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Cisco UCS – C-Series Server Administration – Part 3

UCS C- series Rack Server

There are  lot of elements  which we didn’t see in the last article. In this article ,we will see that how to configure the CIMC log (syslog), Virtual KVM settings ,configure the BIOS, Power polices, User management, CIMC network settings. We will also see that how to configure the communication services for CIMC(http,https, ssh). To monitor the host, we also able to configure the SNMP on CIMC. At the end of the article, we will see that how to update the firmware and updating the new certificate in CIMC.

1. Verify the sensor status of the C-series server.If there is any issue with the server sensors , it will be displayed here.

UCS – C- Series Sensor

2. Event log can  be viewed by clicking the “system event log”

Event log

3.Click on the Remote Presence to configure the virtual KVM console. Here we can configure the number of maximum sessions and remote port.

UCS Remote presence – KVM

4.Here is the place where you can enable the virtual media.  If you enable the virtual media, you can able to map the local ISO file to the CIMC. (Ex: Mapping the OS ISO files)

UCS virtual Media Properties

5. Serial over LAN option  must be enabled to connect   the CIMC remotely.

UCS Remote Presence – Seriel Over LAN

6.Boot order can be defined in BIOS – > Configure Boot order.

Boot Order

7.If you click on the configure BIOS, it will take you to the below window.

UCS configure BIOS

Processor related settings can be changed in “Advanced” tab.

UCS Configure BIOS Processor config

Server management port configuration can be found in the last tab of the BIOS menu.

Configure the BIOS server management

8. We do have option also to configure the peak power consumption on UCS servers.

UCS power policies

9. Click on the “admin” tab . In the user Management , we can able to add the new local users and configure the “Active Directory” to it. We have also option to see the current sessions and “admin” user have access to terminate those sessions if required.

User Management

Here is the “Active Directory” tab .

UCS users – Active Directory

Here is the “sessions ” tab.

UCS CIMC sessions

Click on the Page 2 to continue.

10.  Click on the “Network” tab to configure the network settings.

UCS CIMC network settings

10. Cisco provides the option to block the IP, according to the number of failed logins.

UCS CIMC IP Blocking

11.In the “Communication Services” tab , you will be able to configure the http, https and ssh  protocols to communicate to the CIMC. IPMI is used for monitoring.

UCS CIMC Communication services

12. SNMP traps will help to monitor the hardware with  Simple Network Management Protocol.

UCS CIMC – SNMP

13.You must have the valid certificate on the system. If you  do not have the valid one ,Click on the “Generate New signing request” and download the “csr” file . You may need to send this file to CISCO to get the valid certificate.

UCS CIMC certificate

14. Routing the CIMC logs to syslog server.

UCS CIMC – syslog

15. Firmware Management tab . Here you can upload the new firmware to the CIMC from your laptop or TFTP server.  The new firmware will get activated after the host reboot.

UCS CIMC – Firmware Management

16. Utilities provides below action items on the CIMC.

  1. Export Technical support data to TFTP server . These support data is require if you open any case with CISCO.
  2. Generate the technical support data to local machine.
  3. Export the CIMC config
  4. Import the CIMC config
  5. Reset the CIMC to factory default.
  6. Reboot CIMC (It will not impact the host).
UCS CIMC Utilities

We have almost gone through the UCS C-series server except the Network adapter VIC P81E. We will see that adapter in the next article.

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