Cisco UCS Manager Puppet Module Overview
Cisco has published Puppet modules for UCS Manager that provide Configuration Management of UCS Unified Fabric including network, server, and storage resources. Puppet provides a rich framework for configuration management of software and hardware infrastructure. For example, when configuring UCS Manager Service Profile Templates with Puppet, the user can simply specify the desired settings for the Service Profile Template and Puppet will take care of the programming steps:
ucsm_serviceprofiletemplate{'serviceprofiletemplate':
policy_name => 'Docker-DTR',
type => 'updating-template',
storage_profile_name => 'Docker-StgProf',
vnic_name => 'eth0',
vnic_template_name => 'Docker-eth0',
adapter_profile_name => 'Linux',
vnic_order => '1',
server_pool_name => 'Docker-DTR',
local_disk_policy_name => 'default',
ident_pool_name => 'Docker',
host_fw_policy_name => 'default',
boot_policy_name => 'Docker-LocalBoot',
bios_profile_name => 'Docker-BiosPol',
maint_policy_name => 'default',
mgmt_ip_address => 'ext-mgmt',
ip => "${ucsm_dockerdc::login_info['ip']}",
username => "${ucsm_dockerdc::login_info['username']}",
password => "${ucsm_dockerdc::login_info['password']}",
state => 'present',
}
Additional examples are provided on GitHub. The Cisco UCS Puppet modules are built with Ruby and the Cisco UCSM Python SDK, so the wide range of configuration options supported from the Python SDK are possible through Puppet.
Puppet Installation and Command Line Usage Instructions
Because the UCS Manager Puppet modules connect to UCS Manager, it is possible to use the modules without physical hardware by using the UCS Platform Emulator. If you can deploy a Virtual Machine, you can run the UCS Platform Emulator and try out the UCSM Puppet modules. Cisco's demo Cloud (dCloud) is also available and the Cisco UCS Programmability Lab Environment can be used to step through the attached Puppet lab guide (Puppet Lab Guide.docx). The Puppet Lab Guide will step users through a basic installation of Puppet and how to use the UCSM Modules from a Linux command line.
Usage with Puppet Enterprise: dCloud's Physical UCS Lab Environment
For configuration of Hardware including the ability to install a variety of Operating Systems, Cisco's demo Cloud (dCloud) also provides a physical UCS environment. The physical UCS environment includes Puppet Enterprise and Razor provisioning server installations to automate all aspects of UCS configuration, OS installation, and ongoing configuration management with Puppet. Read more on the Cisco Unified Computing System 3.1 Lab Environment
The attached Puppet UCS 3.1 HW Demo Lab Guide provides instructions on configuring all aspects of UCS infrastructure in the dCloud lab (or other UCS environments) using Puppet and Razor. The HW Demo Lab Guide can be used to install a functional Docker Enterprise Edition cluster on bare metal (including all UCSM pool, policy, and profile creation) in around 30 minutes. With Puppet and Razor in place to help with deployment, the main portion of the deployment can be completed in 3 steps:
- puppet module install ciscoucs-ucsm_dockerdc
- Update required data files (HW Demo Lab Guide provides detailed instructions)
- Run Puppet (from the Puppet Enterprise Console)
For More Information Including Installation and Usage Instructions
