MAC Pools

MAC Pools

A MAC pool is a collection of network identities, or MAC addresses, that are unique in their Layer 2 environment and are available to be assigned to vNICs on a server. If you use MAC pools in service profiles, you do not have to manually configure the MAC addresses to be used by the server associated with the service profile.

In a system that implements multitenancy, you can use the organizational hierarchy to ensure that MAC pools can be used only by specific applications or business services. Cisco UCS uses the name resolution policy to assign MAC addresses from the pool.

To assign a MAC address to a server, you must include the MAC pool in a vNIC policy. The vNIC policy is then included in the service profile assigned to that server.

You can specify your own MAC addresses or use a group of MAC addresses provided by Cisco.

Creating a MAC Pool

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope org org-name

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

Step 2

UCS-A /org # create mac-pool mac-pool-name

Creates a MAC pool with the specified name, and enters organization MAC pool 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.

Step 3

(Optional) UCS-A /org/mac-pool # set descr description

(Optional)

Provides a description for the MAC pool.

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/mac-pool # set assignmentorder {default | sequential }

This can be one of the following:

  • default —Cisco UCS Manager selects a random identity from the pool.

  • sequential —Cisco UCS Manager selects the lowest available identity from the pool.

Step 5

UCS-A /org/mac-pool # create block first-mac-addr last-mac-addr

Creates a block (range) of MAC addresses, and enters organization MAC pool block mode. You must specify the first and last MAC addresses in the address range using the form nn: nn: nn: nn: nn: nn , with the addresses separated by a space.

Note 

A MAC pool can contain more than one MAC address block. To create multiple MAC address blocks, you must enter multiple create block commands from organization MAC pool mode.

Step 6

UCS-A /org/mac-pool # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

Example

The following example shows how to create a MAC pool named pool37, provide a description for the pool, define a MAC address block by specifying the first and last MAC addresses in the block, and commit the transaction: 

UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # create mac-pool pool37
UCS-A /org/mac-pool* # set descr "This is my MAC pool"
UCS-A /org/mac-pool* # create block 00:A0:D7:42:00:01 00:A0:D7:42:01:00
UCS-A /org/mac-pool/block* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org/mac-pool/block #

What to do next

Include the MAC pool in a vNIC template.

Deleting a MAC Pool

If you delete a pool, Cisco UCS Manager does not reallocate any addresses from that pool that were assigned to vNICs or vHBAs. All assigned addresses from a deleted pool remain with the vNIC or vHBA to which they are assigned until one of the following occurs:

  • The associated service profiles are deleted.

  • The vNIC or vHBA to which the address is assigned is deleted.

  • The vNIC or vHBA is assigned to a different pool.

Procedure

  Command or Action Purpose
Step 1

UCS-A# scope org org-name

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

Step 2

UCS-A /org # delete mac-pool pool-name

Deletes the specified MAC pool.
Step 3

UCS-A /org # commit-buffer

Commits the transaction to the system configuration.

Example

The following example shows how to delete the MAC pool named pool4 and commit the transaction:

UCS-A# scope org /
UCS-A /org # delete mac-pool pool4
UCS-A /org* # commit-buffer
UCS-A /org #