Cisco UCS Cookbook

Chapter 1. Cisco UCS to SAN Connectivity

In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:

Firmware upgrade on the Brocade Fibre Channel Switch
Firmware upgrade on the Cisco Fibre Channel Switch
Cisco UCS to Brocade FC Switch connectivity
Cisco UCS to Cisco FC Switch connectivity
Zoning configuration in UCS Fibre Channel Switch mode
HP 3PAR Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server
EMC Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server

Firmware upgrade on the Brocade Fibre Channel Switch

In this recipe, we will learn how to upgrade FOS on Brocade Fibre Channel Switch ranging from version 7.0.0a to 7.1.1c1; its model is Brocade DS-300B.

Getting ready

We need to prepare an FTP or TFTP Server for the Brocade FOS upgrade, which can either be a physical or a virtual server.

This FTP Server has the following requirements:

The Operation System platform should be Microsoft Windows XP or 7
Two vCPUs at 2 GHz if it is a virtual server, and one CPU at 2 GHz if it is a physical server
2 GB memory and 6 GB disk space
The IP address of this FTP Server can access the management network of the Brocade Fibre Channel Switch (DS-300B)

How to do it…

In this recipe, we will learn how to download the Fabric Operating System (FOS) on a Brocade website and upgrade FOS on Brocade Fibre Channel Switch (DS-300B).

Download

Following are the steps to download FOS:

Navigate to http://my.brocade.com and login to MyBrocade account and select downloads, as shown next:
Note
Note: Access to product downloads and documentation is limited to users with an active Technical Support Contract with Brocade.
Select SAN Switches in the Download by menu and download the Fabric Operating System (FOS) version you want:
After finishing the FOS download, the example of the FOS file name would be v7.1.1c1.zip.

Upgrade

We assume that you are installing the FTP software 3CDaemon on a Microsoft Windows XP.

Following are the steps to install 3CDaemon on Microsoft Windows:

First, you need to prepare an FTP Server 3CDaemon, which is an FTP freeware on Microsoft Windows XP; then, create a user named user1, who has full-access rights and set up the FOS upload path as C:\temp\brocade\:
Use SSH to log in to your Brocade DS-300B using the admin account and execute firmwareshow to identify the current version of FOS. In the following output, it is listed that the current version of FOS is v7.0.0a:
```
FC_Switch:admin> firmwareshow
Appl     Primary/Secondary Versions
------------------------------------------
FOS      v7.0.0a
         v7.0.0a
```
Save the current Switch configuration. Issue the cfgSave command to ensure that the zoning information in the Switch's flash is preserved after the reboot. The following output is for reference:
```
FC_Switch:admin> cfgsave
You are about to save the Defined zoning configuration. This
action will only save the changes on Defined configuration.
Any changes made on the Effective configuration will not
take effect until it is re-enabled.
Do you want to save Defined zoning configuration only?<yes, y, no, n:[no] y
```
Note
Note: If nothing has changed since the most recent cfgSave, you will receive the message: "Nothing changed: nothing to save, returning…".

To backup the current Switch configuration into the FTP Server, you can issue the configUpload command:

FC_Switch:admin> configUpload
Protocol (scp, ftp, sftp, local) [ftp]: ftp
Server Name or IP Address [host]: {IP address of FTP Server}
User Name [user]: {Your login ID on FTP Server}
Path/Filename [<home dir>/config.txt]: {Path to the file} i.e./temp/brocade/origconfig.txt
Section <all|chassis|switch [all]>: all {all should be accepted unless your account permissions dictate otherwise}
Password: {your password on the FTP server}

Note

configUpload complete indicates that all the selected config parameters are uploaded.

