Chapter 1. Overview

Overview

Cisco UCS Central User Documentation Reference

Chapter 2. Introduction to Cisco Unified Computing System Infrastructure

Cisco Unified Computing System Overview

Cisco UCS Manager Overview

Chapter 3. Introduction to Cisco UCS Central

Introducing Cisco UCS Central

Cisco UCS Central Features

Overview of Cisco UCS Central HTML 5 UI

Using the HTML5 UI

Dashboard Widgets

Adding Table Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

Adding Instance Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

Tab Navigator

Using the Tab Navigator

Common User Interface Options

Behavior and Design Changes in HTML5 UI

Chapter 4. Working with Cisco UCS Manager

Cisco UCS Domains and Cisco UCS Central

Registering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

Domain Registration Management

Unregistering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

Viewing Domain Registration Configuration Status

Policies in Cisco UCS Central and Cisco UCS Domains

Policy Resolution between Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central

Consequences of Policy Resolution Changes

Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

Domains and Domain Groups

Creating or Editing a Domain Group

Adding a Domain to a Domain Group

Managing Domain Group SNMP

Domain Group Qualification Policy

Creating or Editing a Domain Group Qualification Policy

Organization

Updating Organization Descriptions

Chapter 5. Tags

Tags and Tag Types

Creating a Tag Type

Adding a Tag

Chapter 6. License Management

Overview

Smart Licensing

Enabling Smart Licensing

Registering UCS Central Using a License Token

Renewing Authorization

Renewing Registration

Deregistering Smart Software Licensing

Disabling Smart Software Licensing

Traditional Licensing

Obtaining a Traditional License

Downloading a License from a Local File System

Downloading a License from a Remote File System

Installing a License

Deleting a Traditional License

Preface

Audience

Conventions

Related Cisco UCS Documentation

Documentation Feedback

Copyright Page

Chapter 1. Overview

- Overview

- Cisco UCS Central User Documentation Reference

Overview

This guide provides an overview of the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) and its key components-Cisco UCS Manager, and Cisco UCS Central.

Cisco UCS Central User Documentation Reference

The Cisco UCS Central following use case-based documents to understand and configure Cisco UCS Central:

Guide

Description

Cisco UCS Central Getting Started Guide

Provides a brief introduction to the Cisco UCS infrastructure, Cisco UCS Manager, and Cisco UCS Central. Includes an overview of the HTML5 UI, how to register Cisco UCS domains in Cisco UCS Central, and how to activate licenses.

Cisco UCS Central Administration Guide

Provides information on administrative tasks, such as user management, communication, firmware management, backup management, and Smart Call Home.

Cisco UCS Central Authentication Guide

Provides information on authentication tasks, such as passwords, users and roles, RBAC, TACACS+, RADIUS, LDAP, and SNMP.

Cisco UCS Central Server Management Guide

Provides information on server management, such as equipment policies, physical inventory, service profiles and templates, server pools, server boot, and server policies.

Cisco UCS Central Storage Management Guide

Provides information on storage management, such as ports and port channels, VSAN and vHBA management, storage pools, storage policies, storage profiles, disk groups, and disk group configuration.

Cisco UCS Central Network Management Guide

Provides information on network management, such as ports and port channels, VLAN and vNIC management, network pools, and network policies.

Cisco UCS Central Operations Guide

Best practices for setting up, configuring, and managing domain groups for small, medium and large deployments.

Cisco UCS Central Troubleshooting Guide

Provides help for common issues in Cisco UCS Central.

Chapter 2. Introduction to Cisco Unified Computing System Infrastructure

- Cisco Unified Computing System Overview

- Cisco UCS Manager Overview

Cisco Unified Computing System Overview

Cisco UCS Architecture

Cisco UCS has a unique architecture that integrates compute, data network access, and storage network access into a common set of components under a single-pane-of-glass management interface.

Cisco UCS fuses access layer networking and servers. This high-performance, next-generation server system provides a data center with a high degree of workload agility and scalability. The hardware and software components support Cisco's unified fabric, which runs multiple types of data center traffic over a single converged network adapter.

Architectural Simplification

The simplified architecture of Cisco UCS reduces the number of required devices and centralizes switching resources. By eliminating switching inside a chassis, network access-layer fragmentation is significantly reduced. Cisco UCS implements Cisco unified fabric within racks and groups of racks, supporting Ethernet and Fibre Channel protocols over 10 Gigabit Cisco Data Center Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) links. This radical simplification reduces the number of switches, cables, adapters, and management points by up to two-thirds. All devices in a Cisco UCS domain remain under a single management domain, which remains highly available through the use of redundant components.

High Availability

The management and data plane of Cisco UCS is designed for high availability and redundant access layer fabric interconnects. In addition, Cisco UCS supports existing high availability and disaster recovery solutions for the data center, such as data replication and application-level clustering technologies.

Scalability

A single Cisco UCS domain supports multiple chassis and their servers, all of which are administered through one Cisco UCS Manager. For more detailed information about the scalability, speak to your Cisco representative.

Flexibility

A Cisco UCS domain allows you to quickly align computing resources in the data center with rapidly changing business requirements. This built-in flexibility is determined by whether you choose to fully implement the stateless computing feature. Pools of servers and other system resources can be applied as necessary to respond to workload fluctuations, support new applications, scale existing software and business services, and accommodate both scheduled and unscheduled downtime. Server identity can be abstracted into a mobile service profile that can be moved from server to server with minimal downtime and no need for additional network configuration. With this level of flexibility, you can quickly and easily scale server capacity without having to change the server identity or reconfigure the server, LAN, or SAN. During a maintenance window, you can quickly do the following:

- Deploy new servers to meet unexpected workload demand and rebalance resources and traffic.

- Shut down an application, such as a database management system, on one server and then boot it up again on another server with increased I/O capacity and memory resources.

Optimized for Server Virtualization

Cisco UCS has been optimized to implement VM-FEX technology. This technology provides improved support for server virtualization, including better policy-based configuration and security, conformance with a company's operational model, and accommodation for VMware's VMotion.

Cisco UCS Manager Overview

Cisco UCS Manager is embedded software that resides on the fabric interconnects, providing complete configuration and management capabilities for all of the components in the Cisco UCS system. This configuration information is replicated between the two fabric interconnects, providing a highly available solution for this critical function. The most common way to access UCS Manager for simple tasks is to use a Web browser to open the Java-based GUI. For command-line or programmatic operations against the system, a command-line interface (CLI) and an XML API are also included with the system.

The Cisco UCS Manager GUI provides role-based access control (RBAC) to allow multiple levels of users granular administrative rights to system objects. Users can be restricted to certain portions of the system based on locale, which corresponds to an optional organizational structure that can be created within the system. Users can also be classified based on their access levels or areas of expertise, such as “Storage Administrator,” “Server Equipment Administrator,” or “Read-Only”. RBAC allows the comprehensive capabilities of the Cisco UCS Manager GUI to be properly shared across multiple individuals or teams within your organization in a flexible, secure manner.

