Configuring Policies

Configuring Dynamic vNIC Connection Policies

Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy

The dynamic vNIC connection policy determines how the connectivity between VMs and dynamic vNICs is configured. This policy is required for Cisco UCS domains that include servers with VIC adapters on which you have installed VMs and configured dynamic vNICs.

Ethernet Adapter Policy

Each dynamic vNIC connection policy includes an Ethernet adapter policy and designates the number of vNICs that can be configured for any server associated with a service profile that includes the policy.

Server Migration


Note

If you migrate a server that is configured with dynamic vNICs, the dynamic interface used by the vNICs fails and notifies you of that failure.

When the server comes back up, assigns new dynamic vNICs to the server. If you are monitoring traffic on the dynamic vNIC, you must reconfigure the monitoring source.

Creating a Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope org org-name

Enters organization mode for the specified organization. To enter the root organization mode, enter / as the org-name .

Step 2

UCS-A /org # create dynamic-vnic-conn-policy policy-name

Creates the specified vNIC connection policy and enters organization vNIC connection policy mode.

This name can be between 1 and 32 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), _ (underscore), : (colon), and . (period), and you cannot change this name after the object is saved.

Note 

Do not specify "default" as the value for the dynamic vNIC connection policy name. Cisco UCS Manager automatically resolves any empty policy references to "default". Any service profiles or service profile templates with only static vNICS defined will automatically reference the policy "default" when it is present. If you specify “default” for the dynamic vNIC connection policy name, then unexpected dynamic vNICs might be created on those service profiles or service profile templates.

Step 3

(Optional) UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy # set descr description

(Optional)

Provides a description for the policy.

Enter up to 256 characters. You can use any characters or spaces except ` (accent mark), \ (backslash), ^ (carat), " (double quote), = (equal sign), > (greater than), < (less than), or ' (single quote).

If your description includes spaces or nonalphanumeric characters, you must begin and end your description with double quotation marks. The quotation marks do not appear in the description field of any show command output.

Step 4

UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy # set adapter-policy policy-name

Specifies the Ethernet adapter policy to use for this policy. The adapter policy must already exist.

Step 5

UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy # set dynamic-eth {dynamic-eth-num | off }

Specifies the number of dynamic vNICs to use for this policy.

Enter an integer between 0 and 256. The default is 54.

Note 

Components of your system may limit this number to fewer than 256 vNICs.

Step 6

UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy # set protection {protected | protected-pref-a | protected-pref-b }

Dynamic vNICs are always protected in Cisco UCS, but this command allows you to select a preferred fabric, if any. You can choose one of the following options:

  • protected —Cisco UCS uses whichever fabric is available.

  • protected-pref-a —Cisco UCS attempts to use fabric A, but fails over to fabric B if necessary.

  • protected-pref-b —Cisco UCS attempts to use fabric B, but fails over to fabric A if necessary.

Step 7

UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction.

Example

The following example shows how to create a dynamic vNIC connection policy named MyDynVnicConnPolicy that uses the system-provided Ethernet adapter policy for 12 dynamic vNICs and commit the transaction: 

UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # create dynamic-vnic-conn-policy MyDynVnicConnPolicy
UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy* # set adapter-policy 
UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy* # set descr "Dynamic vNIC for Eth policy"
UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy* # set dynamic-eth 12
UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/dynamic-vnic-conn-policy #

Deleting a Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. UCS-A# scope org org-name
  2. UCS-A /org # delete dynamic-vnic-conn-policy policy-name
  3. UCS-A /org # commit-buffer

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope org org-name

Enters organization mode for the specified organization. To enter the root organization mode, enter / as the org-name .

Step 2

UCS-A /org # delete dynamic-vnic-conn-policy policy-name

Deletes the specified vNIC connection policy.

Step 3

UCS-A /org # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction.

Example

The following example shows how to delete the dynamic vNIC connection policy named MyDynVnicConnPolicy and commit the transaction: 

UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # delete dynamic-vnic-conn-policy MyDynVnicConnPolicy
UCS-A /org* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org #

Viewing Dynamic vNIC Properties in a VM

Before you begin

The VM must be operational.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. UCS-A# scope system
  2. UCS-A /system # scope vm-mgmt
  3. (Optional) UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt # show virtual-machine
  4. UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt # scope virtual-machine uuid
  5. UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt/virtual-machine # show vnic [detail]

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope system

Enters system mode.

