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Reduce costs and increase efficiency in managing Cisco® standalone servers. The Cisco Integrated Management Controller (IMC) Supervisor enables centralized management for standalone Cisco UCS® C-Series Rack Servers, Cisco UCS E-Series Servers, and Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS) storage servers located across one or more sites.
The IMC Supervisor provides the following information and capabilities:
● Platform hardware inventory and health status
● Server management, including virtual Keyboard, Video, and Mouse (vKVM) launch
● Northbound API (Representational State Transfer [REST] and XML API) for programmatic access
● Firmware inventory and management (noninteractive firmware updates)
● Firmware update scheduler
● Call Home (email alerting)
● Smart Call Home (SCH)
● Power control management
● System discovery scheduler
● Noninteractive diagnostic tool integration
● Server utilization statistics collection (Select C-Series Servers)
● Integration with Hardware Compatibility List
● Policy-based configuration with hardware profiles (requires Advanced license)
The IMC Supervisor provides insight into the platforms being managed, including information about system inventory and faults reported on one or more systems. Managed systems can be assigned to user-defined groups to help keep platforms organized based on criteria important to the administration team. Across and within these groups, each system can be assigned one or more tags to assign searchable metadata to the server. Administrators can perform basic management tasks on individual systems such as power on, power off, and vKVM launch. Tasks for multiple platforms, including noninteractive firmware updates and diagnostic tools, are also supported.
The IMC Supervisor Release 2.2 offers a number of enhanced features, including:
● HTML5 UI
● IMC password expiration policy
● SD / FlexFlash policy enhancements
● BIOS policy: Power-ON password support
● RAID policy / disk group policy: support for Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs)
● Network security: IP filtering
● Precision boot-order policy: one-time boot support
● Asset tag configuration
● Smart SSD data presentation
● Integration with hardware compatibility list
These capabilities extend and enhance those present in earlier versions IMC Supervisor, including policy-based hardware profile functions. They extend the core feature set of the IMC Supervisor and enhance usability functions in the platform to help simplify management operations for Cisco UCS C-Series, E-Series, and storage servers. The XML API provides a programmatic REST interface that enables scripting for this platform and the managed systems. The scheduler enables ongoing discovery of new platforms and provides the capability to deploy firmware for systems being managed at a specified time. The integration of Smart Call Home (SCH) enables customers to configure the platform to automatically register specified faults with the Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) for simplified problem reporting and resolution.
Table 1 summarizes the main features of IMC Supervisor with the Basic license.
Table 1. Main Features (Basic License)
| Feature |
Description |
| Platform hardware inventory |
● Enables customers to view inventory for multiple systems from a single interface (potentially across different sites) without the need to log into each system individually
● Provides data about the system, processors, memory, power supplies, PCI devices, Virtual Interface Cards (VICs), RAID controllers, fault table, and log files
|
| Hardware health status |
● Delivers a single pane showing the fault status for multiple systems in a single interface to help customers identify faults using easy-to-read embedded charts and tables
|
| Server management including vKVM launch |
● Provides the capability to perform platform tasks, including power on, power off, and vKVM launch
|
| Firmware inventory and management |
● Enables the download, management, and updating of firmware across multiple servers using the Cisco IMC Noninteractive Host Update Utility and the capability to download firmware for all supported platforms from Cisco through IMC Supervisor
|
| REST and XML API |
● Enables programmatic access to many tasks available in IMC Supervisor, including server, firmware, platform, and user management tasks
|
| Server noninteractive diagnostics |
● Enables customers to initiate diagnostics using the Cisco UCS Server Configuration Utility (SCU) for managed servers and to view results in IMC Supervisor
|
| Call Home (email alerting) |
● Delivers consolidated email notifications for faults reported by the management systems to proactively notify users of these faults; multiple alerts are supported, and faults can be filtered by server group and fault severity
|
| Smart Call Home (SCH) |
● Provides support for Smart Call Home enablement for the servers being managed (requires hardware support contract for managed servers)
|
| Multiserver discovery |
● Enables users to add one or more systems to IMC Supervisor using multiple discovery methods, including IP range, subnet mask range, Comma-Separated Value (CSV) file, and IP address list
|
| System tagging |
● Assigns metadata tags to each system to enable users to filter and sort systems based on user-assigned attributes
|
| Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) |
● Gives users multiple levels of access and control over managed systems
|
The IMC Supervisor Advanced license enables customers to configure the following attributes of the server using a policy-based framework and the IMC XML API:
● IMC global administration settings
◦ User administration policy
◦ Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) configuration policy
◦ Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) configuration policy
◦ Network Time Protocol (NTP) policy
◦ IMC network settings policy
◦ Network security policy
◦ Virtual media (vMedia) policy
● IMC platform settings
◦ BIOS policy
◦ Boot-order policy
◦ Virtual Interface Card (VIC) configuration policy
◦ RAID configuration policy
◦ Disk group policy
◦ Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) over LAN
◦ Serial interface over LAN
◦ Cisco Flexible Flash (FlexFlash) management
The policy framework supports:
● Policy creation from an existing server for one or more policies
● Policy deletion override for deployed policies
● Policy deployment of a single policy to one or more servers concurrently
● Profile deployment (multiple policies) to one or more servers concurrently
Table 2 compares the features of IMC Supervisor with the Basic and Advanced licenses. The Advanced version includes all the functions of the Basic version plus policy import and deployment functions and hardware profile deployment functions.