Cisco UCS Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components. Every instance of Cisco UCS Manager and all of the components managed by it form a domain. For organizations that deploy multiple Cisco UCS domains, Cisco UCS Central software providesa centralized user interface that allows you to manage multiple, globallydistributed Cisco UCS domains with thousands of servers. Cisco UCS Central integrates with Cisco UCS Manager and utilizes it to provide globalconfiguration capabilities for pools, policies, and firmware.

Chapter 3. Introduction to Cisco UCS Central

- Introducing Cisco UCS Central

Introducing Cisco UCS Central

Cisco UCS Central provides scalable management solution for growing Cisco UCS environment. Cisco UCS Central simplifies the management of multiple Cisco UCS domains from a single management point through standardization, global policies and global ID pools. Cisco UCS Central does not replace Cisco UCS Manager, which is the policy driven management for single UCS domain. Instead Cisco UCS Central focuses on managing and monitoring the UCS domains on a global level, across multiple individual Cisco UCS Classic and Mini management domains worldwide.

Cisco UCS Central enables you to manage individual or groups of classic, mini or mixed Cisco UCS domains with the following:

- Centralized Inventory of all Cisco UCS components for a definitive view of the entire infrastructure and simplified integration with current Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) processes.

- Centralized, policy-based firmware upgrades that can be applied globally or selectively through automated schedules or as business workloads demand

- Global ID pooling to eliminate identifier conflicts

- Global administrative policies that enable both global and local management of the Cisco UCS domains

- An XML API, building on the Cisco UCS Manager XML API for easy integration into higher-level data center management frameworks

- Remote management to manage various end points in registered Cisco UCS domains

Cisco UCS Central does not reduce or change any local management capabilities of Cisco UCS Manager, such as its API. This allows you to continue usingCisco UCS Manager the same way as when you did not have Cisco UCS Central, and also allows all existing third party integrations to continue to operate without change.

- Cisco UCS Central Features

- Overview of Cisco UCS Central HTML 5 UI

- Using the HTML5 UI

- Common User Interface Options

- Behavior and Design Changes in HTML5 UI

Cisco UCS Central Features

The following table provides a list of features with brief description on the management capabilities of Cisco UCS Central:

Note

For a full list of new features, see the Release Notes for Cisco UCS Central.

Feature

Description

Centralized inventory

Cisco UCS Central automatically aggregates a global inventory of all registered Cisco UCS components, organized by domain, with customizable refresh schedules and provides even easier integration with ITIL processes, with direct access to the inventory through an XML interface.

Centralized fault summary

Cisco UCS Central enables you to view the status of all Cisco UCS infrastructure on the global fault summary panel, with a fault summary organized by domain and fault type. Also provides you the ability to view individual Cisco UCS Manager domains for greater fault detail and more rapid problem resolution. Drilling down on a fault launches the UCS Manager in context for a seamlessly integrated experience.

Centralized, policy-based firmware upgrades

You can download firmware updates automatically from the Cisco.com to a firmware library within Cisco UCS Central. Then schedule automated firmware updates, globally or selectively, based on your business requirements. Managing firmware centrally ensures compliance with IT standards and makes reprovisioning of resources a point-and-click operation.

Global ID pools

Cisco UCS Central eliminates identifier conflicts and ensures portability of software licenses. You are able to centralize the sourcing of all IDs, such as universal user IDs (UUIDs), MAC addresses, IP addresses, and worldwide names (WWNs), from global pools and gain real-time ID use summaries. Centralizing server identifier information makes it simple to move a server identifier between Cisco UCS domains anywhere in the world and reboot an existing workload to run on the new server.

Domain groups

Cisco UCS Central simplifies policy management by providing options to create domain groups and subgroups. A domain group is an arbitrary grouping of Cisco UCS domains that can be used to group systems into geographical or organizational groups. Each domain group can have up to five levels of domain sub groups. This provides you the ability to manage policy exceptions when administering large numbers of Cisco UCS domains. Each sub group has a hierarchical relationship with the parent domain group.

Global administrative policies

Cisco UCS Central helps you to ensure compliance and staff efficiency with global administrative policies. The global policies are defined at the domain group level and can manage anything in the infrastructure, from date and time and user authentication to equipment power and system event log (SEL) policies.

Global service profiles and templates

Global service profiles and templates in Cisco UCS Central enables fast and simplified infrastructure deployment and provides consistency of configurations throughout the enterprise. This feature enables global bare-metal workload mobility very similar to how hypervisor enables virtualized workload mobility.

Backup

Cisco UCS Central provides an automatic backup facility that enables quick and efficient backing up the configuration information of the registered Cisco UCS domains and the UCS Central configuration.

High availability

As with all Cisco UCS solutions, Cisco UCS Central is designed for no single point of failure. High availability for Cisco UCS Central Software allows organizations to run Cisco UCS Central using an active-standby model with a heartbeat that automatically fails over if the active Cisco UCS Central does not respond.

XML API

Cisco UCS Central, just like Cisco UCS Manager, has a high-level industry-standard XML API for interfacing with existing management frameworks and orchestration tools. The XML API for Cisco UCS Central Software is similar to the XML API for Cisco UCS Manager, making integration with high-level managers very fast.

Remote Management

Cisco UCS Central enables you to manage various end points in the registered Cisco UCS domains from one management point. You can manage chassis, servers, fabric interconnects, and fabric extenders from Cisco UCS Central GUI or CLI. You can also access tech support files for registered UCS domains from Cisco UCS Central.

Overview of Cisco UCS Central HTML 5 UI

Cisco UCS Central HTML5 based user interface provides flexibility and task based usability for your management purposes.

The dashboard provides a quick overview of components in the system. You can pin the components you use frequently and customize the dashboard to suit your operational requirements. You can click on any object on the dashboard to go to the related page in the system.

Using the HTML5 UI

Dashboard

You can pin dashboard widgets and customize the dashboard based on your operational requirements. The following describes the basic dashboard structure, and the navigation icons, for performing management tasks:

Item

Description

1

Browse Tables icon. Click to display physical and logical inventory-related entities in the system such as: Domains, Fabric Interconnects, Servers, Chassis, FEX, Hardware Components, vLANs, vSANs, Service Profiles, Templates, Pools, Policies, Schedules, ID Universe, and Tags. Click any of these entities to launch related pages and view details.

2

Organization navigation icon. Click to display org root and other sub organizations in the system. You can click the root, or any suborganization, to launch the details page for a selected organization.

3

Domain group navigation icon. Click to display domain group root and other domain groups in the system. You can click a domain group to launch the details page.

4

Dashboard widget. You can pin any widget on this dashboard. When you mouse over on the widget, other options are enabled on widget's menu bar.

5

Search bar. What are you looking for? You can do the following:

- Select the entity type to search for any entity in the system by name. Empty search string returns all entities.

- Filter search results by location and status when applicable.

- Click an entity in the search results to open the details on a new page.

6

Profile Configuration icon. Click to launch User Preferences and Change Password. From here you can Change Password, Restore Dashboard Defaults, and Show First Launch Experience.

