Implementing Cisco Data Center Unified Computing (DCUCI)

1: Implement Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers
•Implementing Cisco R-Series Rack Enclosures ◦Unpack the Cisco R42610 rack enclosure
◦Remove the Cisco R-Series rack from the pallet
◦Secure the Cisco R-Series rack to the floor
◦Join Cisco R42610 racks into a suite
◦Install a Cisco RP208-30-U-1 PDU
◦Remove and install side panels
◦Remove and install Cisco R-Series rack doors
◦Use cabling portholes

•Installing Cisco UCS C-Series Server Hardware ◦Review ESD precautions
◦Review how to open Cisco UCS C-Series cases
◦Compare PCIe riser cards across Cisco UCS C-Series models
◦Describe CPU population rules for dual- and quad-socket servers
◦Describe the importance of color coding internal Cisco UCS C-Series components
◦Describe DRAM installation and population rules
◦Describe fan replacement
◦Describe power supply replacement

•Installing Cisco UCS C-Series Servers in a Cisco R-Series Rack Enclosure ◦Install the slide-rail assembly into the Cisco R42610 rack enclosure
◦Attach the mounting brackets to the server
◦Insert the server into the slide rail
◦Attach the cable management arm
◦Connect the Cisco UCS C-Series server to the PDU
◦Connect management and data cables

•Updating Cisco UCS C-Series Firmware with the Host Upgrade Utility ◦Download the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility from Cisco.com
◦Enable KVM and virtual media in Cisco Integrated Management Controller
◦Describe the session options that are available in the KVM
◦Launch virtual media and map the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility ISO image
◦Perform an upgrade of all components

•Provisioning Monitoring and Logging on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server ◦Provision SNMP
◦Provision syslog destinations for server logging data
◦Access data from the system event log
◦Export technical support information

•Provisioning LAN and SAN Connectivity in the Cisco Integrated Management Controller ◦Provision the Cisco UCS P81E VIC to allow FCoE
◦Provision a locally administered MAC address for the A- and B-side 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces
◦Enable RSS on Ethernet adapters
◦Provision locally administered addresses for the Fibre Channel interface WWPN and WWNN
◦Provision the Fibre Channel boot target for the A- and B-side Fibre Channel interfaces

•Provisioning RAID on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server ◦Describe the characteristics of RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10
◦Boot the server in the KVM and access the LSI MegaRAID web user interface
◦Add all local hard drives to a RAID 5 array and save the configuration

•Installing VMware ESXi on the Cisco UCS C-Series Server Local RAID Array ◦Open a KVM session to the Cisco UCS C-Series server
◦Map virtual media to the ESXi installer ISO image
◦Install ESXi on the local RAID array
◦Boot ESXi from the local RAID array
◦Configure a management IP address for the ESXi server
◦Connect to the ESXi server with the VMware vSphere Client utility and connect to the VMware File System shared storage LUN on the Fibre Channel storage system

2: Manage the Cisco UCS B-Series
•Implementing RBAC ◦Describe the overall framework of RBAC in the Cisco UCS B-Series
◦Implement local users, roles, and privileges
◦Implement organizations and locales
◦Describe the effective rights of a user as an intersection of roles and locales mapped to a user
◦Implement LDAP providers and provider groups
◦Implement LDAP (Microsoft Active Directory) as an external authentication and authorization service
◦Implement Cisco UCS roles mapping to LDAP (Active Directory) attributes with LDAP provider maps

•Managing and Upgrading Cisco UCS B-Series Firmware ◦Describe where to find Cisco UCS firmware packages on Cisco.com
◦Update Cisco UCS firmware
◦Direct upgrade of mezzanine adapter, Cisco Integrated Management Controller, and IOM firmware
◦Describe software updates on the fabric interconnect
◦Describe the requirement for firmware updates via host firmware packages in the service profile
◦Describe the differences between the firmware processes of Cisco UCS fabric interconnect and IOM, Cisco Integrated Management Controller, and adapter
◦Describe how to update and activate the hardware capability catalog

•Implementing Backup, Import, and Restore of the Cisco UCS Manager Database ◦Differentiate between the supported backup types and the database objects to which they map in the Cisco UCS Manager database
◦Differentiate between an import operation and a disaster recovery restore operation
◦Implement a backup job
◦Implement backup jobs to preserve abstracted identities
◦Verify that the backup is created and executed
◦Implement an import job to restore the AAA user database
◦Verify that the AAA user database is restored
◦Configure the Cisco UCS 6100/6200 Series Fabric Interconnect for disaster recovery restore

