UCS B-Series

• Implementing RBAC
  • Describe the overall framework of RBAC in the Cisco UCS B-Series
  • Implement local users, roles, and privileges
  • Implement organizations and locales
  • Describe the effective rights of a user as an intersection of roles and locales mapped to a user
  • Implement LDAP providers and provider groups
  • Implement LDAP (Microsoft Active Directory) as an external authentication and authorization service
  • Implement Cisco UCS roles mapping to LDAP (Active Directory) attributes with LDAP provider maps
• Managing and Upgrading Cisco UCS B-Series Firmware
  • Describe where to find Cisco UCS firmware packages on Cisco.com
  • Update Cisco UCS firmware
  • Direct upgrade of mezzanine adapter, Cisco Integrated Management Controller, and IOM firmware
  • Describe software updates on the fabric interconnect
  • Describe the requirement for firmware updates via host firmware packages in the service profile
  • Describe the differences between the firmware processes of Cisco UCS fabric interconnect and IOM, Cisco Integrated Management Controller, and adapter
  • Describe how to update and activate the hardware capability catalog
• Implementing Backup, Import, and Restore of the Cisco UCS Manager Database
  • Differentiate between the supported backup types and the database objects to which they map in the Cisco UCS Manager database
  • Differentiate between an import operation and a disaster recovery restore operation
  • Implement a backup job
  • Implement backup jobs to preserve abstracted identities
  • Verify that the backup is created and executed
  • Implement an import job to restore the AAA user database
  • Verify that the AAA user database is restored
  • Configure the Cisco UCS 6100/6200 Series Fabric Interconnect for disaster recovery restore
• Implementing Logging and Monitoring
  • Describe Cisco UCS Manager management interfaces
  • Describe the fault management system and evaluate fault severity levels
  • Use the audit log to track administrative changes to the Cisco UCS Manager database
  • Describe Cisco UCS Manager operations subject to FSM validation and how to interpret FSM output
  • Implement logging options including local buffer, console, and external syslog servers
  • Use system event log and system event log policies
  • Implement the Smart Call Home feature
  • Validate the Smart Call Home feature
  • Configure settings for logs, events, and faults
  • Configure SPAN to allow protocol analysis
• Implementing High Availability
  • Describe high-availability cluster connection requirements for Cisco UCS B-Series
  • Describe intercluster communications and Cisco UCS Manager database synchronization
  • Differentiate between cluster partition-in-time and partition-in-space split-brain conditions
  • Describe how the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis SEEPROM resolves a split-brain issue in the high-availability cluster
  • Modify cluster IP addressing from the Cisco UCS Manager GUI and CLI

3: Implement Cisco UCS B-Series Connectivity

• Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series Physical Connectivity
  • Describe the relationship between I/O uplinks and bandwidth oversubscription with generation 2 hardware
  • Describe the Cisco UCS 2204/2208XP IOM architecture including CMC, I/O MUX, and chassis management switch
  • Describe the relationship between I/O uplinks and bandwidth oversubscription with generation 1 hardware
  • Describe the Cisco UCS 2104XP IO module architecture including CMC, I/O MUX, and chassis management switch
  • Describe the features of the Cisco UCS VIC 1280 and VIC 1240
  • Compare the number of virtual interfaces available on the Cisco UCS M81KR VIC and the VIC 1280
  • Describe new mezzanine cards including M51, M61, and M72
  • Describe the Cisco Integrated Management Controller management component of the B-Series blades
  • Describe the creation of port channels from the Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect to the 2204/2208XP IOM
  • Describe the difference between server and uplink port personalities in the fabric interconnect
  • Describe the chassis discovery process and monitor using the FSM
  • Configure the chassis discovery policy
• Installing Cisco UCS B-Series Hardware
  • Describe the ESD precautions that are necessary when installing Cisco UCS B-Series components
  • List the steps for opening the case of half- and full-slot blade servers
  • List the steps for physical installation of rack-mount slides in the enclosure and on the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis
  • List the steps for installation and removal of CPU, RAM, and mezzanine cards in Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers
  • List the steps for physical installation and removal of local hard drives
  • List the steps for physical installation of half- and full-slot blade servers
  • List the steps for physical installation of IOMs and power supplies in the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis
  • List the steps for physical installation and removal of fan units
  • List the steps for physical installation and removal of SFP+ copper twinax and optical modules
• Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series LAN Connectivity
  • Differentiate between uplink, server, appliance, FCoE storage, and monitoring Ethernet port personalities of 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect
  • Describe the requirements and configuration of port channels from the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect to a northbound switch
  • Describe end-host mode and its importance in forwarding over multiple Layer 2 links and maintaining a loop-free topology
  • Differentiate end-host mode with switched mode
  • Describe the requirements to configure VLANs in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Describe the role of vNICs to abstract MAC addresses into a service profile
  • Describe the automatic pinning process and recovery from failure
  • Describe the configuration of manual pinning and recovery from failure
  • Describe the configuration of disjoint Layer 2 domains
• Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series SAN Connectivity
  • Describe Fibre Channel switching
  • Describe NPV
  • Differentiate between Fibre Channel uplink, Fibre Channel storage, and Fibre Channel monitoring port personalities of 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect
  • Differentiate between benefits and drawbacks of Fibre Channel switching and NPV
  • Describe how NPIV allows a single N Port to be associated with multiple FCIDs
  • Describe the requirements and configuration of VSANs in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Describe the role of the vHBA to abstract WWNNs and WWPNs into a service profile
  • Describe the automatic pinning process and recovery from failure
  • Describe the configuration of manual pinning and recovery from failure
  • Differentiate Ethernet failover from Fibre Channel multipath I/O recovery

