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00:00:00 - In the last Nugget you saw the UCS Manager.
00:00:04 - Well, we're going to take a more thorough tour in this
00:00:07 - particular Nugget on UCS Manager and UCS
00:00:11 - management in general. 00:00:14 - So two main goals in this Nugget--
to make sure we 00:00:17 - understand the various UCS management
that options exist 00:00:21 - before us, and then to take a more
detailed 00:00:23 - tour of the UCS manager.
00:00:26 - And even look under the hood a little bit, see how the UCS
00:00:30 - Manager really works. 00:00:32 - This knowledge is not all that
critical, but I suppose it 00:00:36 - could be leveraged in troubleshooting
scenarios. 00:00:39 - And I also want you to know the
great integration 00:00:43 - possibilities that exist with the
UCSM. 00:00:49 - Remember first where the UCS Manager
lives. 00:00:53 - It lives on your fabric interconnects.
00:00:56 - We're going to have an active fabric interconnect and we're
00:01:01 - going to have a subordinate fabric interconnect.
00:01:05 - And the UCS management software is going to live on
00:01:09 - these devices. 00:01:10 - Obviously, we'll be dealing with
the active fabric 00:01:14 - interconnect and the subordinate
would be utilized 00:01:18 - if there is a problem with that
active fabric 00:01:21 - interconnect software.
00:01:23 - So our UCS management software is going to run on these
00:01:28 - fabric interconnects. 00:01:30 - That is something that's very often
overlooked by beginners 00:01:35 - with the Cisco UCS system.
00:01:38 - Now the idea here is that an administrator sit down at
00:01:42 - their work station and the administrator utilize one of
00:01:48 - three options for interacting with UCS management.
00:01:53 - The first one that you're probably thinking of right now
00:01:56 - is the Graphical User Interface. 00:01:59 - Yes, we looked at it in the last
Nugget. 00:02:01 - We'll tour it more in depth in
this particular Nugget. 00:02:05 - And that is definitely a primary
tool in which we will 00:02:08 - perform management.
00:02:09 - But there is also a CLI. 00:02:12 - No surprise, right?
00:02:13 - We're talking about Cisco here, so there has to be a
00:02:16 - command line option for UCS management. 00:02:19 - And we can certainly do that.
00:02:21 - And the other is third party tools. 00:02:24 - Yes, there is an open platform
here that allows other third 00:02:29 - party vendors to write software
that can interact 00:02:33 - with the UCS management information.
00:02:36 - You see, the UCS Manager is storing all of the information
00:02:41 - in a UCS management database. 00:02:45 - There is a database of information,
things like what 00:02:49 - are all the settings inside all
the 00:02:52 - servers in the chassis?
00:02:53 - And what are the settings and variables 00:02:56 - for the chassis itself?
00:02:58 - Now, how does the GUI, the CLI, and
00:03:01 - the third party tools-- 00:03:03 - how do they interact with that
database of UCS management 00:03:07 - information?
00:03:08 - Well, they do it utilizing extended markup language.
00:03:13 - Yes, there's an XML Application Programming
00:03:17 - Interface that is utilized here. 00:03:20 - It was so smart of Cisco to do
this. 00:03:23 - So really the language of UCS management
is an already 00:03:30 - existing standard language.
00:03:34 - What an awesome idea. 00:03:36 - So the XML API is what's going
to be utilized no matter how 00:03:41 - we are interacting with the UCS
management database. 00:03:44 - Whether we're using that popular
UCS Manager graphical 00:03:49 - user interface or some third party
tool, it can all be 00:03:53 - written against XML.
00:03:56 - Now think about this, too-- 00:03:58 - when we go to back up all of this
information, think about 00:04:02 - how easy it's going to be to do
that. 00:04:05 - Because all we're backing up is
XML data. 00:04:09 - Very, very clever and now you know.
00:04:12 - By the way, I'm not just going into detail about this for the
00:04:16 - real world-- 00:04:17 - obviously this is extremely real
world relevant-- 00:04:20 - but this is also going to be a
focus area in certification. 00:04:26 - So our primary methodologies are
there GUI, the CLI, and 00:04:30 - the third party tools, all made
possible 00:04:32 - thanks to the XML API.
