A small introduction I’m visiting VMworld for quite some years now, and every year there is a fully booked session about “Deploying NSX Datacenter on a Cisco Infrastructure” (in this case NET1945BE). Each year this is a session full of discussions about whether or not it’s a good idea to run NSX AND/OR Cisco...
Cisco UCS Director – NetApp SolidFire Integration
I’ve created some Cisco UCS Director – Custom Workflow Task to enable NetApp SolidFire integration. This tasks are available on : https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-77021...
Automating Cisco ACI with PowerCLI (Part II)
In part I of the blog I’ve outlined the basic principles of how to connect PowerCli to an Cisco ACI environment, In this blog I will describe how to create ACI-functions that behave exactly the same as PowerShell Cmdlets. PowerShell basics PowerShell Cmdlets let you do things (get, add, new, remove items) and the output...
Automating Cisco ACI with PowerCLI (part I)
This blog describes a way how to leverage PowerClI (from VMware) to automate tasks within Cisco ACI, the SDN solution from Cisco. PowerCLI is based on Windows PowerShell. The purpose of PowerCLI is to be able to automate tasks within VMware vSphere, which on first sight has little to nothing to do with Cisco...
Redfish API support on CIMC 3.0+
There are a lot of remote server management solutions out there (CIMC, DRAC, BMC, ILO). All solutions have there own set of API’s and functions. In a world where automation is becoming mainstream, the demand for an industry open standard has raised. The Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF) has developed the answer to this...
Greenfield implementation issues with Cisco UCS Central
When using multiple Cisco UCS Management domains, the usage of Cisco UCS Central is recommended for centralized management. With greenfield implementations this could be a daunting task, because Cisco UCS Central is the starting point (no other datacenter infrastructure components are available yet). You have to create a temporarily environment where the Cisco UCS...
VMware is deprecating 3th party vSwitches!
Last weekend VMware announced it will remove the API’s for 3th party vSwitches (like Cisco Nexus 1000v and Cisco Application Virtual Switch) with vSphere 6.5 update 2! There were rumours for years, but now VMware has finally set concrete steps, by announcing it will remove the API’s for 3th party switches. VMware will push...
Cisco UCS – BIOS policy recommendations
Workload type Windows Server 2012 (or higher) VMware host (VSI) VMware host (db-cluster) VDI Basic settings Reboot on BIOS Settings change Enabled Enabled Enabled Enabled Serial port A Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled Quiet Boot Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled Post Error Pause Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled Front Panel Lockout Disabled Disabled Disabled Disabled Consistent Device...
Cisco UCS – BIOS settings – part 3
Processor – basic options Execute Disabled Bit: This option will prevent malicious code from bufferflow attacks by classifying memory areas were code can be executed. Depending on the support of operating system you should Enable this option. Direct Cache Access: This option allows data from I/O devices to be placed directly in the processor cache increasing...
Cisco UCS – BIOS settings – part 2
Basic options Reboot on BIOS Settings change: Always set on Enable, the maintenance policy will be in control of the needed reboot instead of the admin. Serial port A: Always set to Disabled, serial ports … 2016 .. not going to use it=disable! Quiet Boot: Always set to Disabled, I’m an admin, I want to...