Execute the firmwaredownload command to upgrade FOS on Brocade Switch; the details of the same are as shown:

FC_Switch:admin> firmwaredownload
Server Name or IP Address: <FTP Server IP address>
User Name: <FTP Server User Name>
File Name: /v7.1.1c1
Network Protocol(1-auto-select, 2-FTP, 3-SCP, 4-SFTP) [1]: 
Password: *****
Checking system settings for firmwaredownload...
Server IP: <FTP Server IP address>, Protocol IPv4
System settings check passed.
You can run firmwaredownloadstatus to get the status of this command.
This command will cause a warm/non-disruptive boot but will require that existing telnet, secure telnet or SSH sessions be restarted.

Do you want to continue [Y]: y
Firmware is being downloaded to the switch. This step may take up to 30 minutes.
Preparing for firmwaredownload...
Start to install packages...
dir                         ##################################################
ldconfig                    ##################################################
glibc                       ################################################## 
~
awk                         ##################################################
Removing unneeded files, please wait ...
Finished removing unneeded files. 

All packages have been downloaded successfully.
Firmware has been downloaded to the secondary partition of the switch.
HA Rebooting ...

Note

Note: The SSH session will be disconnected after the HA Rebooting. You should use SSH to connect to Brocade Switch again.

How it works…

In this recipe, we will learn how to verify the new firmware on Brocade FC Switch.

Validation

After finishing the FOS upgrade, you should use SSH to connect to Brocade FC Switch again and issue the firmwaredownloadstatus command to identify whether the firmware download has completed successfully; the details are given in the following screenshot:

Note

Note: This operation may take up to 30 minutes.

Finally, execute the firmwareshow command to ensure that the new firmware is active on primary and secondary partition in Brocade Switch, as shown; the new FOS is running on v7.1.1c1:

FC_Switch:admin> firmwareshow
Appl     Primary/Secondary Versions
------------------------------------------
FOS      v7.1.1c1
         v7.1.1c1

Firmware upgrade on the Cisco Fibre Channel Switch

In this recipe, we will learn how to upgrade NX-OS on Cisco MDS SAN Switch from version 5.2.8e to 6.2.13. The model we are using is the Cisco MDS-9148.

Getting ready

We need to prepare one TFTP Server for the Cisco NX-OS upgrade, which can either be a physical server or a virtual server.

The TFTP Server has the following requirements:

The Operation System platform is Microsoft Windows XP or 7
Two vCPUs at 2 GHz if it is a virtual server, one CPUs at 2 GHz if it is a physical server
2 GB memory and 6 GB disk space
The IP address of this FTP Server can access the management network of Cisco MDS Switch (MDS-9148)

How to do it…

In this recipe, we will learn how to download NX-OS on a Cisco website and upgrade NX-OS on Cisco Fibre Channel Switch (MDS-9148).

Download

Following are the steps to download NX-OS:

Navigate to https://software.cisco.com/download/navigator.html and log in to My Cisco account. Select Products, the details are as shown in the following screenshot:
Note
Note: Access to download Cisco NX-OS is limited to users with an active Technical Support Contract with Cisco.
Download MDS NX-OS Kick Start 6.2(13) and NX-OS system images 6.2(13) on the software menu:
After finishing the NX-OS kick-start and system image download, the example of the file name will be m9100-s3ek9-kickstart-mz.6.2.13.bin and m9100-s3ek9-mz.6.2.13.bin.

How it works…

Upgrade

We assume that you are installing TFTP 3CDaemon on Microsoft Windows XP:

First, prepare one FTP Server 3CDaemon, which is an FTP freeware, on Microsoft Windows XP. Then set up the firmware upload path C:\cisco\ and store all NX-OS firmware files on this path:

Log in to the MDS-9148 Switch with SSH, then copy the Cisco NX-OS kick-start and system image from the TFTP location to one of the two bootflashes. Issue the following command to copy the files to the bootflash:

switch# copy tftp://<server IP address>/<filename in TFTP> bootflash:<image filename>

Example:

switch# copy tftp://192.168.1.2/ m9100-s3ek9-kickstart-mz.6.2.13.bin bootflash:/m9100-s3ek9-kickstart-mz.6.2.13.bin
switch# copy tftp://192.168.1.2/ m9100-s3ek9-mz.6.2.13.bin bootflash:/m9100-s3ek9-mz.6.2.13.bin

Verify the running version of NX-OS for MDS-6148 by issuing the show version command. You can see that the running version is 5.2.(8e).

