Consider the following guidelines when deciding whether to remove or decommission a blade server using Cisco UCS Manager:

Decommissioning a Blade Server

Decommissioning is performed when a blade server is physically present and connected but you want to temporarily remove it from the configuration. Because it is expected that a decommissioned blade server will be eventually recommissioned, a portion of the server's information is retained by Cisco UCS Manager for future use.

Removing a Blade Server

Removing is performed when you physically remove a blade server from the server by disconnecting it from the chassis. You cannot remove a blade server from Cisco UCS Manager if it is physically present and connected to a chassis. Once the physical removal of the blade server is completed, the configuration for that blade server can be removed in Cisco UCS Manager.

During removal, active links to the blade server are disabled, all entries from databases are removed, and the server is automatically removed from any server pools that it was assigned to during discovery.

Note	Only those servers added to a server pool automatically during discovery will be removed automatically. Servers that have been manually added to a server pool have to be removed manually.

If you need to add a removed blade server back to the configuration, it must be reconnected and then rediscovered. When a server is reintroduced to Cisco UCS Manager it is treated like a new server and is subject to the deep discovery process. For this reason, it's possible that Cisco UCS Manager will assign the server a new ID that may be different from the ID that it held before.

When you use this procedure to shut down a server with an installed operating system, Cisco UCS Manager triggers the OS into a graceful shutdown sequence.

When you reset a server, Cisco UCS Manager sends a pulse on the reset line. You can choose to gracefully shut down the operating system. If the operating system does not support a graceful shut down, the server is power cycled. The option to have Cisco UCS Manager complete all management operations before it resets the server does not guarantee that these operations will be completed before the server is reset.

Perform the following procedure if you need to have Cisco UCS Manager rediscover the server and all endpoints in the server. For example, you can use this procedure if a server is stuck in an unexpected state, such as the discovery state.

On rare occasions, troubleshooting a server may require you to reset the CMOS. This procedure is not part of the normal maintenance of a server.

On rare occasions, such as an issue with the current running firmware, troubleshooting a server may require you to reset the CIMC. This procedure is not part of the normal maintenance of a server. After you reset the CIMC, the server boots with the running version of the firmware for that server.

If the CIMC is reset, the power monitoring functions of Cisco UCS become briefly unavailable for as long as it takes for the CIMC to reboot. While this usually only takes 20 seconds, there is a possibility that the peak power cap could be exceeded during that time. To avoid exceeding the configured power cap in a very low power-capped environment, consider staggering the rebooting or activation of CIMCs.

On rare occasions, an issue with a blade server may require you to recover the corrupted BIOS. This procedure is not part of the normal maintenance of a server. After you recover the BIOS, the blade server boots with the running version of the firmware for that server.