Equipment Related Policies

Chassis Discovery Policy

The chassis discovery policy determines how the system reacts when you add a new Cisco UCS S3260 chassis or an existing standalone Cisco UCS S3260 chassis to a Cisco UCS system. Cisco UCS S3260 System Architectural Overview describes the connectivity for a Cisco UCS S3260 system managed by Cisco UCS Manager. Cisco UCS Manager uses the settings in the chassis discovery policy to determine whether to group links from the system I/O controllers (SIOCs) to the fabric interconnects in fabric port channels.

To add a previously standalone Cisco UCS S3260 chassis to a Cisco UCS system, you must first configure it to factory default. You can then connect both SIOCs on the chassis to both fabric interconnects. After you connect the SIOCs on the chassis to the fabric interconnects, and mark the ports as server ports, chassis discovery begins.

Server Discovery

Cisco UCS Manager automatically discovers the Cisco UCS S3260 server nodes after the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis is discovered.


Note

Server discovery fails if the SIOC corresponding to the server is not present.

Link Grouping

When you connect a Cisco UCS S3260 chassis through a FEX to a Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect or directly to a Cisco UCS 6300 Series fabric interconnect, Cisco UCS Manager ignores the Port Channel preference and the SIOCs operate in the non-port channel mode.

When you connect a Cisco UCS S3260 chassis directly to a Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect, you can use link grouping to determine whether all of the links from the SIOC to the fabric interconnect are grouped into a fabric port channel during chassis discovery. If the link grouping preference is set to Port Channel, all of the links from the SIOC to the fabric interconnect are grouped in a fabric port channel. If set to None, links from the SIOC are pinned to the fabric interconnect.

Set the link grouping preference to Port Channel if the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis is connected to a Cisco UCS 6200 Series fabric interconnect through a 4x10G breakout cable. If this is not done, chassis discovery will not complete.

Set the link grouping preference to None if the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis is connected to a fabric interconnect through a single 10G cable.

After changing the Link Group Preference value in the Cisco UCS Manager GUI, Decommission and then Recommission the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis for the change to take effect.

In the Cisco UCS domain, if there are other chassis operating in Port Channel mode, do the following:

  1. Discover the chassis in the Cisco UCS system with the Link Group Preference set to Port Channel

  2. Change the link aggregation preference for the Cisco UCS S3260 chassis through Chassis Connectivity Policy

  3. Decommission the chassis

  4. Recommission the chassis

Configuring the Chassis/FEX Discovery Policy

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.

Step 2

Click the Equipment node.

Step 3

In the Work pane, click the Policies tab.

Step 4

Click the Global Policies subtab.

Step 5

In the Chassis/FEX Discovery Policy area, specify the action and the link grouping preference.

  1. From the Action drop-down list, select the minimum threshold for the number of links between the chassis or FEX and the fabric interconnect.

  2. For the Link Grouping Preference radio button, select whether the links from the IOMs or FEXes to the fabric interconnects are grouped in a port channel.

  3. For the Backplane Speed Preference radio button, select the speed preference. The 40G backplane setting is not applicable for 22xx IOMs.

Step 6

Click Save Changes.

What to do next

To customize fabric port channel connectivity for a specific chassis, configure the chassis connectivity policy.

Chassis Connectivity Policy

The chassis connectivity policy determines whether a specific chassis is included in a fabric port channel after chassis discovery. This policy is helpful for users who want to configure one or more chassis differently from what is specified in the global chassis discovery policy.

By default, the chassis connectivity policy is set to global. This means that connectivity control is configured when the chassis is newly discovered, using the settings configured in the chassis discovery policy. Once the chassis is discovered, the chassis connectivity policy controls whether the connectivity control is set to none or port channel.


Note

The chassis connectivity policy is created by Cisco UCS Manager only when the hardware configuration supports fabric port channels.

The following table displays the various connectivity and media type support for FC/FCoE.

Table 1. Connectivity and Media Type Support for FC/FCoE

FI

Connectivity

Supported

Port-Channel

FC/FCoE

Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

Direct Connect– 10 GB – QSA

Yes

Not using Breakout

No

Yes

Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

Direct Connect– 25G SFP 28

Yes

Not using Breakout

Yes

Yes

Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

2232 FEX - 10 GB - QSA

Yes

No

Yes

63xx

Direct Connect 40 GB

Yes

No

Yes

63xx

Direct Connect– 10 GB – QSA

Yes

Not using Breakout

No

Yes

63xx

Direct Connect 4x10 GB – Breakout

No

N/A

N/A

63xx

2348UPQ FEX - 10 GB – QSA

Yes

No

Yes

63xx

2348UPQ FEX - 4x10 GB - Breakout

No

N/A

N/A

62xx

Direct Connect – 4x10 GB - Breakout Cable

Yes

Policy driven, but non-port-channel will not be a supported configuration

No

62xx

Direct Connect – 10 GB – QSA

Yes

Policy driven

Yes, if non-port-channel Chassis Discovery Policy

62xx

2232 FEX - 10 GB - QSA

Yes

No

Yes

62xx

2232xx - 4x10 GB - Breakout Cable

No

N/A

N/A

6324

Direct Connect - 40 GB

No

N/A

N/A

6324

Direct Connect - 10 GB – QSA

No

N/A

N/A

Configuring a Chassis Connectivity Policy


Caution

Changing the connectivity mode for a chassis results in decommissioning and recommissioning the chassis. Traffic will be disrupted during this time.

Procedure

Step 1

In the Navigation pane, click Equipment.

Step 2

Expand Equipment > Chassis.

Step 3

Click the chassis for which you want to configure the connectivity between the SIOCs and fabric interconnects.

Step 4

In the Work pane, click the Connectivity Policy tab.

Step 5

For each SIOC in the chassis, choose one of the following values in the Admin State field for the chassis and fabric connectivity:

  • None—No links are grouped in a port channel

  • Port Channel—All links from an IOM to a fabric interconnect are grouped in a port channel.

  • Global—The chassis inherits this configuration from the chassis discovery policy. This is the default value.

Step 6

Click Save Changes.