Configuring Port Profiles

Port Profiles

Port profiles contain the properties and settings that you can use to configure virtual interfaces in Cisco UCS for VM-FEX. The port profiles are created and administered in Cisco UCS Manager. After a port profile is created, assigned to, and actively used by one or more clusters, any changes made to the networking properties of the port profile in Cisco UCS Manager are immediately applied to those clusters.

Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects do not support configurations related to port profiles and DVSes.

Creating a Port Profile


Note
In a VM-FEX for KVM system, the following conditions apply:

  • The Max Ports field applies to the cluster; there is no distributed virtual switch (DVS).

  • The Host Network IO Performance field has no effect.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand the All node.

Step 3

Right-click the Port Profiles node and choose Create Port Profile.

Step 4

In the Create Port Profile dialog box, complete the following fields:

Name Description

Name field

The user-defined name for the port profile.

This name can be between 1 and 31 ASCII alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), _ (underscore), and : (colon), and you cannot change this name after the object has been saved.

Description field

The user-defined description for the port profile.

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).

QoS Policy drop-down list

The quality of service policy associated with this port profile.

Network Control Policy drop-down list

The network control policy associated with this port profile.

Max Ports field

The maximum number of ports that can be associated to a port profile is 4096. The default is 64 ports.

Host Network IO Performance field

This can be one of the following:

  • None—Traffic to and from a virtual machine passes through the DVS.

  • High Performance— Traffic to and from a virtual machine bypasses the DVS and hypervisor and travels directly between the virtual machines and a virtual interface card (VIC) adapter.

In a VM-FEX for KVM system, the Host Network IO Performance field has no effect.

Pin Group drop-down list

The pin group associated with this port profile.

Type field

The type of port profile. This can be one of the following:

  • Regular—Used for all port profiles except for SCVMM. Select regular port profile for KVM and VMware hypervisors.

  • SLA Only—Used for SCVMM only.

Note 

This field is not displayed for port profile clients used by logical switches.

Step 5

In the VLANs area, complete the following fields:

Name Description

Select column

Check the check box in this column for each VLAN that you want to use.

Name column

The name of the VLAN.

Native VLAN column

To designate one of the VLANs as the native VLAN, click the radio button in this column.

Step 6

Click OK.

Modifying the VLANs in a Port Profile

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile for which you want to modify the VLANs and choose Modify VLANs.

Step 4

In the Modify VLANs dialog box, change one or more of the following:

Name Description

Select column

Check the check box in this column for each VLAN that you want to use.

Note 

VLANs can not be assigned to the same vNIC.

Name column

The name of the VLAN.

Native VLAN column

To designate one of the VLANs as the native VLAN, click the radio button in this column.

Step 5

Click OK.

Changing the Native VLAN for a Port Profile

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile for which you want to change the native VLAN and choose Modify VLANs.

Step 4

In the Modify VLANs dialog box, do the following:

  1. In the Native VLAN column, click the radio button in the row for the VLAN that you want to become the native VLAN.

  2. Click OK.

Adding a VLAN to a Port Profile

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile to which you want to add a VLAN and choose Modify VLANs.

Step 4

In the Modify VLANs dialog box, do the following:

  1. In the Select column, check the check box in the row for the VLAN that you want to add to the port profile.

  2. (Optional) If you want this VLAN to be the native VLAN, click the radio button in the Native VLAN column.

  3. Click OK.

Removing a VLAN from a Port Profile

You can remove a VLAN from a port profile or change the VLAN that you have assigned as the native VLAN through the following steps.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile from which you want to remove a VLAN and choose Modify VLANs.

Step 4

In the Modify VLANs dialog box, do the following:

  1. In the Select column, uncheck the check box in the row for the VLAN that you want to remove from the port profile.

  2. (Optional) You can change the native VLAN to a different VLAN by clicking the radio button in the Native VLAN column for a different VLAN.

  3. Click OK.

Deleting a Port Profile

You cannot delete a port profile if a VM is actively using that port profile.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile you want to delete and choose Delete.

Step 4

If a confirmation dialog box displays, click Yes.

Step 5

Click OK.

Cisco UCS Manager deletes the port profile and all its associations.

Port Profile Client

Creating a Profile Client

You can create a profile client.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Right-click the port profile for which you want to create a profile client and choose Create Profile Client.

Step 4

In the Create Profile Client dialog box, complete the following fields:

Name Description

Name field

The user-defined name for the profile client.

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

Description field

The user-defined description of the client.

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).

Datacenter drop-down list

Choose a datacenter from the drop-down list or choose All if this profile client applies to all datacenters.

Folder drop-down list

Choose a folder from the drop-down list or choose All if this profile client applies to all folders.

Distributed Virtual Switch drop-down list

Choose a virtual switch from the drop-down list or choose All if this profile client applies to all virtual switches.

Step 5

Click OK.

Modifying a Profile Client

You can modify a profile client.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Click the port profile for which you want to modify the profile client.
Step 4

In the Work pane, click the Profile Clients tab.

Step 5

Right-click the profile client you want to modify and choose Show Navigator.

Step 6

In the Navigator for the profile client, change the values for one or more of the following fields:

Name Description

Name field

The user-defined name for the profile client.

Description field

The user-defined description of the client.

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).

Datacenter field

A regular expression used to select the appropriate datacenter.

Folder field

A regular expression used to select the appropriate datacenter folder.

Distributed Virtual Switch field

A regular expression used to select the appropriate virtual switch.
Step 7

Click OK.

Deleting a Profile Client

You cannot delete a port profile client if a VM is actively using the port profile with which the client is associated.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click VM.

Step 2

Expand All > Port Profiles.

Step 3

Click the port profile from which you want to delete a profile client.
Step 4

In the Work pane, click the Profile Clients tab.

Step 5

Right-click the profile client that you want to delete and choose Delete.

Step 6

If a confirmation dialog box displays, click Yes.

Step 7

Click Save Changes.