Cisco has released the 3.0(1) beta version of the the Cisco UCS Manager VMware vSphere HTML client plugin.  The UCS Manager vSphere HTML client plugin enables a virtualization administrator to view, manage and monitor the Cisco UCS physical infrastructure. The plugin provides a physical view of the UCS hardware inventory on the HTML client. You can perform the following tasks using the plug-in: • View Cisco UCS physical hierarchy • View inventory, installed firmware, faults, power and temperature statistics • Map the ESXi host to the physical server • Manage firmware for B and C series servers • View VIF paths for servers • Launch the Cisco UCS Manager GUI • Launch the KVM consoles of UCS servers • Switch the existing state of the locator LEDs   Please see the attached User Guide for specific information on installing and using the plugin with the vSphere HTML client.   The attached registration tool must be used to register the plugin with an existing vSphere HTML client version 6.7 or later.  Here is an example registration tool information screen:   Once the plugin is registered and the vSphere HTML client has been restarted (browser re-opened), the Shortcuts menu in the vSphere HTML client will show a Cisco UCS Monitoring icon:   UCS Domains can be registered from the Management Center menus by providing access information and credentials for each domain:   When a domain is registered, the plugin can be used to perform common configuration operations and monitor UCS domains, servers, and VMs from within the vSphere HTML client: The UCS Manager plugin is currently in beta and supported directly through community.cisco.com.  Please post comments here with questions or feedback. ... View more

 Attached are XML schemas for UCS Manager.  Each file specifies the version of UCS Manager represented by the schema. ... View more

Sign In to Intersight with SSO Single sign-on (SSO) support has been added to Intersight. Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication enables you to use a single set of credentials to log in to multiple applications.  With this functionality, you can configure Intersight to allow sign in using your Cisco.com ID or SSO.  Learn more about SSO with Intersight here: https://intersight.com/help/resources/#single_sign-on_with_intersight. Video Overview and Example Setup A video overview of the SSO setup process is now available, and additional details will be posted here soon. ... View more

Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, Release 3.2(3ePE1)   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 3.2(3ePE1) Full scale emulation of UCS Manager 3.2(3e) which supports M5 Hardware.  Note that there are limited functional changes from the previous release and not all features present in UCS Manager 3.2(3e) are supported (see Known Limitations). New default HW config with M5 servers added. Additional example Hardware configurations have been attached below.  The attached UCSPE configs can be imported from the UCSPE Equipment page. UCSPE 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 Hardware Feature Summary Please see the Release Notes for a complete list of supported Hardware.  Below is a summary: M5 and M4 B-Series and C-Series servers including HX220C and HX240C Cisco UCS S3260 chassis, servers, and storage controllers NVMe-based PCIe storage options Known Limitations The Platform Emulator does not support connections to Cisco Intersight to avoid the use of Intersight resources by emulated devices. The Intersight Device Connector has been disabled and the device connector menu in the UI is non-functional. You can use Intersight demo environments in the Cisco demo Cloud (https://dcloud.cisco.com/ ) and Cisco DevNet (https://developer.cisco.com/site/intersight/ ) to explore the Intersight management of UCS. 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. See the Release Notes for the complete list of Known Limitations. 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). Download UCSPE Firmware Bundles:  UCS Platform Emulator Firmware Bundles (includes firmware meta-data only) Download Instructions Direct downloads from this site are not supported.  The following links should be used for downloads: OVA and ZIP file downloads: UCSPE_3.2(3e) Downloads Note that download and use of the Platform Emulator is subject to the UCS Platform Emulator License Agreement MD5 hashes for downloads: ZIP: 4B409EB4046354BA333A3AD4BFC4F15F OVA: 587B64E769546E6069E9318D66968FFE ... View more

With Cisco Live! happening soon, the developers at Cisco have been working hard to showcase a few of the possibilities in automating with Cisco Intersight.  The Cisco Intersight platform provides cloud-based infrastructure management, and Intersight Essentials helps extend the model-based management of the Cisco UCS platform to all Cisco UCS servers, Cisco HyperFlex, and Cisco HyperFlex Edge systems. A developer's best resource for programming and automating with Intersight is DevNet.  The Intersight landing page at https://developer.cisco.com/site/intersight/ has links to the comprehensive Intersight API Docs, the Python SDK, Ansible Modules for Intersight, and the newly posted Intersight PowerShell modules.  DevNet also provides an Intersight Sandbox that allows users to create an Intersight account and claim emulated UCS Hardware.  The Sandbox is a great place to try out the Intersight API and programming tools without using your own physical Hardware. Intersight's OpenAPI and set of programming tools give developers endless possibilities in automation.  One example of what can be done is shown in this video demo of HyperFlex Edge cluster deployment.  With Intersight and Ansible, deploying HyperFlex clusters in parallel (4 clusters at once in this example) is as easy as 1-2-3:   1. Provide settings for each of your clusters:   2.  Run the playbooks to configure policies, profiles, assign servers, and deploy: 3.  Use the configured and claimed clusters in Intersight: Cisco Live Orlando will feature several opportunities to learn more on Intersight and programmability.  Here are a few of the sessions and labs to check out: Deploying Cisco Intersight [LABDCT-1205] Cisco Intersight Architecture and Operation [BRKINI-2534] Getting started with Cisco Intersight for UCS [LTRDCN-2380] Infrastructure Automation for Multicloud with UCS and HyperFlex [PSODCN-1180] Managing Cisco UCS with the Python SDK [DEVNET-2060] Cisco UCS Agentless Configuration Management - Ansible or Microsoft Desired State Configuration [DEVNET-2916] Cisco UCS PowerTool - Deploy at Scale [DEVNET-2562] UCS Director Automation - Creating and Utilizing Custom Tasks and Script Modules [DEVNET-2564] UCS Director REST API - Connect, Query, Configure, Create and Execute [DEVNET-2566] UCS PowerTool Suite - Secrets, Tips and Tricks [DEVNET-2061] We look forward to seeing you on Cisco Intersight and hopefully at Cisco Live Orlando! ... View more

Intersight Ansible Overview and HyperFlex Deployment Examples This document provides an overview of the Cisco Intersight Ansible modules which include a complete example of automating HyperFlex cluster deployment.  For general information on Intersight, visit Cisco Intersight - Cisco HyperFlex Edge Deployment Demo View the video demo of automated HyperFlex Edge deployment with Ansible for an overview of how Ansible can be used to perform complete configuration of multiple HyperFlex Edge clusters in parallel. Note that HyperFlex Edge deployment can be done with a Base Intersight license, but HyperFlex Edge policy visibility and many other Intersight features may require an Intersight Essentials license.  More information on Intersight licensing can be found on the Intersight Licensing page. Intersight Ansible Modules Visit https://github.com/CiscoUcs/intersight-ansible for detailed install and usage instructions. The GitHub pages have usage instructions including example inventory, group/host variable definitions, and complete playbooks for HyperFlex Edge deployment.  Once Intersight Ansible modules are installed, you can customize variables for your deployment environment and run playbooks to configure policies, profiles, and perform other actions in Intersight: The Ansible modules and all other Intersight API programming tools can be used in the DevNet Intersight Sandbox.  The DevNet Sandbox can be used to create an Intersight account and interact with emulated UCS Hardware. Additional information on Intersight programmability and automation can be found on the Intersight DevNet langing page: https://developer.cisco.com/site/intersight/ ... View more