4: Provision Cisco UCS Compute Resources

• Provisioning the Cisco UCS Cluster
  • Configure the primary cluster peer from the fabric interconnect console
  • Configure the secondary cluster peer from the fabric interconnect console and join to the cluster
  • Log into the Cisco UCS Manager GUI and assign a pool of management IP addresses for server management
• Provisioning LAN Networking
  • Provision VLANs for single fabric, both fabrics, and both fabrics configured differently
  • Provision VLAN ranges
  • Provision private VLANs
  • Provision Ethernet uplinks
  • Provision Ethernet uplink port channels
  • Provision fabric port channels from the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect to a Cisco 2204/2208 IOM
  • Provision FCoE storage ports
  • Provision appliance ports and prune VLANs
• Provisioning SAN Networking
  • Provision VSANs for single fabric, both fabrics, and both fabrics configured differently
  • Provision Fibre Channel uplinks and VSAN trunking
  • Provision Fibre Channel port channels
  • Provision direct-attach Fibre Channel storage ports and default zoning
• Provisioning Resource Pools in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Provision server pools
  • Provision server pool autoplacement
  • Provision UUID pools
  • Provision MAC pools
  • Provision WWNN pools
  • Provision WWPN pools
  • Provision iSCSI initiator pools
• Provisioning Server Policies in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Provision a service profile using the expert service profile wizard
  • Implement pools and policies in the service profile
  • Associate a service profile to a server
  • Describe the Cisco UCS Utility Operating System
  • Observe the association process using the FSM
• Provisioning Service Profiles from Templates in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Describe the requirements of service profile templates
  • Describe the difference between initial templates and updating templates, including operational caveats
  • Provision a vNIC template using the template wizard
  • Provision a vHBA template using the template wizard
  • Provision a service profile template using the template wizard
  • Provision multiple servers from a service profile template
  • Clone a service profile
• Provisioning Cisco UCS C-Series Server Integration in Cisco UCS Manager
  • Describe the benefits of C-Series integration
  • Describe the physical connectivity requirements for C-Series integration
  • Install version 1.2 C-Series server firmware to allow integration with Cisco UCS prior to version 2.0(2xx)
  • Describe the C-Series discovery process

5: Implement Cisco UCS Server Virtualization Features

• Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX and Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through
  • Describe VMware vSwitch and vDS
  • Describe Cisco Nexus 1000V switching
  • Describe Cisco VM-FEX
  • Describe Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through
• Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX
  • Provision VMware ESXi servers with a Cisco VEM
  • Provision the secure connection from Cisco UCS Manager to VMware vCenter Server
  • Provision port profiles and push to vCenter as port groups
  • Provision a dynamic vNIC connection policy and BIOS policy for Cisco VM-FEX
  • Join ESXi hosts to the DVS
  • Provision VMs to consume port groups on the DVS
• Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through
  • Describe VMware requirements for universal pass-through mode
  • Provision a dynamic vNIC connection policy for Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through
  • Provision a BIOS policy for Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through
  • Associate universal pass-through policies to a service profile
  • Provision a port profile for universal pass-through mode
  • Provision VMs to connect to DirectPath I/O interfaces
  • Verify universal pass-through mode

Course Labs

• Lab 1-1: Perform Initial C-Series Implementation
• Lab 1-2: Update Cisco UCS C-Series Firmware from the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility
• Lab 1-3: Implement LAN and SAN Connectivity
• Lab 1-4: Install VMware ESXi on the Local RAID and Verify SAN Connectivity
• Lab 2-1: Provision Cisco UCS Ethernet Connectivity and Management IP Pools
• Lab 2-2: Configure RBAC
• Lab 2-3: Back Up and Restore Cisco UCS Manager Database Objects
• Lab 2-4: Configure Logging in Cisco UCS
• Lab 4-1: Provision Identity and Resource Pools
• Lab 4-2: Provision Mobile Service Profiles from Updating Templates
• Lab 4-3: Test High Availability
• Lab 5-1: Provision VMware Integration
• Lab 5-2: Provision M81-KR Cisco VM-FEX
• Lab 5-3: Provision M81-KR Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through