7

System Alerts icon. Click to display and navigate to Pending Activities, System Faults, Domain Faults, Events, Audit Logs, Core Dumps, and Internal Services.

8

System Tools icon. Click to display and navigate to Firmware Management, Backup & Restore, Export & Import, Tech Support, Image Library, Domain Management, Hardware Compatibility Reports, Unified KVM Launcher, Active Sessions, and Start Logging Session.

9

System Configuration icon. Click to display and navigate to System Profiles, System Policies, Users, Authentication, SNMP, Smart Call Home, and Licenses.

10

Help icon. Click to access online help.

11

Log out icon. Click to log out from the active Cisco UCS Central session.

12

Actions bar. What do you want to do? You can Create, Schedule, Install, Export, and Import from here:

- Click the drop-down arrow to display available actions.

- Select a task, or type the task into the actions bar.

- Launch the dialog box to perform the task.

13

Tab navigator. Allows you to navigate through the open tabs, or close all tabs at once.

14

Dashboard widgets library icon. Click to view available widgets. Click the widget to pin it to the dashboard.

15

Refresh icon. Click to refresh the information in all pinned widgets or table pages.

16

Widget menu. From within any widget on the dashboard you can do the following:

- Refresh the displayed information for this widget.

- Unpin this widget from the dashboard.

- Launch the details page for this operation.

- Dashboard Widgets

- Tab Navigator

Dashboard Widgets

Dashboard widgets allow you to customize the dashboard based on your operational requirements. Cisco UCS Central contains the following types of widgets:

Default Widgets

Default widgets are listed in the widgets library on the dashboard. Click the widgets library to pin the widget to the dashboard. The widgets library includes the following widgets:

- Welcome to UCS Central!—Displays introductory links and videos to get you started with Cisco UCS Central.

- UCS Central Basics— Displays basic concepts and flows for Cisco UCS Central.

- Licenses—Displays the total number of licenses and their status.

- Backup & Restore—Displays the current backup and restore status.

- Config Export & Import—Displays the current config export and import status.

- Firmware Management—Displays the total number of scheduled Firmware update jobs.

- Inventory Status—Displays the number of domains, FIs, servers, chassis, and FEX, as well as the overall status.

- ID Universe—Displays the number of IDs that are available or in conflict.

- System Faults—Displays the number of system faults with the top four severities.

Click the Expand icon to view the Faults Log page for all system faults. Click on a fault icon to view the system faults with the selected severity pre-selected.

- Domain Faults—Displays the number of domain faults with the top four severities.

Click the Expand icon to view the Faults Log page for all domain faults. Click on a fault icon to view the domain faults with the selected severity pre-selected.

- Pending Activities—Displays Pending activities. Some may need user acknowledgment.

- Domains—Displays current number of domains registered with Cisco UCS Central.

Table Summary Widgets

Table summary widgets displays the total number of items and the status for the following:

- Domains

- Fabric Interconnects

- Servers

- Chassis

- FEX

- Service Profiles

Up to two status bars can be displayed, with the top four errors displayed in each status bar.

Click the Expand icon to view the full table.

Detailed Instance Summary Widgets

Detailed instance summary widgets display the overall status and fault summary. Click the pin icon to create a widget for the following instances:

- Domain

- Domain Group

- Organization

- Fabric Interconnect

- Server

- Chassis

- FEX

- Service Profile

Click the Expand icon to view the full instance page. Click on a fault icon to view a faults window with the selected severity pre-selected.

Instance Shortcut Widgets

Shortcut widgets create a read-only link to a particular instance of a policy or template. Click the pin icon on an instance to create the widget.

- Adding Table Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

- Adding Instance Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

Adding Table Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Search icon and choose one of the following:

- Domains

- Fabric Interconnects

- Servers

- Chassis

- FEX

- Service Profiles

Step 2

On the table page that displays, click the Pin icon.

Step 3

Click the Dashboard link to view the new widget.

Adding Instance Summary Widgets to the Dashboard

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Search icon and select one of the following:

- Domains

- Fabric Interconnects

- Servers

- Chassis

- FEX

- Service Profiles

Step 2

Click on an instance.

Step 3

On the instance page that displays, click the Pin icon.

Step 4

Click the Dashboard link to view the new widget.

Tab Navigator

The tab navigator appears on all screens, and allows you to navigate quickly through the tabs that you have opened. You can also close all tabs at once.

- Using the Tab Navigator

Using the Tab Navigator

Procedure

Step 1

On the tab bar, click the drop-down on the far right.
A list of all currently opened tabs is displayed.

Step 2

Select the tab that you want to navigate to, or select Close All Tabs to close all of the tabs.
Note:
You cannot close the dashboard tab.

Common User Interface Options

The following table describes user interface options:

Icon

Label

Description

Acknowledge

Acknowledge the changes most recently made.

Acknowledge reboot

Grant permission for Cisco UCS Central to reboot the selected hardware.

Add

Add the settings selected.

Apply

Apply the settings that you configured.

Browse Tables

Display physical and logical inventory entities in the system.

Dashboard

Access to the Dashboard widgets.

Delete

Delete selected items.

Domain Group Navigation

Search through all of the registered domains.

Download and Import Selected Images

Download and import selected images from the Image Library.

Download CSV file

Download data in table as a *.csv (comma delineated) file.

Download PDF file

Download data in table as a *.pdf (Adobe PDF) file.

Download XLS file

Download data in table as an *.xls (Microsoft Excel) file.

Dual Table View

Splits the table view into two views.

Edit

Edit the item selected.

Launch

Launch the submenu for the selected item.

Organization Navigation

Access to organizations and their service profiles, templates, pools, policies, and permitted vLANs.

Pin

Pin the widget to the dashboard.

Profile Configuration

Configure user settings, such as password and preferences.

Register Domain

Register a Cisco UCS Manager domain with Cisco UCS Central.

Re-run report

Re-run the Hardware Compatibility List report.

Reset

Reset service profile assigned IDs manually.

Share tab

Copy a service profile's URL. When you send the link to another user, it opens to the same view. The other user does not have to search for the view.

System Alerts

Access to system alerts menu, logs, faults, core dumps, internal services, events, and pending activities.

System Configuration

Access to the system configuration menu when on the system level. In other views, configuration menu is contextual.

Tag

Tag items to assign them to groups for specific functions.

Tools

Access to the system tools menu when on the system level. In other views, tools menu is contextual.

Unregister Domain

Unregister a Cisco UCS Manager domain from Cisco UCS Central.

Usage Table

Opens a table to show data associated with the object.

Behavior and Design Changes in HTML5 UI

Deprecation Announcement for Cisco UCS M-Series Modular Servers

Cisco UCS M-Series Modular Servers have been deprecated and will not be supported in Cisco UCS Central release 1.5.

Feature Support

RDM-based shared storage for Cisco UCS Central HA configurations are no longer supported with Cisco UCS Central release 1.5.

The following features that are available in the older flash-based user interface are not supported in the HTML5 user interface at this time:

- Policy Import

- Threshold Policy

- Statistics

Note

Any functionality introduced in Cisco UCS Central release 1.4(1a) and newer releases will be available in the HTML 5 user interface only.

