Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, Release 3.1(2ePE1)
CONFIGURATION IMPORT NOTE: Importing configuration backups (All, System, or Logical) taken from the UCS Platform Emulator (UCSPE) to physical UCS Manager domains is not recommended or supported by Cisco TAC. UCSPE backups should only be imported to UCSPE domains.
New Features and Significant Changes in Cisco UCS PE, Release 3.1(2ePE1)
- Note that Release 3.1(2ePE1) is a patch release based on 3.1(2bPE1). There are limited changes from the previous release:
- New default HW config to reduce some startup warnings in UCS Manager.
- Note that an example 2nd Generation Fabric Interconnect (6248 FI) configuration has also been attached below. The attached UCSPE config can be imported from the UCSPE Equipment page.
- Bug fixes to avoid chassis and service profile association issues in some cases.
- UCSPE 3.1(2ePE1) is featured in a Cisco dCloud programmability demo. The demo includes a comprehensive lab guide including the following content for the Cisco UCS PowerTool and Python SDK:
- Overviews of PowerShell and Python programming environments with step-by-step usage instructions
- Code generation examples including code generation with UCS Manager's HTML5 interface
- Sample script creation and use with UCSPE
Feature Summary of 3.1(2ePE1) based on previous release information:
- Full scale emulation of UCS Manager 3.1(2e) which features HTML 5 User Interface improvements
- NOTE: Browser focus follows UCSM when HTML5 UI is launched. HTML5 UI can be opened in a New Tab/Window if there is a need to continue viewing the PE Configuration page.
- Software and configuration features include the following:
- Disk Zoning, Chassis Profiles, and Storage Profiles for C3260 systems
- Server and Chassis equipment templates for easy addition of emulated resources
- Numerous emulator stability fixes including fixes for HW discovery across VM reboots
Hardware Feature Summary
See the User Guide for additional details on supported Hardware. Here is a summary of newly supported Hardware:
- Cisco UCS C3260 chassis, servers, and storage controllers
- M4 B-Series and C-Series servers including HX220C and HX240C
- NVMe-based PCIe storage options
Known Limitations
- Imported configurations should be manually checked to ensure there are no missing or unsupported components. If issues are experienced following an import, any unsupported components can be manually deleted and missing components manually added through the Equipment menu on the Navigation pane.
- Firmware Management and Firmware Auto Install have not been fully validated in this release.
- If issues are experienced during FW download, please try alternate methods such as API based download (e.g., using PowerTool or Python SDK).
- If issues are experienced with FW policies, please try excluding all components from the policy.
- AAA-based authentication (LDAP, RADIUS, TACACs)— The Platform Emulator accepts security configuration changes, but does not enforce local or remote password authentication. Any username and password combination can successfully log into the Cisco UCS Manger UI with administrator privileges.
IMPORTANT CONFIGURATION NOTE: Backup/Import of UCSM Configuration
- The Platform Emulator does not save UCSM configuration state across Emulator resets (to avoid consistency issues in UCSM configuration and the emulator HW configuration). To preserve UCSM state, UCSM backup and import operations can be performed. See an example backup/import flow here: PythonSDK for backup/restore (import) of UCSM config
Firmware Management: UCS PE supports uploading B-Series and C-Series server firmware bundles. Because of the large file sizes of the firmware bundles, UCS PE only supports uploading of stripped-down versions (link below). Stripped-down versions include only the firmware metadata (not the actual firmware binaries).
Alternate Download Location: If you have issues downloading the attached OVA or Zip file, please try the cisco.box.com links in the attached Box_Download_Links_3_1_2ePE1.txt.zip file.
MD5 hashes for downloads:
- OVA: 3422b2d6c4eadcc68837e8325767fefc
- ZIP: eafd1e66c03eae1069e3c1c52b99c8d1