00:04:34 - Great-- 00:04:35 - but do we have other management
opportunities? 00:04:39 - Are there are other management
protocols that expose 00:04:43 - themselves?
00:04:44 - Absolutely there are. 00:04:47 - Simple network management protocol
is supported in the 00:04:51 - system as you might guess.
00:04:53 - We know there's keyboard, video, and
00:04:55 - mouse over IP support. 00:04:58 - There's IPMI, that we already mentioned
in another Nugget-- 00:05:03 - that's the Intelligent Platform
Management Interface 00:05:06 - specification.
00:05:08 - There's something called the SMASH CLP.
00:05:13 - That stands for Server Hardware 00:05:15 - Command Line Protocol.
00:05:16 - There's a CIM, Common Information Model XML standard
00:05:22 - that is supported. 00:05:24 - There's the serial over LAN that's
supported. 00:05:27 - There's Cisco's Call Home invention,
where if a 00:05:31 - particular element in the UCS system
is sick, it will notify 00:05:36 - Cisco's technical assistance center
for you in 00:05:40 - an automated fashion.
00:05:42 - So what do we get from this? 00:05:43 - Well, the UCS is designed from
the ground up to be as 00:05:49 - manageable as humanly possible.
00:05:53 - OK, let's get to it. 00:05:55 - Let's get to that UCS Graphical
User Interface that 00:05:58 - we know is going to be one of the
mainstays of management 00:06:02 - interaction that we have with the
UCS system. 00:06:05 - Over on the far left we have the
navigation pane. 00:06:10 - So we can expand the chassis that
we have in our system. 00:06:13 - We can expand chassis one.
00:06:15 - We can expand its I/O modules. 00:06:17 - We can expand a particular I/O
module. 00:06:20 - We can expand a particular back
plane port. 00:06:23 - We can select a particular backup
plane port. 00:06:26 - And now, what I want you to notice
is two 00:06:29 - things over on the right.
00:06:30 - Notice that there is a navigation trail up top,
00:06:35 - allowing you another way in which to go through that
00:06:40 - hierarchy of systems that you can manage.
00:06:43 - Then below that we have the Content pane.
00:06:47 - Now what's interesting about the Content pane-- remember,
00:06:51 - is that for most of your screens there's going to be
00:06:54 - tabs inside of it. 00:06:57 - Wow, so this is a very, very involved
Graphical User 00:07:03 - Interface presenting lots and lots
of information to you. 00:07:07 - Why is it so much information?
00:07:10 - Well of course, it's because the UCS
00:07:12 - Manager is so darn powerful. 00:07:15 - The UCS system, I should say, is
so darn powerful. 00:07:19 - So if we go to a port, notice things
change. 00:07:23 - Obviously our navigation trail
changes and our 00:07:28 - content pane changes.
00:07:30 - And for this particular port on the I/O module we have a
00:07:35 - general tab, a fault tab, an event tab, a finite state
00:07:41 - machine tab, and a statistics tab. 00:07:44 - The tabs that you would have in
a particular content pane 00:07:48 - obviously are going to vary depending
on where we are in 00:07:53 - the navigation hierarchy.
00:07:56 - Now notice where we are in the navigation pane.
00:08:01 - We are on a tab. 00:08:03 - Yeah, right now we are on a tab
and the tab that we are on 00:08:08 - is the equipment tab.
00:08:10 - And this is where we are browsing the physical
00:08:14 - equipment that makes up our UCS system.
00:08:17 - Makes sense, right? 00:08:19 - The very next tab that we have
is the servers tab. 00:08:24 - And you look at the servers tab
and you're pretty 00:08:26 - intimidated if it's the first time
you've seen it. 00:08:29 - There's service profiles, service
profile templates. 00:08:34 - There's policies, there's pools,
there's schedules. 00:08:39 - All this exciting stuff that you
may be totally scratching 00:08:43 - your head about.