Behavior Changes Based on Design

- You must create the global service profile template before you can create a service profile.

- vNIC and vHBA Placement is now referred to as Interface Placement.

- Registration Policy is now referred to as Domain Group Qualification Policy.

- ID Range Qualification Policy is now referred to as ID Range Access Control Policy.

- There are no qualified IP addresses for ID Range Access Control Policy.

- Only the configuration export (all-config) and backup (full-state) options are used in Cisco UCS Central. Other backup types such as config logical and config system are not supported.

Chapter 4. Working with Cisco UCS Manager

- Cisco UCS Domains and Cisco UCS Central

- Policies in Cisco UCS Central and Cisco UCS Domains

- Domains and Domain Groups

- Domain Group Qualification Policy

- Organization

Cisco UCS Domains and Cisco UCS Central

Cisco UCS Central provides centralized management capabilities to multiple Cisco UCS domains across one or more data centers. Cisco UCS Central works with Cisco UCS Manager to provide a scalable management solution for a growing Cisco UCS environment.

Cisco UCS Central does not reduce or change any local management capabilities of Cisco UCS Manager, such as its API. This allows you to continue using Cisco UCS Manager the same way you did before Cisco UCS Central. This also allows all existing third party integrations to continue to operate without change.

Registering Cisco UCS Domains

To manage Cisco UCS Manager through Cisco UCS Central, you must register the Cisco UCS domains in Cisco UCS Central. You can register a Cisco UCS domain as a part of a domain group or as an ungrouped domain. When you have a domain group, all registered domains in the domain group can share common policies and other configurations.

You can use a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) or IP address to register Cisco UCS domains in Cisco UCS Central.

Note

During the initial registration process with Cisco UCS Central, all of the active Cisco UCS Manager GUI sessions are terminated.

Before registering a domain in Cisco UCS Central, do the following:

- Configure an NTP server and the correct time zone in both Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central to ensure that they are in sync. If the time and date in the Cisco UCS domain and Cisco UCS Central are out of sync, the registration might fail.

- Obtain the hostname or IP address of Cisco UCS Central. You cannot use the same hostname for both Cisco UCS Central and Cisco UCS Manager. For standalone mode, use individual VM IP address. If you plan to setup in cluster mode, use virtual IP address.

Note

We recommend that you always register Cisco UCS domains using a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN).

- Obtain the shared secret that you configured when you deployed Cisco UCS Central.

Note

- If you register Cisco UCS domains using a domain name, Cisco UCS Manager can gracefully move to a different IP address.

If you register a Cisco UCS domain in Cisco UCS Central using an IP address, you cannot change or swap the IP address used by Cisco UCS Manager. If you need to change or swap the IP address, you must contact Cisco TAC.

- You can register or un-register a Cisco UCS domain using Cisco UCS Manager GUI or CLI.

- If Cisco UCS Central is deployed on RHEL 7.2 KVM, the first time you register a Cisco UCS domain, you must regenerate the certificate using the set regenerate yes command.

- If the registered Cisco UCS domains have a latency of greater than 300ms for a round trip from Cisco UCS Central, there might be some performance implications for the Cisco UCS domains.

- When you unregister a Cisco UCS domain from Cisco UCS Central the global service profiles become local service profiles in Cisco UCS Manager.

Warning

You must upgrade to Cisco UCS Manager Release 2.1(2) or greater before registering with Cisco UCS Central. If you try to register earlier versions of Cisco UCS Manager, the registration will fail.

- Registering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

- Domain Registration Management

- Unregistering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

- Viewing Domain Registration Configuration Status

Registering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

Before You Begin

Configure an NTP server and set the correct time zone in both Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central.

To register using the Cisco UCS Central hostname, you must also configure a DNS server. The DNS record must be created properly, and the DNS configuration must be in place for both Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Actions bar, type Register Domain to UCS Central and press Enter.

Step 2

On the Domain to UCS Central dialog box, on the Basic tab, enter the Cisco UCS domain hostname or IP address, user name, and password.

Step 3

Choose the network interface for Cisco UCS Central that supports the format you selected for the Cisco UCS domain.
The following combinations are supported:

Cisco UCS Central IPv4

Cisco UCS Central IPv6

Cisco UCS Central Hostname

Cisco UCS Manager IPv4

Supported

Not supported

Not supported

Cisco UCS Manager IPv6

Not supported

Supported

Supported

Cisco UCS Manager Hostname

Supported

Supported

Supported

Step 4

On the Policy Resolution Control tab, choose whether the policy resolution will occur in locally in Cisco UCS Manager, or be globally controlled by Cisco UCS Central.
Note:
The policy resolution options in Cisco UCS Central are not supported on all versions of Cisco UCS Manager. If your Cisco UCS Manager version is earlier than the earliest supported release, the policy resolution screen may display the value as global even if it is not applicable.

Name

Earliest Supported Release

Description

Infrastructure & Catalog Firmware

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Capability Catalog and infrastructure firmware policy are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or come from Cisco UCS Central.

Time Zone Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether the time zone and NTP server settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or comes from Cisco UCS Central.

Communication Services

2.1(2)

Determines whether HTTP, CIM XML, Telnet, SNMP, web session limits, and Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Global Fault Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Global Fault Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

User Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether authentication and native domains, LDAP, RADIUS, TACACS+, trusted points, locales, and user roles are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

DNS Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether DNS servers are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Backup & Export Policies

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Full State Backup Policy and All Configuration Export Policy are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Monitoring

2.1(2)

Determines whether Call Home, Syslog, and TFTP Core Exporter settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

SEL Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the SEL Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Power Allocation Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Power Allocation Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Power Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Power Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Equipment Policy

2.2(7)

Determines whether the Equipment Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Port Configuration

2.2(7)

Determines whether port configuration is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Quality of Service (QoS) Configuration

2.2(7)

Determines whether QoS configuration is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Note:
The infrastructure and catalog firmware policy is set to local by default. All other policies are set to global.

Step 5

Click Register.

Domain Registration Management

On the Domain Management page, you can view the domain registrations and lost domains.

Domain Registrations

The Domain Registrations tab displays all Cisco UCS domains that you have attempted to register to Cisco UCS Central.

From this tab, you can do the following:

- Filter the Cisco UCS domains that are displayed.

- Delete Cisco UCS domains that failed to register.

- Retry the registration process.

- View the configuration status of the Cisco UCS domain.

- Unregister a successfully registered domain.

Important:
We recommend that you contact Cisco TAC before attempting to unregister a Cisco UCS domain.

Lost Domains

The Lost Domains tab displays all Cisco UCS domains that have lost connectivity. These domains may or may not be listed as Registered. You can delete these domains.

Unregistering a Cisco UCS Domain in Cisco UCS Central

Caution

If you want to unregister any registered Cisco UCS Domain in a production system, contact Cisco Technical Support.

When you unregister a Cisco UCS Domain from Cisco UCS Central:

- You can no longer manage the service profiles, policies, and other configuration for the Cisco UCS Domain from Cisco UCS Central.

