Introduction to Cisco Unified Computing System
Infrastructure
• Cisco Unified Computing System Overview, page 1
• Cisco UCS Manager Overview, page 3
Cisco Unified Computing System Overview
Figure 1: Cisco UCS Architecture
Cisco UCS has a unique architecture that integrates compute, data network access, and storage network access
into a common set of components under a single-pane-of-glass management interface.
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Introduction to Cisco Unified Computing System Infrastructure
Cisco Unified Computing System Overview
Cisco UCS fuses access layer networking and servers. This high-performance, next-generation server system
provides a data center with a high degree of workload agility and scalability. The hardware and software
components support Cisco's unified fabric, which runs multiple types of data center traffic over a single
converged network adapter.
Architectural Simplification
The simplified architecture of Cisco UCS reduces the number of required devices and centralizes switching
resources. By eliminating switching inside a chassis, network access-layer fragmentation is significantly
reduced. Cisco UCS implements Cisco unified fabric within racks and groups of racks, supporting Ethernet
and Fibre Channel protocols over 10 Gigabit Cisco Data Center Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet
(FCoE) links. This radical simplification reduces the number of switches, cables, adapters, and management
points by up to two-thirds. All devices in a Cisco UCS domain remain under a single management domain,
which remains highly available through the use of redundant components.
High Availability
The management and data plane of Cisco UCS is designed for high availability and redundant access layer
fabric interconnects. In addition, Cisco UCS supports existing high availability and disaster recovery solutions
for the data center, such as data replication and application-level clustering technologies.
Scalability
A single Cisco UCS domain supports multiple chassis and their servers, all of which are administered through
one Cisco UCS Manager. For more detailed information about the scalability, speak to your Cisco representative.
Flexibility
A Cisco UCS domain allows you to quickly align computing resources in the data center with rapidly changing
business requirements. This built-in flexibility is determined by whether you choose to fully implement the
stateless computing feature. Pools of servers and other system resources can be applied as necessary to respond
to workload fluctuations, support new applications, scale existing software and business services, and
accommodate both scheduled and unscheduled downtime. Server identity can be abstracted into a mobile
service profile that can be moved from server to server with minimal downtime and no need for additional
network configuration. With this level of flexibility, you can quickly and easily scale server capacity without
having to change the server identity or reconfigure the server, LAN, or SAN. During a maintenance window,
you can quickly do the following:
• Deploy new servers to meet unexpected workload demand and rebalance resources and traffic.
• Shut down an application, such as a database management system, on one server and then boot it up
again on another server with increased I/O capacity and memory resources.
Optimized for Server Virtualization
Cisco UCS has been optimized to implement VM-FEX technology. This technology provides improved
support for server virtualization, including better policy-based configuration and security, conformance with
a company's operational model, and accommodation for VMware's VMotion.
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Cisco UCS Manager Overview
Cisco UCS Manager Overview
Cisco UCS Manager is embedded software that resides on the fabric interconnects, providing complete
configuration and management capabilities for all of the components in the Cisco UCS system. This
configuration information is replicated between the two fabric interconnects, providing a highly available
solution for this critical function. The most common way to access UCS Manager for simple tasks is to use
a Web browser to open the Java-based GUI. For command-line or programmatic operations against the system,
a command-line interface (CLI) and an XML API are also included with the system.
The Cisco UCS Manager GUI provides role-based access control (RBAC) to allow multiple levels of users
granular administrative rights to system objects. Users can be restricted to certain portions of the system based
on locale, which corresponds to an optional organizational structure that can be created within the system.
Users can also be classified based on their access levels or areas of expertise, such as “Storage Administrator,”
“Server Equipment Administrator,” or “Read-Only”. RBAC allows the comprehensive capabilities of the Cisco
UCS Manager GUI to be properly shared across multiple individuals or teams within your organization in a
flexible, secure manner.
Cisco UCS Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware components.
Every instance of Cisco UCS Manager and all of the components managed by it form a domain. For
organizations that deploy multiple Cisco UCS domains, Cisco UCS Central software providesa centralized
user interface that allows you to manage multiple, globallydistributed Cisco UCS domains with thousands of
servers. Cisco UCS Central integrates with Cisco UCS Manager and utilizes it to provide globalconfiguration
capabilities for pools, policies, and firmware.
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Cisco UCS Manager Overview
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