00:08:44 - I mean, my goodness, what's a schedule? 00:08:46 - So we'll elaborate a bit more on
this particular tab in the 00:08:51 - next Nugget of this course.
00:08:54 - And keep in mind that we elaborate dramatically on all
00:08:59 - of this UCS system in our CCNP data center courses here at
00:09:05 - cbtnuggets.com. 00:09:07 - There is a LAN tab--
00:09:09 - surprise, surprise. 00:09:10 - This is going to relate to everything
involving the LAN, 00:09:14 - like VLANs.
00:09:16 - Yeah, we know the UCS system is going to honor those VLANs.
00:09:21 - And how about LAN-based quality of service?
00:09:24 - Sure, we can do that here in the LAN tab.
00:09:27 - The SAN tab will be for Storage Area Networking
00:09:31 - concerns such as virtual Storage Area Networks.
00:09:36 - And then we have a VM tab. 00:09:39 - This is for integration with, yes,
you guessed it-- 00:09:43 - VMware's vSphere product.
00:09:46 - So we can recognize things like virtual machines in here,
00:09:50 - port profiles, VMware clusters. 00:09:54 - And we can even utilize and really
take advantage of 00:09:58 - virtual interface cards that we
know are literally going to 00:10:03 - present virtual host bus adapters
or virtual NICs to 00:10:07 - our environment.
00:10:09 - Finally, there is a straight up admin tab.
00:10:13 - And the admin tab will allow us to do things like track
00:10:16 - faults, events, audit logs, take care of user management,
00:10:21 - time zone management, license management. 00:10:25 - So lots going on here for very,
very strict, really 00:10:30 - classic network management concerns.
00:10:34 - Now the process of all of this information being populated in
00:10:40 - the UCS Manager Graphical User Interface is really a process
00:10:45 - that we term discovery. 00:10:48 - And you heard me use that term
in the last Nugget. 00:10:51 - Think about it--
00:10:52 - as we change things, as we add new equipment, that new
00:10:58 - equipment is discovered by the UCS management system and
00:11:04 - information is placed into the UCS management database.
00:11:10 - And we even know it's stored in there in an XML fashion--
00:11:14 - pretty awesome. 00:11:16 - Now understand that as you add
new equipment, the discovery 00:11:22 - is ongoing inside the UCS system.
00:11:26 - So it's constantly doing the discovery process because
00:11:30 - things are going to be changing. 00:11:32 - Things may fail, right?
00:11:34 - A fan could fail and the UCS system needs to
00:11:38 - discover that fact. 00:11:40 - We do have the ability as administrators
to make changes 00:11:44 - in the UCS environment and then
trigger discoveries so 00:11:49 - that we are updated right away.
00:11:52 - This is all something we consider part of the discovery
00:11:56 - process, whether it's an automated discovery or we're
00:11:59 - manually triggering the discovery. 00:12:03 - Remember also, too, there is that
concept of the finite 00:12:08 - state machine that we can utilize
in order to detect any 00:12:14 - problems that may be going on with
a very involved process. 00:12:19 - So if you drill in-- and let's
go to one of the Fexes here. 00:12:24 - And sure enough on the Fex 2 here,
if we go up to the FSM, 00:12:30 - tab, the Finite State Machine tab,
here is where we could go 00:12:34 - to monitor particular complex processes.
00:12:38 - In the last Nugget we gave you a couple of examples of
00:12:41 - complex processes that would be subject to finite state
00:12:46 - machine inspection. 00:12:47 - Let me just give you some more--
00:12:49 - server discovery would certainly be one of those.
00:12:53 - Service profile work, I'll talk to you more about those
00:12:57 - in the next Nugget. 00:12:59 - Firmware downloads, we talked about
that 00:13:01 - one in the last Nugget.
00:13:03 - Upgrading of particular components in the UCS system
00:13:07 - and back up and importing of backed up
00:13:12 - information into the system. 00:13:14 - These are the types of tasks that
are subject to finite 00:13:18 - state machine validation.