Step 2

UCS-A /system # scope vm-mgmt

Enters VM management mode.

Step 3

(Optional) UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt # show virtual-machine

(Optional)

Displays the running virtual machines.

Step 4

UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt # scope virtual-machine uuid

Enters command mode for the virtual machine that contains the dynamic vNIC.

Step 5

UCS-A /system/vm-mgmt/virtual-machine # show vnic [detail]

Displays the vNIC properties.

Example

The following example shows how to display the properties of a dynamic vNIC in a VM:

Creating a Custom Adapter Policy for SR-IOV

The predefined SRIOV Ethernet adapter policy supports up to 32 CPU threads. If the server has more than 32 CPU threads, you must follow this procedure to create and specify a custom adapter policy that supports a number of interrupts equal to the number of CPU threads.

For more information about creating an adapter policy, see "Configuring Ethernet Adapter Policies" in the .

Before you begin

Determine the number of CPU threads used by your server using the show server cpu chassis/blade detail command.

SUMMARY STEPS

  1. UCS-A# scope org org-name
  2. UCS-A /org # create eth-policy name
  3. (Optional) UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set descr description
  4. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set trans-queue count 1
  5. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set trans-queue ring-size 256
  6. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set recv-queue count 4
  7. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set recv-queue ring-size 512
  8. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set comp-queue count 5
  9. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt coalescing-time 125
  10. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt coalescing-type min
  11. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt count interrupt-count
  12. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt mode msi-x
  13. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload large-receive enabled
  14. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-rx-checksum enabled
  15. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-segment enabled
  16. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-tx-checksum enabled
  17. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set rss receivesidescaling enabled
  18. UCS-A /org/eth-policy # commit-buffer

DETAILED STEPS

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope org org-name

Enters organization mode for the specified organization. To enter the root organization mode, type / as the org-name .

Step 2

UCS-A /org # create eth-policy name

Creates an Ethernet adapter policy and enters organization Ethernet policy mode.

This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen) and _ (underscore), and you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.

Step 3

(Optional) UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set descr description

(Optional)

Provides a description for the policy.

Note 

If your description includes spaces, special characters, or punctuation, you must begin and end your description with quotation marks. The quotation marks will not appear in the description field of any show command output.

Step 4

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set trans-queue count 1

Configures the Ethernet transmit queue.

Step 5

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set trans-queue ring-size 256

Step 6

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set recv-queue count 4

Configures the Ethernet receive queue.

Step 7

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set recv-queue ring-size 512

Step 8

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set comp-queue count 5

Configures the Ethernet completion queue.

Step 9

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt coalescing-time 125

Step 10

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt coalescing-type min

Step 11

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt count interrupt-count

Set interrupt-count equal to the number of CPU threads used by the server.

Step 12

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set interrupt mode msi-x

Step 13

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload large-receive enabled

Step 14

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-rx-checksum enabled

Step 15

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-segment enabled

Step 16

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set offload tcp-tx-checksum enabled

Step 17

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # set rss receivesidescaling enabled

Step 18

UCS-A /org/eth-policy # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

Example

The following example configures a custom Ethernet adapter policy for SR-IOV with 40 threads and commits the transaction: 

UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # create eth-policy SRIOV
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set descr "This is an Ethernet adapter policy for SR-IOV."
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set trans-queue count 1
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set trans-queue ring-size 256
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set recv-queue count 4
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set recv-queue ring-size 512
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set comp-queue count 5
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set interrupt coalescing-time 125
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set interrupt coalescing-type min
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set interrupt count 40
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set interrupt mode msi-x
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set offload large-receive enabled
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set offload tcp-rx-checksum enabled
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set offload tcp-segment enabled
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set offload tcp-tx-checksum enabled
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # set rss receivesidescaling enabled
UCS-A /org/eth-policy* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/eth-policy #