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Suggestions to UCS improvements for experienced customer

ADAman
Level 1
Level 1

I am soon doing my first audit for a experienced UCS customer (not the best idea, I know). I assume everything is correctly setup with the latest fw and software.

Does anyone have a suggestion of a commonly overlooked factor in a UCS setup that I can check for this customer?

1 Accepted Solution

Accepted Solutions

Robert Burns
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

I can give you a few things to check.  Some features will depend on the version of UCSM as well.

-Review all Faults & Audit logs, fix what you can

-Review Resource Pools usage, highlight any close to depletion

-Review all FW levels including BIOS, ensure everything is at a uniform level.

-Check for unused-configured interfaces.  (Perhaps enabled, but not cabled).

-Check for Core files.  Could indicate a past or present issue

-Ensure SEL logs are being backed up regularly and cleared to an external server

-Ensure Syslogs are enabled

-Audit user accounts.  Are they using a single "admin" account of using RBAC. Give users min. access to perform their jobs. Accountability when using remote authentication or 1:1 local user accounts.

-Ensure Call home is configured & enabled

-Review license usage & future expansion requirements

-Verify if Mgmt interface tracking is enabled

-Review uplink configuration.  Are they using individual links or Port Channels for better aggregation.

-Is QoS being implemented or could improve bandwidth usage

-Are templates being used (vNIC, Service Profile etc) to ensure consistency with deployments

-CDP enabled on vNICs?  Helps with Tshooting CDP capable hosts such as vSphere.

That should get you started on a check list...

Robert

View solution in original post

2 Replies 2

Robert Burns
Cisco Employee
Cisco Employee

I can give you a few things to check.  Some features will depend on the version of UCSM as well.

-Review all Faults & Audit logs, fix what you can

-Review Resource Pools usage, highlight any close to depletion

-Review all FW levels including BIOS, ensure everything is at a uniform level.

-Check for unused-configured interfaces.  (Perhaps enabled, but not cabled).

-Check for Core files.  Could indicate a past or present issue

-Ensure SEL logs are being backed up regularly and cleared to an external server

-Ensure Syslogs are enabled

-Audit user accounts.  Are they using a single "admin" account of using RBAC. Give users min. access to perform their jobs. Accountability when using remote authentication or 1:1 local user accounts.

-Ensure Call home is configured & enabled

-Review license usage & future expansion requirements

-Verify if Mgmt interface tracking is enabled

-Review uplink configuration.  Are they using individual links or Port Channels for better aggregation.

-Is QoS being implemented or could improve bandwidth usage

-Are templates being used (vNIC, Service Profile etc) to ensure consistency with deployments

-CDP enabled on vNICs?  Helps with Tshooting CDP capable hosts such as vSphere.

That should get you started on a check list...

Robert

Here is the HCL link for reference to verify Hardware / Software / Firmware / Drivers are within the supported matrix or not.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10477/prod_technical_reference_list.html

Cisco UCS Site Preparation Guide

Site Preparation and Maintenance Records

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/partner/docs/unified_computing/ucs/hw/site_prep/guide/siteprep_records.html

Padma

Review Cisco Networking products for a $25 gift card