- All global service profiles and policies become local and continue to operate as local entities. When you reregister the domain, the service profiles and polices remain local.

Note

You can also choose to remove the service profiles and policies entirely.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Tools icon and select Domain Management.

Step 2

On the Domain Management page, click the Domain Registration tab and choose the domain that you want to unregister.

Step 3

Click the Unregister Domain icon.

Step 4

Click Unregister Domain to continue.

Step 5

Choose the cleanup mode that you want to use:

- Deep Remove Global—Removes all policies inherited from the global configuration.

- Localize Global—Turns all global policies into local policies.

Step 6

Click Unregister Domain.

Viewing Domain Registration Configuration Status

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Tools icon and choose Domain Management.

Step 2

Locate the domain that you want to view, and click Configuration Status.
The Domain Registrations Configuration Status page displays the status of the registration.

Step 3

Click Close to close the window.

Policies in Cisco UCS Central and Cisco UCS Domains

You can create and manage global policies in Cisco UCS Central and include them in service profiles or service profile templates for one or more Cisco UCS domains. The service profiles and service profile templates that include global policies can be either of the following:

- Local service profiles or service profile templates that are created and managed by Cisco UCS Manager in one Cisco UCS domain. You can only associate local service profiles with servers in that domain. When you include a global policy in a local service profile, Cisco UCS Manager makes a local read-only copy of that policy.

- Global service profiles or service profile templates that are created and managed by Cisco UCS Central. You can associate global service profiles with servers in one or more registered Cisco UCS domains.

You can only make changes to global policies in Cisco UCS Central. Those changes affect all service profiles and service profile templates that include the global policy. All global policies are read-only in Cisco UCS Manager.

You can configure all operational policies under a domain group using IPv6 addresses. These policies are located in the Operations Management tab of the Cisco UCS Central GUI.

This feature helps the Cisco UCS Manager to use an IPv6 address while importing these policies from Cisco UCS Central.

- Policy Resolution between Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central

- Consequences of Policy Resolution Changes

- Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

Policy Resolution between Cisco UCS Manager and Cisco UCS Central

For each Cisco UCS domain that you register with Cisco UCS Central, you can choose which application will manage certain policies and configuration settings. This policy resolution does not have to be the same for every Cisco UCS domain that you register with the same Cisco UCS Central.

You have the following options for resolving these policies and configuration settings:

- Local—The policy or configuration is determined and managed by Cisco UCS Manager.

- Global—The policy or configuration is determined and managed by Cisco UCS Central.

The following table contains a list of the policies and configuration settings that you can choose to have managed by either Cisco UCS Manager or Cisco UCS Central:

Note

The policy resolution options in Cisco UCS Central are not supported on all versions of Cisco UCS Manager. If your Cisco UCS Manager version is earlier than the earliest supported release, the policy resolution screen may display the value as global even if it is not applicable.

Name

Earliest Supported Release

Description

Infrastructure & Catalog Firmware

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Capability Catalog and infrastructure firmware policy are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or come from Cisco UCS Central.

Time Zone Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether the time zone and NTP server settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or comes from Cisco UCS Central.

Communication Services

2.1(2)

Determines whether HTTP, CIM XML, Telnet, SNMP, web session limits, and Management Interfaces Monitoring Policy settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Global Fault Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Global Fault Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

User Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether authentication and native domains, LDAP, RADIUS, TACACS+, trusted points, locales, and user roles are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

DNS Management

2.1(2)

Determines whether DNS servers are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Backup & Export Policies

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Full State Backup Policy and All Configuration Export Policy are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Monitoring

2.1(2)

Determines whether Call Home, Syslog, and TFTP Core Exporter settings are defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

SEL Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the SEL Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Power Allocation Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Power Allocation Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Power Policy

2.1(2)

Determines whether the Power Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Equipment Policy

2.2(7)

Determines whether the Equipment Policy is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Port Configuration

2.2(7)

Determines whether port configuration is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Quality of Service (QoS) Configuration

2.2(7)

Determines whether QoS configuration is defined locally in Cisco UCS Manager or in Cisco UCS Central.

Consequences of Policy Resolution Changes

When you register a Cisco UCS domain, you configure policies for local or global resolution. The behavior that occurs when the Cisco UCS domain is registered or when that registration or configuration changes, depends upon several factors, including whether a domain group has been assigned or not.

The following table describes the policy resolution behavior you can expect for each type of policy.

Policies and Configuration

Policy Source

Behavior in Cisco UCS Manager on Registration with Cisco UCS Central

Behavior in Cisco UCS Manager when Registration Changed

Cisco UCS Central

Cisco UCS Manager

Domain Group Unassigned

Domain Group Assigned

Unassigned from Domain Group

Deregistered from Cisco UCS Central

Call Home

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

SNMP configuration

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

HTTP

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Telnet

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

CIM XML

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Management interfaces monitoring policy

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Power allocation policy

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Power policy (also known as the PSU policy)

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

SEL policy

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Authentication Domains

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

LDAP

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

LDAP provider groups and group maps

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

TACACS, including provider groups

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

RADIUS, including provider groups

N/A

Cisco UCS Manager only

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

SSH (Read-only)

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

DNS

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Time zone

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Web Sessions

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Fault

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Core Export

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Syslog

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Global Backup/Export Policy

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Default Authentication

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Console Authentication

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Can be local or remote

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Roles

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Combine (Remote replacing Local)

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Locales - Org Locales

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Combine (Remote replacing Local)

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Trust Points

Domain group root

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Combine (Remote replacing Local)

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Firmware Download Policy

Domain group root

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

ID Soaking Policy

Domain group root

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Locales - Domain Group Locales

Domain group root

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

Infrastructure Firmware Packs

N/A

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote (if Remote exists)

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Catalog

N/A

Assigned domain group

Local

Local/Remote (if Remote exists)

Retains last known policy state

Converted to a local policy

Maintenance Policy

Schedule

Host Firmware Packs

N/A

Assigned domain group

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Maintenance Policy

Schedule

Host Firmware Packs

N/A

Assigned domain group

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Maintenance Policy

Schedule

Host Firmware Packs

N/A

Assigned domain group

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

See Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

Deletes remote policies

Converted to a local policy

Consequences of Service Profile Changes on Policy Resolution

For certain policies, the policy resolution behavior is also affected by whether or not one or more service profiles that include that policy have been updated.

The following table describes the policy resolution behavior you can expect for those policies.

Policy

Behavior in Cisco UCS Manager on Registration with Cisco UCS Central

Domain Group Assigned after Registration with Cisco UCS Central

Domain Group Unassigned / Domain Group Assigned

Service Profile not Modified

Service Profile Modified

Maintenance Policy

Note:
If you are using a global maintenance policy in a local service profile, all pending activities must be acknowledged on the Cisco UCS Central Pending Activities page.

