Proof of Concept Plan for Cisco UCS Director

Objective

POC Prerequisites

Minimum System Requirements

Physical Infrastructure Prerequisites

Physical Computing (UCS/UCSM) Prerequisites

Storage Prerequisites

Network Prerequisites

Components

Customer Team Lead(s) Required

Evaluation and Stakeholders

Test Scenarios:

Test Scenario 1: UCSD Deployment

Test Scenario 2: UCSD Configuration

Test Scenario 3: Physical Infrastructure Setup (1 of each)

UCSM

Storage

Network Switch

vCenter

Test Scenario 4: System Administrator’s Dashboard and reports

Test Scenario 5: Orchestration Workflow Setup

Test Scenario 6: End user setup

Test Scenario 7: Re-Skin

Objective

In an agreed upon timeline complete the installation, configuration and use case testing of Cisco UCS Director in your lab environment.

POC Prerequisites

  • vCenter (4.x/5.x) needs to be installed as per required configuration. In addition, ‘Administrative Privileges’ to connect to vCenter needs to be configured
  • At least one virtual machine template,with VMWare tools, needs to be registered in vCenter
  • vSphere Client
  • User should have downloaded the UCSD (OVF) Appliance.
  • Ports required for UCSD to communicate with vCenter (443) needs to be configured appropriately.
  • UCSD Appliance should be unzipped on the machine where vSphere client is installed.
  • Storage or disk requirements of 100 GB+
  • Physical connectivity, IP connectivity between (Static IP addresses) UCSD, vCenter, Other Virtual infrastructure elements.
  • HTTPS/HTTP ports on vCenter should be reachable from UCSD.

Environment connectivity in the form of a client laptop or a remote desktop server for

  • Configuration and testing that can be accessed by the Cisco resources.
  • Ensure the environment is prepared and all required tools, hardware and software (media / licenses) are available.
  • Ensure that a conference room is available with a white board, projector, phone and internet access.

Minimum System Requirements

  • This is a VMWare Virtual Machine.
  • UCSD is a self-contained virtual appliance delivered in OVF format, following are the minimum system requirements to deploy the UCSD appliance on VMware ESX/ESXi at the time of the writing of this document. VMware: ESX 3.5/4.x/5.x vCPU: 4 Memory: 8 GB Hard Disk: 100 GB
  • See the current “Cisco UCS Director installation on VMWare vSphere” for the latest requirements

Physical Infrastructure Prerequisites

Customer should have configured and tested the Day-0 physical infrastructure configuration as noted before UCSD POC begins. For a list of all compatible infrastructure please refer to the UCS Director Compatibility matrix at

Customer also is expected meet the following described prerequisites:

Physical Computing (UCS/UCSM) Prerequisites

  • Ensure that the Cisco UCS Chassis is configured. Ensure appropriate network (IP addressing, etc.) is configured, tested along with anadditional pool of IP Addresses made available before deployment starts.
  • Appropriate UCSM administrator credentials made available.
  • Connectivity to UCSM is validated and tested.

Storage Prerequisites

  • Single or HA Controllers (preferred) with one of:
  • ONTAP 8.0.x NetApp DFM 4.x
  • Oncommand 5.x (Optional) NetApp Virtual Storage Console 2.1.x for vCenter (Optional)
  • VNX(file, block or unified)
  • VMAX with non-dedicated Solutions Enabler. Solutions Enabler can be either Windows-based v7.5 with Cygwin v1.7.31 or Linux-based v7.5/7.6. Each VMAX requires a separate Solutions Enabler
  • UCS Invicta
  • Appropriate network (IP addressing, etc.) is configured and tested before deployment starts.
  • Appropriate Storage administrator credentials madeavailable alongwith Port details before deployment starts.

Network Prerequisites

  • Day-0 Nexus series switches are configured
  • Appropriate vLANS are configured on Nexus/vCenter Tested for network reachability along with network device credentials are made available beforedeployment.

Components

  • UCS DirectorVM appliance

Customer Team Lead(s) Required

Customer should define a team lead to act as primary point of contact for Cisco resources. Team lead will assist Cisco to keep project focus and to ensure all evaluators/stakeholders are active and participating in all evaluation activities.

Evaluation and Stakeholders

Customer should outline the stakeholders needed for technical validation and user acceptance testing before POC work begins.

Test Scenarios:

Test Scenario 1: UCSD Deployment

  • Download UCSD
  • Unzip download UCSD
  • Importing UCSD into vCenter
  • Deploying UCSD

Test Scenario 2: UCSD Configuration

  • Power on UCSD and go through console setup to configure the personality and networking information
  • Go through the Initial System Configuration Wizard to Apply Evaluation License, configure E-Mail settings, configure NTP and DNS server settings

Test Scenario 3: Physical Infrastructure Setup (1 of each)

UCSM

  • UCSM Account Addition/ Test Connectivity (1 Account)
  • UCSM Discovery
  • Inventory/On-Demand Inventory
  • UCSM Inventory (Dynamic learning, etc.)
  • Basic reports

Storage

  • Storage Account Addition/ Test Connectivity (1 Account)
  • Storage Discovery
  • Inventory/On-Demand Inventory
  • Inventory (Dynamic learning, etc.)
  • Basic reports (Aggregates, Volumes, Pools, Raid Groups, LUNs, etc.)

Network Switch

  • Nexus Switch Account Addition/ Test Connectivity (1 Account)
  • Discovery
  • Inventory/On-Demand Inventory
  • Inventory (Dynamic learning, etc.)
  • Basic reports (vLANS, etc.)

vCenter

  • Discovery
  • Inventory Discovery
  • Heat Maps
  • Reports

Test Scenario 4: System Administrator’s Dashboard and reports

  • Enabling Administrator’s Dashboard for Physical infrastructure
  • Adding widgets to Dashboard
  • Deleting widgets from Dashboard
  • Use the Report Builder to create a report
  • Generate and view the report

Test Scenario 5: Orchestration Workflow Setup

  • Assign a newly created service profile to a blade (1 work flow for UCS)
  • Create a Volume and a LUN (1 work flow for Storage)
  • Create a VLAN (1 work flow for Network)

Test Scenario 6: End user setup

  • Set up Group A
  • Set up Group Bwith resource limits
  • Assign user to group A
  • Assign user to group B
  • Create VDC for group Awith approvals
  • Create VDC for group B
  • Create service offering for user/group A (linux VM)
  • Create service offering for user/group B (windows VM)

Test Scenario 7: Re-Skin

  • Apply customer logo to login screen
  • Apply customer logo to screen headers