Back up the current Switch configuration into TFTP by issuing the following command:

switch# copy startup-config tftp://<server IP address>/<startup-config_switch name_date>
Example:
switch# copy startup-config tftp:// 192.168.1.2/<startup-config_MDS-6148

Issue the following command to perform the upgrade:

switch# install all kickstart bootflash:m9100-s3ek9-kickstart-mz.6.2.13.bin system bootflash: m9100-s3ek9-mz.6.2.13.bin

After the process has verified the uploaded files, press Y to continue the installation.
After the installation is complete, it will drop your SSH session. Login and perform the show version to verify that the upgrade has been completed successfully. You can see kick start and the system is version 6.2(13).

Cisco UCS to Brocade FC Switch connectivity

In this recipe, we will learn how to set up Cisco UCS 6248UP to Brocade Fabric connectivity.

Getting ready

Prepare one Cisco UCS 5108 Chassis with two installed UCS IOM 2208XP; each UCS IOM is connected to one Cisco UCS 6428UP. Configure two ports on each Cisco UCS 6428UP, as an FC uplink port which is connected to Brocade SAN Fabric (DS-300B) by Fibre Channel cables. The Brocade fabric is an 8 GB SAN Switch. The UCS service profile (defined by two vHBA1/2) is associated with the UCS Server and can boot up the OS successfully. The details are listed in the following diagram:

How to do it…

We assume that the compatibility of the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect (FI) and Brocade DS-300B Switch is supported. The FC mode of each FI is End Host:

We need to verify that the NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualization) status of all ports is ON and then issue the portcfgshow command on the Brocade command interface by SSH. The NPIV capability parameter will display ON if the NPIV feature is enabled per port, as shown in the following screenshot:
Ports 6 and 7 of each Brocade SAN Switch are connected to FI. As each FC uplink of Cisco Fabric Interconnect is 8 GB, ensure that the Brocade Fibre Channel fill pattern is 2. If the Brocade Fibre Channel fill pattern is not 2, it develops interoperability issues between the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects and Brocade Fibre Channel Switches. You can issue the portcfgshow <port number> command to ensure that the Channel fill pattern is as shown in the following screenshot:
Note
Brocade Channel fill pattern in mode 2 (SW Idle-Arbff) can match the Cisco UCS configuration.
If the Channel fill pattern of the port is not 2, you can issue the portCfgFillword command to change the fill pattern. The syntax is as follows:
```
portCfgFillword port, mode
```
Note
The Brocade 16 GB SAN Switch does not support the portCfgFillword command, as this platform automatically detects and sets the correct Fibre Channel fill pattern.
Go to Show Interface of General tab of each FC uplink port, and ensure that the Fill Pattern of each FC uplink port on FI is Arbff, as shown in the following screenshot:
Repeat the preceding procedure from Steps 1 to 3 on another FI and Brocade SAN Switch. Make the connection between Cisco UCS FI and the Brocade SAN Switch by two Fibre Channel cables, and then finally the Cisco UCS to Brocade FC Switch connectivity will be completed.

How it works…

Log in to Brocade SAN Switch by SSH and issue the switchshow command; you can see that ports 6 and 7 have 2 NPIV logins, as shown in the following screenshot:
Next, issue the portShow command on port 6 or 7 to identify the WorldWide Port Names (WWPNs) of the Cisco UCS Server vHBAs that are logged into the Brocade F-port, as shown in the following screenshot:
Repeat the preceding procedure from Steps 1 to 2 on another Brocade SAN Switch. After that, you can create the FC zone Brocade SAN Switch for the connection between the Cisco UCS Blade Server and external SAN storage.

