IMM UCSX - OOB to blades - Is this possible?

[KRIS PATE]

I recently set up a UCSX via IMM (Private Virtual - due to licensing). 

I am familiar with UCSM and typically configure OOB Mgmt IPs for each blade. 

I configured an IMC policy with an OOB configuration and associated an IP pool and applied it to the chassis. 

I don't see mgmt IP addresses assigned to the blades yet.  In the past we could access the blades directly or via the attached server profiles.  Does the server need a profile attached before the mgmt IP address is assigned to the blade? 

We really don't want to use In-Band because it relies on the Uplink, and we want direct access to the blades via the FI mgmt interface as we have done on our older UCS systems. 

[Riaan van Niekerk · Accepted solution]

We had to associate blades with SPs before the Inband or OoB IP was assigned to the blade/SP combination. On IMM we standardised on Inband since that seems to be the Cisco recommended way for accessing servers on IMM domains, but OoB is required for Intersight OS Install (which also requires an Advantage License).

Also, from my experience, in IMM the Inband/OoB IP pool is assigned on the SP level, not the domain or chassis level.

We also ran into ussues with the IMM Transition Tool not supporting OoB (and therefore did not migrate our OoB IP ranges from UMM to IMM when we converted the domains). E.g. this was something we had to wrap our head around, and is one way that IMM is different from UMM.

(ps: I never saw the use case of an unassociated blade with an OoB management address, since UCS (IMM or UMM) don't require it for any management tasks, you can't get a KVM on it without an SP. The only benefit of using OoB IPs is not using the network uplinks, but the management uplinks, as per your example - which allows one to separate OoB server access from Inband/network traffic).

[KRIS PATE]

This turned out to be the case.  The IP address only gets assigned to the Blade after it is associated to a service Profile. 

[Derek Szolucha]

@KRIS PATE 
To assign a management IP address to a blade/vKVM, the Server Profile must be associated with the blade. Rest assured, even if Fabric Interconnect (FI) In-Band (IB) connectivity is temporarily unavailable in such scenarios, Out-of-Band (OOB) access remains available through the FI “Device Console,” allowing you to perform key operations such as powering blades on/off, generating a tech support bundle, or activating the locator LED.

It’s also important to recognize one of the primary advantages of In-Band management: bandwidth. In-Band connectivity offers 100G+ throughput, compared to the 1G/10G limitations of OOB uplinks. With IB management, you can provision up to 75 blades in parallel using a centralized HTTPS ISO repository—without overloading the slower OOB management network.
DS