Table 2. Comparison of Cisco IMC Supervisor Licenses
| Feature |
Basic |
Advanced |
| Hardware health status (monitoring) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Platform hardware inventory |
Yes |
Yes |
| Platform management with vKVM launcher |
Yes |
Yes |
| REST and XML API |
Yes |
Yes |
| Firmware inventory and management |
Yes |
Yes |
| Call Home (email alerting) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Smart Call Home |
Yes |
Yes |
| Platform grouping and tagging |
Yes |
Yes |
| Group discovery |
Yes |
Yes |
| Scheduling capabilities (system discovery and firmware management) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Noninteractive diagnostic tool integration |
Yes |
Yes |
| Server utilization statistics collection (Cisco UCS C220/240 M4 and C220/C240 M5) |
Yes |
Yes |
| Policy import |
Yes |
|
| Policy deletion |
|
Yes |
| Policy deployment (single server or group) |
Yes |
|
| Hardware profile deployment (single server or group) |
Yes |
|
| Scheduling support for policies and profiles |
|
Yes |
Table 3 summarizes the minimum system requirements for the IMC Supervisor.
Table 3. Minimum System Requirements
| Element |
Minimum supported requirement |
| Virtual CPU (vCPU) |
4 vCPUs |
| Memory |
12 GB |
| Hard disk |
100 GB |
The IMC Supervisor supports the following platforms:
● Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers: Firmware Release 1.5(4) or later
◦ Cisco UCS C220 M5
◦ Cisco UCS C240 M5
◦ Cisco UCS C480 M5
◦ Cisco UCS C3260 Storage Server
◦ Cisco HX220C-M5S
◦ Cisco HX220C-M4
◦ Cisco HX240C-M5SX
◦ Cisco HX240C-M4
◦ Cisco HXAF240C-M5SX
◦ Cisco HXAF220C-M5S
◦ Cisco HXAF240C-M4SX
◦ Cisco UCS C220 M4
◦ Cisco UCS C240 M4
◦ Cisco UCS C460 M4
◦ Cisco UCS C220 M3
◦ Cisco UCS C240 M3
◦ Cisco UCS C22 M3
◦ Cisco UCS C24 M3
◦ Cisco UCS C420 M3
◦ Cisco UCS C3160
● Cisco UCS E-Series Servers: Firmware Release 2.3.1 or later
◦ Cisco UCS EN120E M2
◦ Cisco UCS EN120S M2
◦ Cisco UCS E140S M2
◦ Cisco UCS E160D M2
◦ Cisco UCS E180D M2
◦ Cisco UCS E140S M1
◦ Cisco UCS E140D M1
◦ Cisco UCS E160D M1
◦ Cisco UCS E140DP M1
◦ Cisco UCS E160DP M1
To license the IMC Supervisor, customers must select the following:
● Base license part number
● Terms and Conditions Acceptance part number
● One or more Server Enablement licenses (combinations of up to 1000 servers)
● Optional: Support licenses (combinations of up to 1000 servers)
Order the part numbers listed here:
● IMC Supervisor licenses
◦ Terms and Conditions Acceptance: CIMC-SUP-TERM
◦ Base license: CIMC-SUP-BASE-K9 or CIMC-SUP-BASE-K9=
● Basic server license (up to 1000 servers)
◦ 25 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-B25 or CIMC-SUP-B25=
◦ 100 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-B01 or CIMC-SUP-B01=
◦ 250 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-B02 or CIMC-SUP-B02=
◦ 1000 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-B10 or CIMC-SUP-B10=
● Advanced server license (up to 1000 servers)
◦ 25 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-A25 or CIMC-SUP-A25=
◦ 100 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-A01 or CIMC-SUP-A01=
◦ 250 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-A02 or CIMC-SUP-A02=
◦ 1000 Server Enablement licenses: CIMC-SUP-A10 or CIMC-SUP-A10=
Note: Twenty-five-server packs with Advanced features are available starting with IMC Supervisor Release 1.1.
● IMC Supervisor Support licenses (optional)
◦ 25 Server Enablement Support licenses: CON-ECMU-CIMCSB25
◦ 100 Server Enablement Support licenses: CON-ECMU-CIMCSB01
◦ 250 Server Enablement Support licenses: CON-ECMU-CIMCSB02
◦ 1000 Server Enablement Support licenses: CON-ECMU-CIMCSB10
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● Cisco IMC Supervisor 2.2 software download
● Cisco IMC Supervisor 2.2 release notes
● Cisco IMC Supervisor 2.2 installation guide
● Cisco IMC Supervisor 2.2 management guide