Local

Local, but any "default" policies are updated on domain group assignment

Local/Remote (if resolved to "default" post registration)

Schedule

Local

Local, but any "default" policies are updated on domain group assignment

Local/Remote (if resolved to "default" post registration)

Host Firmware Packages

Local

Local, but any "default" policies are updated on domain group assignment

Local/Remote (if resolved to "default" post registration)

Domains and Domain Groups

When you register a Cisco UCS Manager instance in Cisco UCS Central, that instance becomes an ungrouped domain in Cisco UCS Central. You must assign this domain to a domain group to start managing this domain using global policies in Cisco UCS Central.

Cisco UCS Central creates a hierarchy of Cisco UCS domain groups for managing multiple Cisco UCS domains.

- Domain Group— A group that contains multiple Cisco UCS domains. You can group similar Cisco UCS domains under one domain group for simpler management.

- Ungrouped Domains—When a new Cisco UCS domain is registered in Cisco UCS Central, it is added to the ungrouped domains. You can assign the ungrouped domain to any domain group.

If you have created a domain group policy, and a new registered Cisco UCS domain meets the qualifiers defined in the policy, it is automatically be placed under the domain group specified in the policy. If not, it is placed in the ungrouped domains category until the domain group is assigned to a domain group.

You can only assign each Cisco UCS domain to one domain group. You can assign or reassign membership of the Cisco UCS domains at any time. When you assign a Cisco UCS domain to a domain group, the Cisco UCS domain automatically inherits all management policies specified for the domain group.

Before adding a Cisco UCS domain to a domain group, make sure to change the policy resolution controls to local in the Cisco UCS domain. This avoids accidentally overwriting service profiles and maintenance policies specific to that Cisco UCS domain. Even when you have enabled auto discovery for the Cisco UCS domains, enabling local policy resolution protects the Cisco UCS domain from accidentally overwriting policies.

- Creating or Editing a Domain Group

- Adding a Domain to a Domain Group

- Managing Domain Group SNMP

Creating or Editing a Domain Group

Procedure

Step 1

In the Actions bar, type Create Domain Group and press Enter.

Step 2

In the Domain Group dialog box, click Basic and choose the Domain Group Location in which you want to create the domain group.

Step 3

Enter a Name and optional Description.
The name is case sensitive.

Step 4

In Qualification, select the Qualification Policies that you want to use to identify the Cisco UCS Manager domains.
All domains that meet the qualification policy are automatically added to the domain group.

Step 5

In Domains, select the Cisco UCS Manager domains that you want to add to the domain group.

Step 6

Click Create.

Adding a Domain to a Domain Group

Procedure

Step 1

In the Actions bar, type Assign Domain to Domain Group.

Step 2

In the Domain to Domain Group dialog box, in the Domain drop-down, select the Cisco UCS Manager domain that you want to add to the domain group.
Note:
You can also select a domain, click the Operations icon, and select Assign Domain to Domain Group. In this case, the Cisco UCS Manager domain is pre-populated in the Domain drop-down.

Step 3

In the Domain Group Location drop-down, select domain group where you want to add the domain.

Step 4

Click Assign.

Managing Domain Group SNMP

Procedure

Step 1

Click the Domain Group Navigation icon and choose a domain group.

Step 2

Click the Configuration icon and choose SNMP.

Step 3

In Basic, click Enabled, then enter the Community/User Name.
Cisco UCS includes the SNMP v1 or v2c community name or the SNMP v3 username when it sends the trap to the SNMP host. This must be the same as the community or username that is configured in SNMP Traps.

Step 4

Enter the optional System Contact and System Location.

Step 5

In SNMP Traps, click Add and complete the following:

1. Enter the same Community/User Name from the Basic section.

2. Enter the Port, and select values for the SNMP Version, the Type, and the V3 Privilege.

Step 6

In SNMP Users, click Add and complete the following:

1. Enter the SNMP User Name.

2. Select the Authentication Type and whether to enable AES-128 Encryption.

3. Enter and confirm the values for the password and privacy password.

Step 7

Click Save.

Domain Group Qualification Policy

Domain group qualification policy enables you to automatically place new Cisco UCS domains under domain groups. You can create qualifiers based on Owner, Site and IP Address of various Cisco UCS domains based on your management requirements. When you register a new Cisco UCS domain, Cisco UCS Central analyses the domain based on the pre defined qualifiers in the domain group qualification policy and places the domain under a specific domain group for management.

- Creating or Editing a Domain Group Qualification Policy

Creating or Editing a Domain Group Qualification Policy

Procedure

Step 1

In the Actions bar, type Create Domain Group Qualification Policy and press Enter.

Step 2

In the Domain Group Qualification Policy dialog box, click Basic and choose the Organization in which you want to create the domain group qualification policy.

Step 3

Enter a Name and optional Description.
The policy name is case sensitive.

Step 4

In Owner, enter the owner name and regex.

Step 5

In Site, enter the site name and regex.

Step 6

In IP Address, add the IP address ranges.

Step 7

Click Create.

Organization

The Organization page enables you to view logical entities created under an organization that exists in a registered Cisco UCS domain.

Click one of the following icons to launch the specific page.

- Service Profiles—Displays all service profiles in the organization.

- Service Profile Templates—Displays all service profile templates in the organization.

- Pools—Displays all pools in the organization.

- Policies—Displays all policies in the organization.

- Permitted VLANs—Displays VLANs permitted in the organization.

- Updating Organization Descriptions

Updating Organization Descriptions

After an organization is created, you can update the description.

Procedure

Step 1

From the Organization page, click the Edit icon.

Step 2

In the Edit Organization dialog box, enter the Description for the organization.

Step 3

Click Save.

Chapter 5. Tags

- Tags and Tag Types

Tags and Tag Types

Cisco UCS Central uses tags to allow users to group objects outside of the Organization or Domain Group structures. You can use the following types of tags:

- System-defined tags—Tags that are defined by Cisco UCS Central. This includes the Maintenance Group tag, the Operating System for HCR tag, and the Adapter Driver for HCR tag.

- User-defined tags—Tags that are created by users but have specific values.

- Basic tags—Free text tags that can allow any value.

From the Tag Management page in the GUI, you can view all Tags and Tag Types that have been created in Cisco UCS Central.

- Creating a Tag Type

- Adding a Tag

Creating a Tag Type

Only users with the Tag permission can create tag types.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Actions bar, type Create Tag Type and press Enter.

Step 2

In the Basic tab, enter the Name and optional Description.

Step 3

Select a color to assign to the tag, or accept the default.

Step 4

Choose whether you want to allow this tag to be assigned more than once to the same object.

Step 5

Choose one of the following:

- Free Text—Allows any text to be entered when the tag is assigned.

- Predefined List—You can create a list of values, or add additional values to a list of values. When the tag is assigned, you choose one of the values from the list.

Click the Values tab to add the specific values.

Step 6

Click Create.

Adding a Tag

You can add tags to policies, logical resources such as service profiles and ID pools, and physical inventory components such as domains or servers.

Procedure

Step 1

Navigate to the item that you want to tag.

Step 2

Click the Tag icon.

Step 3

In the Add Tag drop-down, select the tag type that you want to use.
Note:
All user-defined tag types are displayed, but only system-defined tag types that can be applied to the specific object are listed. For example, you cannot apply a Maintenance Group tag type to a VLAN, so that tag type is hidden.