•Implementing Logging and Monitoring ◦Describe Cisco UCS Manager management interfaces
◦Describe the fault management system and evaluate fault severity levels
◦Use the audit log to track administrative changes to the Cisco UCS Manager database
◦Describe Cisco UCS Manager operations subject to FSM validation and how to interpret FSM output
◦Implement logging options including local buffer, console, and external syslog servers
◦Use system event log and system event log policies
◦Implement the Smart Call Home feature
◦Validate the Smart Call Home feature
◦Configure settings for logs, events, and faults
◦Configure SPAN to allow protocol analysis

•Implementing High Availability ◦Describe high-availability cluster connection requirements for Cisco UCS B-Series
◦Describe intercluster communications and Cisco UCS Manager database synchronization
◦Differentiate between cluster partition-in-time and partition-in-space split-brain conditions
◦Describe how the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis SEEPROM resolves a split-brain issue in the high-availability cluster
◦Modify cluster IP addressing from the Cisco UCS Manager GUI and CLI

3: Implement Cisco UCS B-Series Connectivity
•Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series Physical Connectivity ◦Describe the relationship between I/O uplinks and bandwidth oversubscription with generation 2 hardware
◦Describe the Cisco UCS 2204/2208XP IOM architecture including CMC, I/O MUX, and chassis management switch
◦Describe the relationship between I/O uplinks and bandwidth oversubscription with generation 1 hardware
◦Describe the Cisco UCS 2104XP IO module architecture including CMC, I/O MUX, and chassis management switch
◦Describe the features of the Cisco UCS VIC 1280 and VIC 1240
◦Compare the number of virtual interfaces available on the Cisco UCS M81KR VIC and the VIC 1280
◦Describe new mezzanine cards including M51, M61, and M72
◦Describe the Cisco Integrated Management Controller management component of the B-Series blades
◦Describe the creation of port channels from the Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect to the 2204/2208XP IOM
◦Describe the difference between server and uplink port personalities in the fabric interconnect
◦Describe the chassis discovery process and monitor using the FSM
◦Configure the chassis discovery policy

•Installing Cisco UCS B-Series Hardware ◦Describe the ESD precautions that are necessary when installing Cisco UCS B-Series components
◦List the steps for opening the case of half- and full-slot blade servers
◦List the steps for physical installation of rack-mount slides in the enclosure and on the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis
◦List the steps for installation and removal of CPU, RAM, and mezzanine cards in Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers
◦List the steps for physical installation and removal of local hard drives
◦List the steps for physical installation of half- and full-slot blade servers
◦List the steps for physical installation of IOMs and power supplies in the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis
◦List the steps for physical installation and removal of fan units
◦List the steps for physical installation and removal of SFP+ copper twinax and optical modules

•Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series LAN Connectivity ◦Differentiate between uplink, server, appliance, FCoE storage, and monitoring Ethernet port personalities of 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect
◦Describe the requirements and configuration of port channels from the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect to a northbound switch
◦Describe end-host mode and its importance in forwarding over multiple Layer 2 links and maintaining a loop-free topology
◦Differentiate end-host mode with switched mode
◦Describe the requirements to configure VLANs in Cisco UCS Manager
◦Describe the role of vNICs to abstract MAC addresses into a service profile
◦Describe the automatic pinning process and recovery from failure
◦Describe the configuration of manual pinning and recovery from failure
◦Describe the configuration of disjoint Layer 2 domains

•Implementing Cisco UCS B-Series SAN Connectivity ◦Describe Fibre Channel switching
◦Describe NPV
◦Differentiate between Fibre Channel uplink, Fibre Channel storage, and Fibre Channel monitoring port personalities of 10 Gigabit Ethernet interfaces on the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect
◦Differentiate between benefits and drawbacks of Fibre Channel switching and NPV
◦Describe how NPIV allows a single N Port to be associated with multiple FCIDs
◦Describe the requirements and configuration of VSANs in Cisco UCS Manager
◦Describe the role of the vHBA to abstract WWNNs and WWPNs into a service profile
◦Describe the automatic pinning process and recovery from failure
◦Describe the configuration of manual pinning and recovery from failure
◦Differentiate Ethernet failover from Fibre Channel multipath I/O recovery

