UCS compatibility M5 with older hardware

[mlsc]

Hello Folks

We have a relatively older system running UCS B200 M3 on 5108-AC chassis in a very large installation over 35 Blades running. 

We were looking to replace some of the blade servers with M4 or M5 and can't seem to get any straight answers. The simplest solution was the M4, however, they are no longer on sale and hard to find. The M5 can be a good option; however, i have been told they only work on the newer 5108-AC2 chassis hardware and not 5108-AC. Has anyone installed the M5 on the 5108-AC (older generation hardware) with no issues? Can they be installed in the same chassis with the M3? Any other suggestions or pitfalls to look out for are most welcome to help us move forward.

Thanks, Michael

[Wes Austin]

Can you provide some insight on where you saw M5 is not supported in the old chassis? I have not heard any reported issues where M5 not working in the old chassis.

No other known outstanding issues running M3 and M5 in the same chassis.

[mlsc]

Hello,

The comment actually came from Cisco. We have asked them to re-verify and provide more documentation, we are still waiting for the details. I though in the interim I would ask the forum. 

Thanks for your input.

Michael

[Wes Austin]

Thank you. Can you private message me some @cisco.com contacts you talked to so I can make sure we are all on the same page? I would like to clarify any doubts internally.

Here is my pod with M5/M3 servers on the old chassis PID.

POD4-A# show server inventory
Server Equipped PID Equipped VID Equipped Serial (SN) Slot Status Ackd Memory (MB) Ackd Cores
------- -------------------- ------------ -------------------- ---------------- ---------------- ----------
1/1 UCSB-B200-M3 V04 XXXXXXXXXXX Equipped 131072 16
1/2 Empty
1/3 UCSB-B200-M4 V01 XXXXXXXXXXX Equipped 65536 24
1/4 UCSB-B200-M4 V02 XXXXXXXXXXX Equipped 262144 36
1/5 Empty
1/6 Empty
1/7 UCSB-B200-M5 V03 XXXXXXXXXXX Equipped 393216 16
1/8 Empty

POD4-A# show chassis inventory
Chassis PID Vendor Serial (SN) HW Revision
---------- --------------- ----------------- ----------- -----------
1 N20-C6508 Cisco Systems Inc XXXXXXXXXXX 0

[mlsc]

Thank you for addressing and clarifying my concern.

Michael

[aji_conde]

Hi,

Were they able to provide more documentation? I have the same concern and GVE told me that they were not able to test it so they don't recommend it.