Configuring Organizations

This chapter includes the following sections:

Organizations in a Multi-Tenancy Environment

Multi-tenancy allows you to divide up the large physical infrastructure of an instance into logical entities known as organizations. As a result, you can achieve a logical isolation between organizations without providing a dedicated physical infrastructure for each organization.

You can assign unique resources to each tenant through the related organization, in the multi-tenant environment. These resources can include different policies, pools, and quality of service definitions. You can also implement locales to assign or restrict user privileges and roles by organization, if you do not want all users to have access to all organizations.

If you set up a multi-tenant environment, all organizations are hierarchical. The top-level organization is always root. The policies and pools that you create in root are system-wide and are available to all organizations in the system. However, any policies and pools created in other organizations are only available to organizations that are above it in the same hierarchy. For example, if a system has organizations named Finance and HR that are not in the same hierarchy, Finance cannot use any policies in the HR organization, and HR cannot access any policies in the Finance organization. However, both Finance and HR can use policies and pools in the root organization.

If you create organizations in a multi-tenant environment, you can also set up one or more of the following for each organization or for a sub-organization in the same hierarchy:

  • Resource pools
  • Policies
  • Service profiles
  • Service profile templates

The root organization is always the top level organization.

Hierarchical Name Resolution in a Multi-Tenancy Environment

In a multi-tenant environment, Cisco UCS uses the hierarchy of an organization to resolve the names of policies and resource pools. When Cisco UCS Manager searches for details of a policy or a resource assigned to a pool, the following occurs:

  1. Cisco UCS Manager checks for policies and pools with the specified name within the organization assigned to the service profile or policy.
  2. If a policy is found or an available resource is inside a pool, Cisco UCS Manager uses that policy or resource. If the pool does not have any available resources at the local level, Cisco UCS Manager moves up in the hierarchy to the parent organization and searches for a pool with the same name. Cisco UCS Manager repeats this step until the search reaches the root organization.
  3. If the search reaches the root organization and has not found an available resource or policy, Cisco UCS Manager returns to the local organization and begins to search for a default policy or available resource in the default pool.
  4. If an applicable default policy or available resource in a default pool is found, Cisco UCS Manager uses that policy or resource. If the pool does not have any available resources, Cisco UCS Manager moves up in the hierarchy to the parent organization and searches for a default pool. Cisco UCS Manager repeats this step until the search reaches the root organization.
  5. If Cisco UCS Manager cannot find an applicable policy or available resource in the hierarchy, it returns an allocation error.

Example: Server Pool Name Resolution in a Single-Level Hierarchy

In this example, all organizations are at the same level below the root organization. For example, a service provider creates separate organizations for each customer. In this configuration, organizations only have access to the policies and resource pools assigned to that organization and to the root organization.

In this example, a service profile in the XYZcustomer organization is configured to use servers from the XYZcustomer server pool. When resource pools and policies are assigned to the service profile, the following occurs:

  1. Cisco UCS Manager checks for an available server in the XYZcustomer server pool.
  2. If the XYZcustomer server pool has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager checks the root organization for a server pool with the same name.
  3. If the root organization includes an XYZcustomer server pool and that pool has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager returns to the XYZcustomer organization to check the default server pool.
  4. If the default pool in the XYZcustomer organization has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the default pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager checks the default server pool in the root organization.
  5. If the default server pool in the root organization has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the default pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager returns an allocation error.

Example: Server Pool Name Resolution in a Multi-Level Hierarchy

In this example, each organization includes at least one suborganization. For example, a company could create organizations for each major division in the company and for subdivisions of those divisions. In this configuration, each organization has access to its local policies and resource pools and to the resource pools in the parent hierarchy.

In this example, the Finance organization includes two sub-organizations, AccountsPayable and AccountsReceivable. A service profile in the AccountsPayable organization is configured to use servers from the AP server pool. When resource pools and policies are assigned to the service profile, the following occurs:

  1. Cisco UCS Manager checks for an available server in the AP server pool defined in the service profile.
  2. If the AP server pool has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager moves one level up the hierarchy and checks the Finance organization for a pool with the same name.
  3. If the Finance organization includes a pool with the same name and that pool has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager moves one level up in the hierarchy and checks the root organization for a pool with the same name.
  4. If the root organization includes a pool with the same name and that pool has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager returns to the AccountsPayable organization to check the default server pool.
  5. If the default pool in the AccountsPayable organization has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the default pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager moves one level up in the hierarchy and checks the default server pool in the Finance organization.
  6. If the default pool in the Finance organization has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the default pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager moves one level up in the hierarchy and checks the default server pool in the root organization.
  7. If the default server pool in the root organization has an available server, Cisco UCS Manager associates that server with the service profile and discontinues the search. If the default pool does not have an available server, Cisco UCS Manager returns an allocation error.

Creating an Organization under the Root Organization

Procedure
    Step 1   On the toolbar, choose New > Create Organization.
    Step 2   In the Name field of the Create Organization dialog box, enter a unique name for the organization.

    This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters, and you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.

    Step 3   In the Description field, enter a description for the organization.
    Step 4   Click OK.

    Creating an Organization under a Sub-Organization

    Procedure
      Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.
      Step 2   In the Servers tab, expand Service Profiles > root.

      You can also access the Sub-Organizations node under the Policies or Pools nodes.
      Step 3   Expand the Sub-Organizations node and do one of the following:
      • To create an organization directly under root, right-click Sub-Organizations and choose Create Organization.
      • To create an organization under a lower-level sub-organization, expand the sub-organization nodes in the hierarchy and then right-click the sub-organization under which you want to create the new organization and choose Create Organization.
      Step 4   In the Name field of the Create Organization dialog box, enter a unique name for the organization.

      This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters, and you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.

      Step 5   In the Description field, enter a description for the organization.
      Step 6   Click OK.

      Deleting an Organization

      Procedure
        Step 1   In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.
        Step 2   Navigate to the organization that you want to delete.
        Step 3   Right-click the organization and choose Delete.
        Step 4   If Cisco UCS Manager GUI displays a confirmation dialog box, click Yes.