Step 4

Enter the values for the tag or select the tag value from the drop-down list.

Step 5

Click Add.

Chapter 6. License Management

- Overview

Overview

Cisco Smart licensing is simple, flexible and a smart way of procuring, deploying and managing licenses in your environment. For more information on smart licensing, see Click Here

You can have smart licensing and traditional licensing in your system at the same time. But only one type of licensing can be active. The following table describes the differences between traditional and smart licensing:

Traditional Licensing

Smart Licensing

Licenses are associated with registered domains.

Dynamic licensing. Licenses are associated with products and transferable within the virtual account.

You must obtain a license and manually download and install it on each device in Cisco UCS Central.

No license installation is necessary. The device initiates an HTTPS call home session and requests the licenses that it is configured to use.

Licenses are associated with specific domains.

License pools are account-specific. Any device in your company can use them.

Licenses are not easily transferable from one device to another.

Licenses can be transferred between product instances without any software installation. You can transfer unused licenses from one virtual account to another.

- Smart Licensing

- Traditional Licensing

Smart Licensing

Smart licenses are server based licenses. You will purchase, deploy and track licenses for servers instead of domains. Instead of registering individual products with license files or PAKs, Smart Licensing provides the option to create a pool of licenses that can be used across your company's portfolio.

Smart licensing uses Virtual Accounts, Product Instances and Registration Tokens to procure, deploy and manage licenses in your environment.

Virtual Accounts

Virtual accounts are collections of licenses and product instances. You can create virtual accounts in Cisco Smart Software Manager to organize the licenses for your company into logical entities. You can use virtual accounts to organize licenses by business unit, product type, IT group, or whatever makes sense for your organization. For example, if you segregate your company into different geographic regions, you can create a virtual account for each region to hold the licenses and product instances for that region.

All new licenses and product instances are placed in a virtual account. You choose the virtual account when you register a product instance. You can transfer existing licenses or product instances from one virtual account to another.

For more information on creating virtual accounts in Cisco Smart Software Manager, see Click Here .

Product Instances

A Cisco UCS Central product instance has a unique device identifier (UDI) that is registered using a product instance registration token. You can register several instances of a product with a single registration token. Each product instance can have one or more licenses that reside in the same virtual account.

Registration Tokens

Registration tokens are stored in the Product Instance Registration Token Table that is associated with your smart account. After you enable Smart Licensing in Cisco UCS Central, you can generate a new token in a virtual account on the Smart Software Licensing portal to register in Cisco UCS Central.

For more information on creating virtual accounts in Cisco Smart Software Manager, see Click Here .

Obtaining Licenses

To obtain licenses using smart licensing, you will have to do the following:

- Generate tokens in Cisco Smart Software Manager virtual accounts.

- Register licenses for product instances in Cisco UCS Central.

The following illustrations explains the smart licensing process:

1

Registration request

The Smart Licensing 90-evaluation period starts when the product instance begins using the licensing feature. It not renewable. When the evaluation period expires, the agent sends a notification to the platform.

2

Authorization renewal

Authorization requests can result in an Authorized or Out of Compliance (OOC) response, or in an error due to a communication failure. Authorization periods are renewed every 30 days as long as authorization requests return Authorized or Out of Compliance (OOC) responses. When the authorization period expires, the agent continues to retry renewal with authorization requests. If successful, a new authorization period starts. If ID cert renewal (authorization renewal) fails, the product instance moves to an Unidentified state and begins consuming the evaluation period.

- Enabling Smart Licensing

- Registering UCS Central Using a License Token

- Renewing Authorization

- Renewing Registration

- Deregistering Smart Software Licensing

- Disabling Smart Software Licensing

Enabling Smart Licensing

Before You Begin

Make sure you have enabled Smart Call Home before enabling Smart Licensing. Enabling Smart Call Home includes the following:

- Specify a DNS server.

- Set up Smart Call Home.

- Make sure your Smart Call Home URL is correct. This is the URL the system uses to connect to the smart license server.

Note

Although you must enable Smart Call Home, a Smart Call Home contract ID is not required to use Smart Licensing.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

Click Enable Smart Software Licensing.
System enables smart licensing and information related to traditional licensing is replaced smart licensing related information.

Registering UCS Central Using a License Token

Before You Begin

Make sure Smart Licensing is enabled.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

Click the Smart Software Manager link to go to the Smart Software Manager portal.

Step 3

In the Smart Software Manager portal:

1. Select a Cisco UCS Central virtual account.

2. Click New Token in the Product Instance Registration Tokens panel and select Copy.

Step 4

In the Cisco UCS Central Smart Software Licensing panel, click Register Smart Software Licensing.

Step 5

In the Register Smart Licensing dialog box, paste the new token you generated in the Product Instance Registration Token text box.

Step 6

Click Register.

You will receive notifications on registration in progress, successful registration or failure to register. If there are problems with your Smart Call Home settings, a Failed message will appear with a link to the Call Home Configuration.

Renewing Authorization

License authorization is used to show if you have enough licenses for your system, or if you are out of compliance. Authorization is renewed automatically by the Smart Licensing agent every 30 days, provided the network is up and Cisco UCS Central can reach the Smart License server.

If authorization is not renewed for 90 days, the authorization will expire.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

In the Cisco UCS Central Smart Software Licensing panel, click the Tools menu.

Step 3

Select Renew Authorization Now.

Renewing Registration

The agent automatically renews the Smart Software Licensing registration certificate or the ID certificate every six months. Certification lasts for one year. If Cisco UCS Central cannot communicate with the Smart License Server, it may fail to renew the certificate. If this occurs, the certification will revert to evaluation state after one year.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

In the Cisco UCS Central Smart Software Licensing panel, click the Tools menu.

Step 3

Select Renew Registration Now.

Deregistering Smart Software Licensing

When you deregister a product instance from Smart Software Licensing, the product will not be associated with the license. The product will be removed from the list of registered products for the associated virtual account. You can use the license to register another product, or reregister a product that has been deregistered.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

In the Cisco UCS Central Smart Software Licensing panel, click the Tools menu.

Step 3

Select Deregister to remove Cisco UCS Central from Smart Software Manager.

Disabling Smart Software Licensing

If you disable Smart Software Licensing, Cisco UCS Central automatically returns to the Traditional Licensing mode.

Note

Only one licensing mode is supported at a time.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

In the Cisco UCS Central Smart Software Licensing panel, click the Action menu.

Step 3

Select Disable Smart Software Licensing.

Traditional Licensing

Traditional PAK-based licensing uses domain-based licenses instead of the product-based license that Smart Licensing offers. You can manage domain licenses through the Cisco UCS Central GUI or CLI.

You have a 120 day grace period to evaluate Cisco UCS Central at no cost. The grace period is measured from the day you register your first Cisco UCS domain and is stored in the system. Unregistering a domain from the system does not reset the grace period. For example, if you register a domain, use 40 days of the grace period, and then unregister after 40 days, the system records the 40 days in association with that domain. If you register this Cisco UCS domain again, the grace period for the domain resumes and indicates that you have used 40 days.

