Integration of old Blades into New new Fabric Interconnects

[Naleendra Weerapitiya]

Hi,

  I have a task where I am expected to:

* Install Two new 6296 FIs., with two blade chassis and B200M3 Servers. These are all new equipment. All these equipment are at Location On3.

* Add two existing Blade Chassis comprising of B200M2 Servers from Location two into this 6296 setup. These two blade chassis at Location two are presently with their own 6124 FIs. We need to migrate the logical configuration, into the 6296.

* Add two more existing Blade Chassis comprising of B200M2 Servers from Location three into this 6296 setup. These two blade chassis at Location three are presently with their own 6124 FIs. We need to migrate the logical configuration, into the 6296.

* However location two can be thought of as the present Prod environment and Location Three as DR.

We need to have a minimum outage for Prod Site, as they are migrated from their present FIs to the new FIs.

  I have been contemplating the below for this migration.

1- Install the new FI and blade chassis along with the Blades.

2- Upgrade the Firmware to the level at Location One as at Location Two ( Location two code upgrade to the latest is complete for both Infra and Blades ).

3- Restore a logical Config Backup from Location three to Location One.

4- Restore a logical Config Backup from Location Two to Location One - I will allow Overwriting as applicable.

Then I plan to tweak the configuration so that they can co-exist, mapping/configuring network and Storage ports.

The new blades will be an extension of the logical setup at Location two, as much as possible.

My questions:

Is this a workable plan ? Meaning, I plan to physically move Location two and Location three equipment only upon restoring of the Logical Config Backups.  Are there any gaps that I hadn't discovered ? Any advice on this is much appreciated.

Note I have intentionally overlooked the option of upgrading the location Two, 6124s 6296, for there is a physical movement involved for those blades.

Thanks in Advance

[Keny Perez]

So basically you need to upgrade from your 6120 FIs to 6296 and add a few more blades? And what is the reason why you did not think about just upgrading the hardware without moving backup configs back and forth?

I dont know if I am misunderstanding but to me, it looks a lot easier to just upgrade the hardware without having to backup config, change hardware and apply backup config again.

Please let me know what I am missing here so I can help, cause it seems (now that I am not clear on your question) that you are adding extra work.

-Kenny

[Naleendra Weerapitiya]

Well Kenny your assumptions are partially correct. There are configurations from two sites that we need to integrate, other than the new blades that I will be connecting. Besides this, the new setup (which will include new blades + blades from two other locations ) will be at a new location. Hence we would have the option of getting this new site ready for the older blades to be moved in, if we can restore the config minus the actual blade servers, at the time of restoration.

-Naleendra

[Keny Perez]

So, you are trying to integrate locations 2 & 3 into one?  There are some details missing that would help a lot.

-Kenny

[Naleendra Weerapitiya]

Thanks Kenny for your interest. What other information can help you assess this situation ?

[Keny Perez]

So, are you trying to integrate location 2 & 3 into a common location?  Are locations 2 &3 running the same firmware level and are the new Fabrics already upgraded to the same firmware level of the 6120's currently working?

If there is a third location where locations 2 & 3 will be integrated, is that location in the same data center/POD or the new location also involves moving to another physical location?

Are you using UCS Central?

-Kenny

[Naleendra Weerapitiya]

So, are you trying to integrate location 2 & 3 into a common location?  yes, a common new location, referred as location 1.

Are locations 2 &3 running the same firmware level and are the new Fabrics already upgraded to the same firmware level of the 6120's currently working? Yes.

If there is a third location where locations 2 & 3 will be integrated, is that location in the same data center/POD or the new location also involves moving to another physical location? No, it is a physically different data center

Are you using UCS Central? No

[Keny Perez]

At this point I think your best option is to get in touch with our PDI (Planning, Design and Implementation) team, to get more info about the considerations you need to keep in mind while doing  this deployment:

http://www.cisco.com/web/partners/tools/pdihd.html << You need to be a partner or work with one to open a case with them.

-Kenny

[Naleendra Weerapitiya]

I am a partner, hence I will take your advice. Thank you for your input, suggestions and time spent on this. Much appreciated,am sure.

[Keny Perez]

My pleasure to help! good luck and enjoy the holidays :)

-Kenny