Cisco UCS Rack server - standalone

[CiscoRunner]

Hi Folks,

This is a complete newbie question so apologies before I even start :)

I am looking for some help in ordering a standalone Cisco UCS server. The use of the server will be for building a home lab (Unified Communications). My problem is I have not got the first clue about server architecture or components and particularly the software and I do not want to order something that does not work right out of the box.

Basically for the lab I will need a box with minimum of 64Gb memory and 8 cores, and a 1Tb hard drive. In terms of virtual machines, to build the entire CCIE Collab environement I think I will need around 14 VM's in total. Now my problem with the servers is the software side. How do I order ESXi to install on the UCS? Do I need licensing or something for this? Can the entire box and software (ESXi) be ordered as one or is it treated seperately?

As you can see I really know nothing about UCS servers and the software :)

Thanks!

[Keny Perez]

I am not an expert on collaboration but I have seen customers using these two:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/unified-communications/business-edition-6000/qa_c67-703226.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/unified-communications/business-edition-7000/index.html

I am not sure how much you are willing to invest on your home lab though.

Let me know if I can be of help with the UCS side.

In regards to licensing, you will need a license or you can run the 60 days trial period, not sure if that is enough to practice for the CCIE, pretty sure is not.

-Kenny

[CiscoRunner]

Hi Keny

Thanks for the response. No, the business edition call managers are not sufficient to build a CCIE Voice lab. I will need a UCS server capable of spinning out multiple VMs. Just looking to find the correct spec for such a device.

For the CUCM licensing I am ok. I am just wondering about VMware licenses for ESX

[Keny Perez]

I was talking about the ESXi license.

If you need a more powerful UCS, the C220-M3 can help you:

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c220-m3-rack-server/index.html

Specifications at a Glance

• Up to two Intel Xeon E5-2600 or E5-2600 v2 processors << each processor has 6 cores
• Up to 512 GB of RAM with 16 DIMM slots for memory-intensive applications
• Four or eight SAS/SATA/SSD drives
• 2 PCI Express Gen 3 slots and two 1GE LAN interfaces on the motherboard

Do you need 10 cores total or per CPU?

-Kenny

[CiscoRunner]

The C220-M3 seems perfect. I would need 10 cores total, this is even over-kill but I may aswell spec it up. Again regarding licensing, can I purchase the ESX license as a line item with the server?

Basically I want to get the server that is pretty much ready to go out of the box for me...So far its the software that confuses me but my understanding is as follows:

- I buy the server

- hook up to the CIMC and download ESX from VMware website. Activate the ESX with the license that I purchase

- Install ESX and install CUCM VM's

[Keny Perez]

Not sure if you can buy the license like a line item, I know some customers have vmware support through us but not sure how it works with only one license to be purchased.

In regards to this setup:

1-you get the server

2-config CIMC(optional) to manage your server

4-install ESXI

5-Give the server a license

6-Create the necessary VMs

Note: 5&6's order can be interchanged

If you have more doubts, let me know, otherwise mark the question as answered for other users to see you found the info you needed

-Kenny