You must obtain and install a valid domain license before the grace period expires. If you do not the system generates multiple faults as a reminder to procure a license.

- Obtaining a Traditional License

- Downloading a License from a Local File System

- Downloading a License from a Remote File System

- Installing a License

- Deleting a Traditional License

Obtaining a Traditional License

Before You Begin

Obtain the Product Authorization Key (PAK) from the claim certification or other proof of purchase documentation.

Procedure

Step 1

On the menu bar, click System Configuration icon and select Licenses.
This launches a License information page.

Step 2

Click UCS Central GUID link and copy the GUID to your clipboard. The GUID is unique to each Cisco UCS Central instance for obtaining licenses.

Step 3

Click Cisco SWIFT to open the Product License Registration portal.
Videos on this page provide information on software licensing features and operations.

Step 4

Login and click Continue to Product License Registration.

Step 5

On the Product License Registration page, enter the PAK in the Get New Licenses field and click Fulfill.

Step 6

On the Assign SKUs to Devices page, check the Quantity Available checkbox next to the PAK that you entered.

Step 7

Enter the GUID in the GUID field, and click Assign.

Step 8

Click Next.

Step 9

On the Review page, enter your email address, select the user ID, and check the License Agreement checkbox.

Step 10

Click Get License.
Cisco sends you the license zip file by email. The license file is digitally signed to authorize use on only the specified Cisco UCS domain.

Caution:
After you obtain the license file, you must not tamper with the license code. Any manual edits from your part breaks the tamper proof, and disables the license.

What to Do Next

Unzip the license file and install it.

Downloading a License from a Local File System

Before You Begin

To download a license from the local file system to Cisco UCS Central, make sure you have the following:

- A Cisco product license saved it to your local system.

- Administrative permission for Cisco UCS Central to perform this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.
This launches the License information page.

Step 2

Click Install License.

Step 3

Click Local

Step 4

In the Filename dialog box, type the full path and the name of the license.
If you do not know the exact path to the folder where the license is located, click Choose File to navigate and select the file.

Step 5

Click Install.
Cisco UCS Central downloads the license.

Downloading a License from a Remote File System

Before You Begin

To download a license from a remote location to Cisco UCS Central, make sure you have the following:

- A Cisco product license saved it to a remote location.

- The username and password required to access an FTP, SCP, or SFTP server if necessary.

- Administrative permission for Cisco UCS Central to perform this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and select Licenses.
This launches a License information page.

Step 2

Click Install License.

Step 3

In the Download License dialog box, click Remote.

Step 4

Select the protocol to use to communicate with the remote server.

- FTP

- TFTP

- SCP

- SFTP

Step 5

In the Path field, enter the absolute path to the license file on the remote server, if required.
If you use SCP, the absolute path is always required. If you use any other protocol, you may not need to specify a remote path if the file resides in the default download folder. For details about how your file server is configured, contact your system administrator.

Step 6

In the User Name field, enter the user name to log into the remote server.
If you selected TFTP, this field does not apply.

Step 7

In the Password field, enter the password for the remote server user name.
If you selected TFTP, this field does not apply.

Step 8

Click Install.
Cisco UCS Central downloads the license.

Installing a License

Make sure the license is downloaded in Cisco UCS Central.

Procedure

Step 1

On the menu bar, click System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.

Step 2

Click the Install icon.
Launches the License Install dialog box.

Step 3

In the License Install dialog box, select Local or Remote file location, enter required information and select the license file.

Step 4

Click Install.
The Overall License Status column displays the status of the installation. When you initiate the installation, the status in this column displays Install-pending. After the license is installed, the status changes to Installed.

Deleting a Traditional License

You can delete a traditional license that is not associated with a registered UCS domain, from Cisco UCS Central. If you want to delete a license that is associated to a UCS domain, make sure to unregister the domain before deleting the license. When you delete a license, the system automatically adjusts the available license count.

Important:
Deleting a license from Cisco UCS Central removes only the license file from the system. If you try to download the same license after deleting it from the system, you might encounter a download license error. So when you delete a license, you must delete the associated download task for that license.

Procedure

Step 1

Click the System Configuration icon and choose Licenses.
This launches a License information page.

Step 2

Select the license you want to uninstall.

Step 3

Click Delete.

Step 4

Click Yes in the confirmation dialog box. The license file is deleted from Cisco UCS Central.

Preface

- Audience

- Conventions

- Related Cisco UCS Documentation

- Documentation Feedback

Audience

This guide is intended primarily for data center administrators with responsibilities and expertise in one or more of the following:

- Server administration

- Storage administration

- Network administration

- Network security

Conventions

Text Type

Indication

GUI elements

GUI elements such as tab titles, area names, and field labels appear in this font.

Main titles such as window, dialog box, and wizard titles appear in this font.

Document titles

Document titles appear in this font.

TUI elements

In a Text-based User Interface, text the system displays appears in this font.

System output

Terminal sessions and information that the system displays appear in this font.

CLI commands

CLI command keywords appear in this font.

Variables in a CLI command appear in this font.

[ ]

Elements in square brackets are optional.

{x | y | z}

Required alternative keywords are grouped in braces and separated by vertical bars.

[x | y | z]

Optional alternative keywords are grouped in brackets and separated by vertical bars.

string

A nonquoted set of characters. Do not use quotation marks around the string or the string will include the quotation marks.

< >

Nonprinting characters such as passwords are in angle brackets.

[ ]

Default responses to system prompts are in square brackets.

!, #

An exclamation point (!) or a pound sign (#) at the beginning of a line of code indicates a comment line.

Note

Means reader take note. Notes contain helpful suggestions or references to material not covered in the document.

Tip

Means the following information will help you solve a problem. The tips information might not be troubleshooting or even an action, but could be useful information, similar to a Timesaver.

Timesaver

Means the described action saves time. You can save time by performing the action described in the paragraph.

Caution

Means reader be careful. In this situation, you might perform an action that could result in equipment damage or loss of data.

Warning

IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS

This warning symbol means danger. You are in a situation that could cause bodily injury. Before you work on any equipment, be aware of the hazards involved with electrical circuitry and be familiar with standard practices for preventing accidents. Use the statement number provided at the end of each warning to locate its translation in the translated safety warnings that accompanied this device.

SAVE THESE INSTRUCTIONS

Related Cisco UCS Documentation

Documentation Roadmaps

For a complete list of all B-Series documentation, see the Cisco UCS B-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap available at the following URL: Click Here .

For a complete list of all C-Series documentation, see the Cisco UCS C-Series Servers Documentation Roadmap available at the following URL: Click Here .

For information on supported firmware versions and supported UCS Manager versions for the rack servers that are integrated with the UCS Manager for management, refer to Release Bundle Contents for Cisco UCS Software.

Other Documentation Resources

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Documentation Feedback

To provide technical feedback on this document, or to report an error or omission, please send your comments to ucs-docfeedback@cisco.com. We appreciate your feedback.

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