There's more…

The following table lists the comparison of FC uplinks between Cisco UCS and other band Blades:

Number of Chassis

Case1

Case2

Cisco UCS Chassis x 3

This does not require the installation of any additional FC module on each Chassis for FC connection.

Summary

This does not require additional FC module for FC uplink connections on Blade Chassis

If each Fabric network requires two uplinks, it is necessary to connect those two FC uplinks to the Fabric Interconnect.

Summary

Totally it has four FC uplinks throughput shared between three Blade Chassis

Other Band Chassis x 3

This needs to install one pair of FC modules on each Chassis for FC connection.

Summary

This requires an additional FC module for FC uplink connections on each Blade Chassis

If each Fabric network requires 2 uplinks, it is necessary to connect two FC uplinks to each FC module on each Blade Chassis.

Summary

This requires four FC uplinks shared between each Blade Chassis. Totally it is necessary to use 12 FC uplinks for three Blade Chassis .

Cisco UCS to Cisco FC Switch connectivity

In this recipe, we will learn how to set up Cisco UCS 6248UP to Cisco MDS 9000 SAN Switch connectivity.

Getting ready

Prepare one Cisco UCS 5108 Chassis with two installed UCS IOM 2208XP, each UCS IOM is connected to one Cisco UCS 6428UP. Now, configure two ports on each Cisco UCS 6428UP as an FC-uplink port, which is connected to Cisco MDS Fabric by Fibre Channel cables, this Cisco MDS is an 8 GB SAN Switch.

The UCS service profile (defined by two vHBA1/2) is associated with the UCS Server and can boot up the OS successfully. The details are listed in the following diagram:

How to do it…

We will assume that the compatibility of the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect (FI) and Cisco MDS-9148 is certificated and the FC mode of each FI is End Host.

First, we need to make sure that the NPIV feature is enabled on Cisco MDS 9148. Log in to MDS 9148 with Cisco Fabric Manager and choose Feature Control... on the Admin tab menu. The details are as shown in the following screenshot:
You can enable this feature by CLI via SSH if NPIV is not enabled; the procedure is as shown:
```
switch#  config t (Enter configuration mode)
switch(config)#  feature npiv (Enable NPIV feature for all VSANs on the switch)
```
Make sure that the VSAN (ID=500) configuration is created and assigned to each vHBA:
Make the connection between Cisco UCS FI and MDS SAN Switch with two Fibre Channel cables. Finally, the Cisco UCS to Cisco MDS Switch connectivity will be completed.

How it works…

Issue the show flogi database command to identify the WWPNs of the Cisco UCS Server vHBAs logged into Cisco MDS 9148 Switch. This means that the MDS SAN Switch is successfully connected to UCS. You can see the WWPN of UCS Server1's vHBA and Server2's vHBA, which can log in to this MDS 9148, as shown in the following output:

Switch1-MDS-9148# show flogi database

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

INTERFACE VSAN FCID PORT NAME NODE NAME

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

fc1/1 500 0x010601 20:00:00:25:b5:0a:00:03 20:00:00:25:b5:00:00:03

fc1/2 500 0x010701 20:00:00:25:b5:0a:00:00 20:00:00:25:b5:00:00:00

fc1/2 500 0x010707 20:00:00:25:b5:0a:00:01 20:00:00:25:b5:00:00:01

fc1/1 500 0x010607 20:00:00:25:b5:0a:00:02 20:00:00:25:b5:00:00:02

Total number of flogi = 4.

Switch1-MDS-9148#

Issue the following command show npv flogi-table on the UCS Fabric Interconnect in the NX-OS mode. If the UCS Fabric Interconnect Switch returns four flogi sessions in the following output, the Cisco UCS and Cisco MDS Switch connectivity has been completed successfully:
Repeat the preceding steps on another Fabric Interconnect and Cisco MDS Switch. After that, you can create the FC Zone on Cisco MDS SAN Switch for the connection between the Cisco UCS Blade Server and external SAN Storage.

