Installing Cisco UCS Director Powershell Agent

Installing a newer version of the PowerShell Agent requires that you uninstall the older version first. To remove the older version of PowerShell Agent, stop the Cisco PSA Service first and then uninstall the agent. For instructions on installing, see Cisco UCS Director PowerShell Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.

This section provides an overview of the significant new and changed features in this release. This section does not provide an exhaustive list of all enhancements included in this release.

Data Migration

In this release, you must migrate the data from Cisco UCS Director Release 6.7.4.3/6.8.x.x to Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9. If you have a version prior to Release 6.7.4.3 installed, you cannot upgrade directly to Release 6.9(0.0). You must first upgrade to Release 6.7(4.3) from Release 6.7(4.x), and then migrate to Release 6.9(0.0).

Note	The dhcpd.conf file of Bare Metal Agent (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) appliance is copied into the migrated Bare Metal Agent (version 6.9.0.0) appliance in the /etc/dhcp path.

Before you add a Bare Metal Agent account, do the following:

• If the Samba Service for Windows PXE check box is enabled, make sure to use the same Samba password of the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x ) in the Samba Password and Confirm Samba Password fields in the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0).

• If the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) and migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0) are deployed with different PXE IP addresses, log into Bare Metal Agent VM using SSH client and update WinPE.wim with ens224 IP address details of the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0).

• If the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) and migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0) are deployed with different PXEVLAN ID or a failed service request is available in the migrated Cisco UCS Director appliance (version 6.9.0.0), log into Cisco UCS Manager and update the service profile with PXE VLAN details of the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0), reset the server, and then resubmit the service request in Cisco UCS Director appliance.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Multi-Node Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9 and Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.

Support for Downloading Rack server Firmware Images to Local Cisco UCS Director System

Starting with Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9(0.0), offline configuration of Cisco credentials under Cisco.com User configuration page for software downloads from Cisco is discontinued.

For enhanced security, you should activate your device first using Activate Device action under Images- Local page in order to download Standalone Rack server firmware from Cisco.com.

Note	For enhanced security, device activation done once stays active for an hour, allowing secure downloads. After one hour, you have to re-activate your device with the Activate Device action to download software from Cisco.com .

Enhancement to Physical Compute Chassis Inventory Report and Global Equipment Policies

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, Physical Compute Chassis Inventory is enhanced with new XFM module report and Fan Module report under I/O modules to show the real-time status of the Fan modules and Fans under it.

New Global Equipment Policies such as Power Policy, Cisco UCS X9508 Chassis Power Extended Policy, Cisco UCS X9508 Chassis Fan Control Policy were added to support and manage the X9508 Chassis.

For more information please refer to the Cisco UCS Director Management Guide for Cisco UCS Manager, Release 6.9

Enhanced Custom Workflow Tasks

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Custom Workflow Tasks Report in the user interface was enhanced with a new column to filter and sort based on category.

Rollback Service Request Enhancements

From this release and later, you can do the following:

• See the rollback details of service requests, which includes the rollback service request ID's of selected service request.

• Schedule the rollback of a service request at a particular time

For more information, see the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9

CSV Format Type in Cloud Sense

This release introduces the capability to generate and export cloud sense reports in CSV format. For more information, see Managing CloudSense Analytics in the UCS Director Administration Guide, Release 6.9.

New Parameters for the APIC Device

This release introduces the following new parameters for the APIC device in the Add Domain to APIC EPG workflow task.

• Untagged VLAN Access

• Primary VLAN

• Active Uplinks Order

• Standby Uplinks

• Custom EPG Name

Edit Server IP Address in LDAP Integration

This release introduces the capability to edit the Server IP Address field in the LDAP Integration report - LDAP Configuration form.

Migration of F5 device communication to REST API from SOAP

In UCS Director, the loadbalancing communication process of an F5 device was migrated to REST API from SOAP. In addition, iControl Axis jar files were removed.

New End User VM Disk Report

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, a new VM Disk report has been brought in for End user in order to provide insight to the disk information in more detail.

The Resize VM feature Supports Custom Input

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, custom user input is enabled for Resize VM Memory GUI action and workflow task instead of pre-defined drop down values in order to provide more flexibility to users in allocating the resources.

Support for New OS versions in Guest OS ISO Image Mapping Policy

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Guest OS ISO Image Mapping policy which is used to provision VM(s) using ISO images is enhanced to support SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 (64-bit), SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 (64-bit), CentOS 8 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (64-bit).

Scale Setup Configuration through Shelladmin Option

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Shelladmin can define a number of required VMs for the Standalone node, Primary node, and Database node. Based on the VM value, Cisco UCS Director fetches the related information from the VMware vCenter and automatically updates the inframgr memory allocation values and database configuration values in the /opt/infra/bin/inframgr.env and /etc/my.cnf files respectively.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

Configuration of DNS with DNSSEC through Shelladmin Option

Starting from Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), the Shelladmin can use Configure DNS option to configure a DNS server with DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) which is a feature in AlmaLinux 9 OS for enhancing the security and integrity of DNS operations.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

NTP Authentication with NTP Server During Time Sync through Shelladmin Option

Starting with this release, the Shelladmin can use an NTP server auth key and its value for time synchronization with the NTP server. The Cisco UCS Director confirms that the NTP authentication is successful if the auth key and its value are valid.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

SR-MPLS VRF L3Out in APIC

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, SR-MPLS L3Out feature is implemented. This feature combines advanced routing technologies to enable scalable, efficient, and secure connectivity between isolated network segments (VRFs) and external networks. By leveraging Segment Routing with MPLS, VRFs, and L3Outs, this functionality offers robust traffic engineering capabilities, network segmentation, and seamless external connectivity, all managed through the ACI fabric.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director APIC Management Guide, Release 6.9.

Creating Route Map in APIC

Starting with Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), you can now create a route map that includes multiple route control contexts.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director APIC Management Guide, Release 6.9.

User Approval for Rollback Service Request

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Skip Approvals check box is included on the Schedule Rollback settings page. If selected, the service request requires no approval from the user who created the rollback service request during the execution process.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9.

Exporting Searched Workflow with Encryption in WFDX Format

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can export searched workflows in WFDX format. Before exporting, you have the option to encrypt the file by setting a password. When importing the file into another Cisco UCS Director appliance, you can decrypt it by entering the password set during export.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9.

Disabling Cisco UCS Director BigData Express Personality

Starting with Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), support for BigData Express personality is disabled as the BigData support has reached End of Life (EoL). For more information, see BigData EOL.

Before proceeding with the migration or upgrade to Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), you must uncheck the BigData check box in the Cisco UCS Director user interface, and restart the services.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Administration Guide, Release 6.9 and Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide, Release 6.9.

Workflow Tasks for Bare Metal Server Provisioning with Secure Boot Enabled

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can enable secure boot on the following bare metal servers by executing the related workflow that includes the secure boot enable/disable task:

• HP ILO

• IPMI

On the Task Inputs page, you can select the required server and enable secure boot.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Task Library Reference, Release 6.9.

Bare Metal Server Provisioning Using vMedia

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can provision the following OSs to Dell, HP, and Cisco UCS Manager bare metal servers through the vMedia as the vMedia support is enabled on the Bare Metal Agent:

• ESXi

• RHEL

Some prerequisites must be met before executing the provisioning workflows. The prerequisites are documented in the Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.