Data Center

Cisco Data Center related stuff.

Healing a Cisco Hyperflex HDD Failure

by

Is your Hyperflex system failing ? Powerpoints are nice selling tools, and I like to test all kinda things before I believe it ! So why not test a healthy Hyperflex System and remove a HDD ? When the system notice there is a HDD missing or corrupt, it will kick in self healing in … Read more

Top 5 : Why Cisco UCS Rack Server ?

by

Cisco UCS Rack servers are more than pizzaboxes ! The most common servers do have the same CPU (intel), common memory and common HDD or SDD. So why would you choose for Cisco UCS Rack servers ? Here are 5 reasons : 5: Automation Ofcourse you can configure the whole rack server manually, but why … Read more

Howto : Hyperflex 1.8 Cluster Expansion

by

Expanding Cisco Hyperflex 1.8 Cluster Expanding a Cisco Hyperflex cluster (Hyper Converged Infrastructure) with a Cisco HX Server is very, very easy ! Make sure that you export the JSON file after the Hyperflex installation. This will makes life way easier ! Just use that file, fill in some credentials and wait about 30 minutes. … Read more

Easy install of Hyperflex 1.8.1c

by

Hyperflex 1.8.1c installation Cisco Hyperflex Hyper converged (HCI) solution is getting easier and easier ! Before installing the only thing you will have to do is to download the Hyperflex 1.8 installer software from http://www.cisco.com/go/software The Fabric Interconnect and servers are already with the correct version of the needed software. The hyperflex 1.8 installer is an … Read more

Reset passsword UCS Fabric Interconnect

by

Password Reset This time I didn’t forget a password. I just got a Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect without any credentials. Here is the procedure to reset it : Connect the console and power on the Fabric Interconnect A. Make sure the Fabric Interconnect B is powered off ! Keep pressing CTRL-l for the loader prompt … Read more

No access to do dCloud?

by

Why dCloud ? Is there anything nicer to see and feel a product ? Cisco got dcloud.cisco.com where a lot of labs are provided for Cisco employees and partners. Collaboration, Security, Data Center, integration with 3rd party’s. Feel how easy it is to do a Hyperflex installation. With a remote desktop you have access to … Read more

Syncing UCS Director

by

UCS Director It’s an automation tool. Not only for Cisco UCS servers, but also for networking, hypervisors and storage. Today I wanted to automate our FlashStack which contains storage of PureStorage with the UCS Director. When configuring UCS Director, I noticed I had to create a WWNN pool at the UCS Manager. After configuring, the UCS … Read more

Top 5 reasons Why Cisco UCS with NVMe.

by

Is the NVMe market growing ? According to IDC the NVME market is growing very fast in the next 3 years. SATA and SAS drives (Spinning disk and SSD) will be substantially less in the future. Why is it growing ? All hardware devices for storage relied on SCSI commands. These commands are processed sequential. … Read more

Cisco UCS Director 6.0 with Hyperflex integration (Video)

by

Automate Hyperflex with UCS Director 6.0 ! The software is available on the Cisco web site : www.cisco.com/go/software In a short video I will show you a working setup with a HX Cluster and UCS Director 6.0. Not only can you monitor the Hyperflex Cluster, but also configure and automate it with workflows.   Cisco … Read more

Really ? 37 minutes to install Cisco Hyperflex ?

by

Configuring the FI / UCS Manager

This week I went to a customer to install Hyperflex HX240 cluster with 4 nodes. Everything was already racked and stacked.

Hyperflex FI configuration
Hyperflex FI configuration

The first step is to configure the FI’s with ip addresses and a password. Just connect a console cable to the FI and your laptop. It’s easier to setup the FI-A and when the setup is finished then power on the FI-B. The procedure to setup a FI-B  is already described at : http://dcccie.joostvandermade.com/?p=25 

 

 

 

 

You should have the correct Firmware for the FI’s. Via the CLI or GUI you can upgrade the FI to the correct firmware. I prefer GUI although via CLI is also very easy. You can find the Dependencies int the Release Notes of Hyperflex

Read more