There's more…

When you increase the number of links for the connection of UCS Chassis and Fabric Interconnect, the bandwidth per chassis also increases. The following table shows the comparison between them:

Model of Chassis	Number of Links per Chassis	Bandwidth per Chassis
Cisco UCS 5108 Chassis	2	20 GBs
	4	40 GBs
	8	80 GBs
	16	160 GBs

Zoning configuration in UCS Fibre Channel Switch mode

In this recipe, we will learn how to enable Cisco UCS 6248UP in the FC Switching mode, create FC Zoning on FI, and configure it into Cisco UCS service profile.

Getting ready

Prepare the Cisco UCS 5108 Chassis and install two UCS IOM 2208XP; each UCS IOM is connected to one Cisco UCS 6428UP. Then, configure the two ports on each Cisco UCS 6428UP as an FC Storage port, which is connected to the two FC ports of the SAN Storage controller by Fibre Channel. This SAN storage has two controllers, which in turn has two FC ports. There is one UCS B200M3 installed into this UCS Chassis.

How to do it…

In this recipe, we will learn how to enable the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect in FC Switching mode and create Local FC Zoning.

Enable Cisco Fabric Interconnect in FC Switching mode

Assume that it has configured the FC port in the UCS Fabric Interconnect.

Follow these steps to enable Cisco Fabric Interconnect in FC Switching mode:

First, log in to the Cisco UCS Manager and identify the FC Mode of the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect (FI) in the FC Switching mode. You should change the FC Mode in FC Switching if it is in the End Host, as shown in the following screenshot:
Note
By default, the Ethernet Mode and FC Mode are in the End Host.
Set the FC Switching Mode to active on the Actions menu of the General tab, as shown:
The Fabric Interconnect will restart after you click on the Yes button and all the ports of the Fabric Interconnect will disconnect:
After the Fabric Interconnect restart is complete, the FC mode displays Switch and Set FC Switching Mode displays in gray. Now the Switch mode of FI is active.

Create local FC Zoning on Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect

The following diagram describes the concept of local FC Zone on Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect (FI). It mainly consists of four components, Service Profile, SAN Connectivity Policy, Storage Connection Policy, and SAN Target, as shown in the following screenshot:

Following are the steps to create Local FC Zoning on Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect:

First, create two Storage Connection Policies: SAN-TargetA and SAN-TargetB, in Policies on the SAN tab of the UCS Manager. The following table lists the sample configuration for reference:

Storage Connection Policy	Zoning Type	WWPN	Path	VSAN
SAN-TargetA	Single Initiator Single Target	50:06:01:60:47:20:25:EB	A	default(1)
SAN-TargetA	Single Initiator Single Target	50:06:01:61:47:20:25:EB	A	default(1)
SAN-TargetB	Single Initiator Single Target	50:06:01:68:47:20:25:EB	B	default(1)
SAN-TargetB	Single Initiator Single Target	50:06:01:69:47:20:25:EB	B	default(1)

Note

According to the best practices of Fabric Zoning, Single Initiator Single Target option is recommended.

The following screenshot lists the key items required to create the Storage Connection Policy:

After creating two Storage Connection Policies, we can see that it is listed as shown in the following output:

Create one SAN Connectivity Policy SAN_Con_Policy in the Policies on the SAN tab of the UCS Manager. The following table lists a sample configuration for reference:

Storage Connectivity Policy

vHBA Name

vHBA Initiator Groups

Storage Connection Policy

SAN_Con_Policy

vHBA1

FabA_Zone

SAN-TargetA

vHAB2

FabB_Zone

SAN-TargetB
Assume that vHBA1 is connected to FI-A and vHBA2 is connected to FI-B. The following screen is listed in the key items to create the Storage Connectivity Policy:
After creating the Storage Connectivity Policy named SAN_Con_Policy, it has two vHBA Initiators Groups, FabA_Zone and FabB_Zone. FabA_Zone includes two zones: vHBA1 to SAN-TargetA1 and vHBA1 to SAN-TargetA2. FabB_Zone includes two zones: vHBA2 to SAN-TargetB1 and vHBA2 to SAN-TargetB2.