00:13:20 - And what's great about that is, you can go in thanks to
00:13:25 - the finite state machine tab where appropriate, and you can
00:13:28 - track these particular processes. 00:13:32 - So we have the time, let's have
fun with a little exam 00:13:36 - time to wrap up this Nugget.
00:13:38 - So our question is, which would not be considered a
00:13:43 - primary method for management of a B-series
00:13:47 - blade in the UCS? 00:13:48 - And we need to choose two.
00:13:50 - Now when we are tackling certification questions we
00:13:54 - have to be in detective mode, right? 00:13:57 - We have to look at every single
clue, every single 00:14:01 - piece of evidence we might have.
00:14:03 - And a big clue here is primary. 00:14:08 - Which would not be considered a
primary method for 00:14:13 - management of a B-series in the
UCS? 00:14:16 - Those are the big words, not and
primary are really the two 00:14:20 - big words here.
00:14:21 - You see, when I glance over the options--
00:14:24 - IPMI, UCSM GUI, USCM CLI, XML-API, Simple Network
00:14:35 - Management Protocol-- 00:14:36 - my goodness, those are all perfectly
valid management 00:14:42 - vehicles that we can take advantage
of. 00:14:45 - Wow--
00:14:46 - so notice the key word here really is primary.
00:14:52 - We know the UCS Manager Graphical User
00:14:57 - Interface is primary. 00:14:58 - For that matter, we could also
use the CLI if we want to be 00:15:03 - even faster, if we know the commands
at the command line 00:15:07 - to do management.
00:15:08 - So now which is another primary method?
00:15:12 - Well, we know it's the XML-API because, as a matter of fact,
00:15:17 - it's really used by either of those. 00:15:21 - Now we can do a sanity check.
00:15:23 - Would IPMI and SNMP not be considered primary?
00:15:29 - Yeah, exactly. 00:15:30 - They wouldn't be, would they?
00:15:31 - They're great. 00:15:32 - They're awesome.
00:15:33 - But they're not really primary. 00:15:36 - So the two answers that are correct
here 00:15:39 - are IPMI and SNMP.
00:15:42 - They're awesome, but they're not primary network management
00:15:47 - vehicles that we would use against the UCS system.
00:15:51 - A really, really example here of a tough question, right?
00:15:57 - Very, very difficult question-- 00:15:59 - but notice how, just don't panic.
00:16:02 - When you're in an exam environment and you're
00:16:04 - presented something like this just draw upon the excellent
00:16:08 - experience you have now thanks to these Nuggets that you're
00:16:13 - enjoying with me. 00:16:16 - So we had two main areas in this
particular 00:16:18 - Nugget, didn't we?
00:16:20 - We took a look at the very, very many management options
00:16:24 - that exist for our UCS system. 00:16:28 - We kind of thought about those
now in two different ways-- 00:16:32 - primary methods of management versus
non-primary methods of 00:16:38 - management.
00:16:39 - We also took a nice detailed tour of the UCS Manager.
00:16:44 - We saw how it was divided into a navigation pane with some
00:16:49 - important tabs up on the top and then a navigation trail
00:16:55 - and a content pane that would have all kinds of interesting
00:17:00 - details for us to scrutinize. 00:17:04 - By the way--
00:17:06 - I'm sure you saw this, but when you're in the content
00:17:09 - pane there will be buttons down below.
00:17:13 - So when you make configuration changes you'll have those
00:17:17 - classic buttons down below to do things like apply those
00:17:21 - particular changes. 00:17:23 - We haven't done a lot of reconfiguration.
00:17:26 - In fact, we haven't done any reconfiguration because that's
00:17:29 - not really our job here at the CCNA level.
00:17:32 - But when we get into more advanced training on these
00:17:35 - data center topics and we start changing and
00:17:38 - manipulating things, we start being really
00:17:42 - active in the UCS Manager. 00:17:44 - And that of course, requires happy
buttons 00:17:47 - to get the job done.
00:17:49 - I hope this Nugget has been informative for you and I want
00:17:52 - to thank you for viewing.