4: Provision Cisco UCS Compute Resources
•Provisioning the Cisco UCS Cluster ◦Configure the primary cluster peer from the fabric interconnect console
◦Configure the secondary cluster peer from the fabric interconnect console and join to the cluster
◦Log into the Cisco UCS Manager GUI and assign a pool of management IP addresses for server management

•Provisioning LAN Networking ◦Provision VLANs for single fabric, both fabrics, and both fabrics configured differently
◦Provision VLAN ranges
◦Provision private VLANs
◦Provision Ethernet uplinks
◦Provision Ethernet uplink port channels
◦Provision fabric port channels from the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect to a Cisco 2204/2208 IOM
◦Provision FCoE storage ports
◦Provision appliance ports and prune VLANs

•Provisioning SAN Networking ◦Provision VSANs for single fabric, both fabrics, and both fabrics configured differently
◦Provision Fibre Channel uplinks and VSAN trunking
◦Provision Fibre Channel port channels
◦Provision direct-attach Fibre Channel storage ports and default zoning

•Provisioning Resource Pools in Cisco UCS Manager ◦Provision server pools
◦Provision server pool autoplacement
◦Provision UUID pools
◦Provision MAC pools
◦Provision WWNN pools
◦Provision WWPN pools
◦Provision iSCSI initiator pools

•Provisioning Server Policies in Cisco UCS Manager ◦Provision a service profile using the expert service profile wizard
◦Implement pools and policies in the service profile
◦Associate a service profile to a server
◦Describe the Cisco UCS Utility Operating System
◦Observe the association process using the FSM

•Provisioning Service Profiles from Templates in Cisco UCS Manager ◦Describe the requirements of service profile templates
◦Describe the difference between initial templates and updating templates, including operational caveats
◦Provision a vNIC template using the template wizard
◦Provision a vHBA template using the template wizard
◦Provision a service profile template using the template wizard
◦Provision multiple servers from a service profile template
◦Clone a service profile

•Provisioning Cisco UCS C-Series Server Integration in Cisco UCS Manager ◦Describe the benefits of C-Series integration
◦Describe the physical connectivity requirements for C-Series integration
◦Install version 1.2 C-Series server firmware to allow integration with Cisco UCS prior to version 2.0(2xx)
◦Describe the C-Series discovery process

5: Implement Cisco UCS Server Virtualization Features
•Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX and Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through ◦ Describe VMware vSwitch and vDS
◦ Describe Cisco Nexus 1000V switching
◦ Describe Cisco VM-FEX
◦ Describe Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through

•Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX ◦Provision VMware ESXi servers with a Cisco VEM
◦Provision the secure connection from Cisco UCS Manager to VMware vCenter Server
◦Provision port profiles and push to vCenter as port groups
◦Provision a dynamic vNIC connection policy and BIOS policy for Cisco VM-FEX
◦Join ESXi hosts to the DVS
◦Provision VMs to consume port groups on the DVS

•Provisioning Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through ◦Describe VMware requirements for universal pass-through mode
◦Provision a dynamic vNIC connection policy for Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through
◦Provision a BIOS policy for Cisco VM-FEX universal pass-through
◦Associate universal pass-through policies to a service profile
◦Provision a port profile for universal pass-through mode
◦Provision VMs to connect to DirectPath I/O interfaces
◦Verify universal pass-through mode

Course Labs
•Lab 1-1: Perform Initial C-Series Implementation
•Lab 1-2: Update Cisco UCS C-Series Firmware from the Cisco UCS Host Upgrade Utility
•Lab 1-3: Implement LAN and SAN Connectivity
•Lab 1-4: Install VMware ESXi on the Local RAID and Verify SAN Connectivity
•Lab 2-1: Provision Cisco UCS Ethernet Connectivity and Management IP Pools
•Lab 2-2: Configure RBAC
•Lab 2-3: Back Up and Restore Cisco UCS Manager Database Objects
•Lab 2-4: Configure Logging in Cisco UCS
•Lab 4-1: Provision Identity and Resource Pools
•Lab 4-2: Provision Mobile Service Profiles from Updating Templates
•Lab 4-3: Test High Availability
•Lab 5-1: Provision VMware Integration
•Lab 5-2: Provision M81-KR Cisco VM-FEX
•Lab 5-3: Provision M81-KR Cisco VM-FEX Universal Pass-Through