How it works…

In this recipe, we will learn how to apply the Local FC Zone to the service profile.

Validation

You should choose the SAN connectivity during the creation of a service profile; select Use Connectivity Policy. In the following example, you can select the SAN_Con_Policy, which is defined in the preceding example:

After you select the SAN Connectivity Policy, you can see two vHBA Initiator Groups: FabA_Zone and FabB_Zone, which is defined in the preceding example. This service profile includes four Local FC Zones:

HP 3PAR Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server

In this recipe, we will learn the concept of how to set up the HP 3PAR 7200 Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server.

Getting ready

We assume that each Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect is connected to one core SAN Switch (Brocade DS-300B). Each SAN Switch is connected to an HP 3PAR 7200 Storage by two FC uplinks. This storage has two controllers, and each one has two FC ports (P1 and P2). Microsoft Windows 2008 is installed (local drive) in the Cisco B200 M3 Blade Server, which is located in the UCS 5108 Chassis. This B200 M3 has two vHBA (Virtual Host Bus Adapter) pre-defined in the UCS service profile; Microsoft Windows 2008 can boot up successfully from this service profile. The following screenshot lists the detail of this demo environment:

Note

The FC mode of Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect is End Host, each FC Zone is defined on a SAN Switch.

How to do it…

Follow these steps to create HP 3PAR Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server:

First, go to note WWPN of vHBAs on the Storage tab of this service profile, as shown in the following screenshot. The WWPN of vHBA-FIA is 20:00:00:25:B5:0A:00:00 and vHBA-FIB is 20:00:00:25:B5:0B:00:01:
Log in to the HP 3PAR Management Console and go to Systems and choose Host of Ports; you can note the WWN of each port on each Controller. 0:1:1 is port1 and 0:1:2 port2 on Controller1 and 1:1:1 is port1 and 1:1:2 port2 on Controller2. The WWN of Controller1-P1 is 20110002AC008E5B and of Controller1-P2 is 20120002AC008E5B. The WWN of Controller2-P1 is 21110002AC008E5B and of Controller2-P2 is 21120002AC008E5B:
Note
3PAR Management Console is a management tool that is used to manage HP 3PAR Storage.
Log in to SAN Switch-A by SSH and verify that the WWPN of each 3PAR Controller's FC port and WWN of each vHBA can successfully log on to the SAN Switch. According to the following screenshot, you can see that port 1 and 5 are the WWPN of Controller1-P1 and Controller2-P1 by executing the switchshow command. Port 6 and 7 is FIA's FC uplinks:
As ports 6 and 7 are NPIV, you need to perform the portloginshow <port number> command to verify that the WWN of each vHBA can successfully log on to the SAN Switch. You can see the WWN of vHBA-FIA can login to port 7, as shown in the following screenshot:
Finally, you can see all the WWN login to SAN Switch-A successfully, the details are given in the following table:

SAN Switch

Port Number

WWPN/WWN

Devices

SAN Switch-A

1

20:11:00:02:AC:00:8E:5B

Controller1 Port1

5

21:11:00:02:AC:00:8E:5B

Controller2 Port1

7

20:00:00:25:B5:0A:00:00

vHBA-FIA
Repeat the procedure in Step 3 to verify all the WWPN/WWN on SAN Switch-B. You can see that all the WWN can log in to SAN Switch-B successfully, as shown in the following screenshot:
The following table has the listed summary of all the WWPN/WWNs on SAN Switch-B:

SAN Switch

Port Number

WWPN/WWN

Devices

SAN Switch-B

1

21:12:00:02:AC:00:8E:5B

Controller2 Port2

5

20:12:00:02:AC:00:8E:5B

Controller1 Port2

7

20:00:00:25:B5:0B:00:01

vHBA-FIB

Finally, create two zones on each SAN Switch. The following table lists the summary of each FC zone:

SAN Switch	Zone Name	Zone Member1	Zone Member2
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIA_Controll1-P1	vHBA-FIA	Controller1 Port1
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIA_Controll1-P2	vHBA-FIA	Controller2 Port1
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIB_Controll1-P2	vHBA-FIB	Controller1 Port2
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIB_Controll1-P2	vHBA-FIB	Controller2 Port2

Note

According to the best practices of FC Zoning, single initiator zoning is recommended (one initiator to one target).

How it works…

In this recipe, we will learn how to create a new host group in the HP 3PAR Management Console and assign Cisco UCS's vHBA into this host group. You can then assign 3PAR's SAN disk into this host group.

Validation

After the FC Zoning is created on both the SAN Switches, log in to HP 3PAR Management Console and go to Hosts and click on Create Host... to create a host group, as shown:
Input the name for this host group and select the Host OS as Windows 2008/2008 R2, as shown in the following screen:
Assign all the Available WWNs, which are related to vHBA-FIA and vHBA-FIB that is, 20000025B50A0000 and 20000025B50B0001, to Assigned WWNs as shown in the following screenshot:
Note
There are two zones for each vHBA on each SAN Switch; so, it there are four WWNs available in the preceding screenshot.
After creating the host group, right-click on the host group and select Export Volume... to assign the volume to this host Group on the volume menu, as shown in the following screenshot:

There's more…

When you configure a multipath software on Microsoft Windows 2008, according to the HP 3PAR best practice, the Microsoft MPIO needs to be enabled for HP3AR's multipath configuration.

EMC Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server

In this recipe, we will learn the concept of how to set up the EMC CLARiiON Storage connectivity of the Cisco UCS B-Series Server.

Getting ready

We assume that each Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect is connected to one core SAN Switch (Brocade DS-300B). Each SAN Switch is connected to an EMC Storage by two FC uplinks. This storage has two controllers and each one has two FC ports (A0 & A1 and B0 & B1). The VMware vSphere is installed (local drive) on a Cisco B200 M3 Blade Server, which is located in the UCS 5108 Chassis. This B200 M3 is pre-defined as two vHBA and associate into the UCS service profile. The VMware vSphere host can boot up successfully from this service profile. The following diagram lists the details of this demo environment:

How to do it…

First, go to note WWPN of each vHBA on Storage tab of this service profile as shown in the following screenshot. The WWPN of vHBA-FIA is 20:00:00:25:B5:0A:00:02 and vHBA-FIB is 20:00:00:25:B5:0B:00:02:
Log in to the EMC Unisphere Manager and go to Port Management, you can note WWN of each port on each Controller. A4 and A5 are on Controller1 and B4 and B5 are on Controller2. The WWN of Controller1-A4 is 50:06:01:64:47:20:25:EB and Controller1-A5 is 50:06:01:65:47:20:25:EB. The WWN of Controller2-B4 is 50:06:01:6C:47:20:25:EB and Controller2-B5 is 50:06:01:6D:47:20:25:EB:
Note
The EMC Unisphere Manager is a web-based tool to manage and monitor EMC CLARiiON/VNX SAN Storage.
Log in to SAN Switch-A by SSH and verify that the WWPN of each Controller's FC port and WWN of each vHBA can successfully log on to the SAN Switch. According to the following screenshot, you can see that ports 0 & 3 are the WWPN of Controller1-SPA4 and Controller2-SPB5 by executing the switchshow command. Port 6 & 7 is FI-A FC uplinks:
As ports 6 and 7 are NPIV you need to perform the portloginshow <port number> command to verify that the WWN of vHBA can successfully log on to the SAN Switch, you can WWN of vHBA-FIA can login to port 6, as shown in the following screenshot:
Finally, you can see that all WWNs can log in to SAN Switch-A successfully. The details are as follows:

SAN Switch

Port Number

WWPN/WWN

Devices

SAN Switch-A

0

50:06:01:64:47:20:25:EB

Controller1-A4

3

50:06:01:6D:47:20:25:EB

Controller2-B5

6

20:00:00:25:B5:0A:00:02

vHBA-FIA
Repeat Step 3 to verify that all WWPN/WWN on SAN Switch-B log in SAN Switch-B successfully, as shown in the following screenshot:
The following table lists the summary of all WWPN/WWN on SAN Switch-B:

SAN Switch

Port Number

WWPN/WWN

Devices

SAN Switch-B

0

50:06:01:6c:47:20:25:EB

Controller2-B4

3

50:06:01:65:47:20:25:EB

Controller1-A5

6

20:00:00:25:B5:0B:00:02

vHBA-FIB

Finally, create two zones on each SAN Switch, the following table lists the summary of each FC Zone:

SAN Switch	Zone Name	Zone Member1	Zone Member2
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIA_Controll1-A4	vHBA-FIA	Controller1-A4
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIA_Controll2-B5	vHBA-FIA	Controller2-B5
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIB_Controll1-A5	vHBA-FIB	Controller1-A5
SAN Switch-B	vHBA-FIB_Controll2-B4	vHBA-FIB	Controller2-B4

Note

According to the best practice of FC Zoning, a single initiator zoning is recommended (one initiator to one target).

How it works…

In this recipe, we will learn how to create a new storage group in EMC Unisphere Manager and assign Cisco UCS's vHBA into this storage group. Then you can assign EMC's SAN disk into this storage group.

Validation

When all the FC Zoning is created on both the SAN Switches, then log in to EMC Unisphere Manager, right-click on the System and choose Connectivity Status, as shown in the following screen:
Then you can see that all UCS's initiators (WWN of each vHBA) will be registered automatically in one host esxi55b:
Note
The host initiator can be registered automatically in one group, if the ESX is version 5.0 or above.
Go to Storage and create a new storage group by clicking on the Storage Groups in the Storage menu, enter the name of the storage group:
After creating the storage group, select Hosts tab and move the host initiator group "esxi55b" to the right-hand side and click on the Apply button. Finally, the EMC Storage connectivity of Cisco UCS is completed:

There's more…

By default, the VMware vSphere uses the VMware Native Multipathing Plugin (NMP) for multipath management. NMP is also supported in EMC CLARiiON storage's multipathing. EMC also provides its multipath software for VMware vSphere. This is an EMC Powerpath/VE that is used to automate and optimize data path pools in virtual environments.

In the next chapter, we will learn how to set up Cisco UCS to LAN connectivity.

Sam Leong Apr 04, 2016

This cookbook is a good reference book about Cisco UCS, I like the section of migrating data from other band servers to Cisco UCS.

Amazon Verified review

CW Dec 28, 2017

This book has saved me a few times. Easy to read information. With the new firmware upgrades changing the UCSM layout the pictures are outdated but the book still helps.

JC Jan 28, 2018

This book is fairly dated and contains cursory “cookbooks” for common UCS setups. Not a whole lot of in-depth discussions on architecture.

SAN Switch	Port Number	WWPN/WWN	Devices
SAN Switch-A	0	50:06:01:64:47:20:25:EB	Controller1-A4
	3	50:06:01:6D:47:20:25:EB	Controller2-B5
	6	20:00:00:25:B5:0A:00:02	vHBA-FIA

Cisco UCS Cookbook: Over 40 practical recipes to get your hands dirty with the powerful Cisco UCS and overcome various challenges

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