Duration: 5 Days
This course is ideal for the engineer who has limited time to become proficient in designing, configuring, and administering a Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) environment. Designed for those who understand the basics of UCS server architecture, this course provides you with an opportunity to work with a complete UCS environment.
In order to maximize hands-on practice time, brief lectures will occur each morning, preparing you for the day's labs. The remaining time in class is dedicated to lab time, whereby each student is assigned a separate UCS environment.
Each UCS environment includes a Nexus 5k core, a pair of Fabric Interconnects, both B-Series and C-Series servers, Microsoft Hyper-V (2008 or 2012), VMware vSphere (v4.x or 5.x), the Cisco Nexus 1000v, and Cisco's pass-through switching.
What You Will Learn
- Evaluate the data center solution design, architecture, and components.
- Assess the requirements and performance of the data-center solution
- Cisco UCS hardware components and how to select the proper hardware
- Evaluate and design Cisco UCS solutions for LAN, SAN, and Virtual Access layer connectivity
- Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series system architectures, hardware components, and field-installable options
- Cisco UCS server deployments
- Configure Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers with Cisco UCS Manager v2.0
- Configure Cisco UCS C-Series blade servers with Cisco IMC
- Implement service profiles and blade configuration for Microsoft Hyper-V (2008 and 2012) and VMware ESXi (v4.1, v5.0, and v5.1)
- Management challenges in Cisco UCS data center server environments
- Cisco UCS components
- Configure Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers with Cisco UCS Manager
- Configure Cisco UCS C-Series blade servers with Cisco IMC (CIMC)
- Cisco UCS platform connectivity requirements
- Configure server profiles to allocate physical resources
- Configure maintenance tasks such as Syslog, LDAP, RBAC, and SNMP
- Configure high availability at the LAN, SAN, and server NIC level
- Troubleshoot common LAN and SAN connectivity and service-profile issues
- Configure Cisco Nexus 1000V in VMware vSphere v4.1, v5, or v5.1 environments
- Configure Cisco UCS Manager and VMware vSphere integration
- Configure, compare, and contrast Cisco's VM-FEX and VM-FEX with pass-through switching
Audience
- System engineers and technicians who implement Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers and Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers
- Data center (LAN, SAN, Server) administrators, managers, designers, and engineers
Prerequistes
- CCNA and DCUFI knowledge and experience
- CCNA DC equivalent knowledge and experience
- Familiarity with server operating systems, hypervisor, and virtualization
- Familiarity with Ethernet and TCP/IP networking, SANs, Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP), and hypervisor technologies (VMware vSphere, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen)
Attendance of the following Cisco courses is recommended in order to fully benefit from this course:
Course Outline
- Cisco Data Center Solution Architecture and Components
- Assess Data Center Computing Requirements
- Size Cisco Unified Computing Solutions
- Design Cisco Unified Computing Solutions
- Design Cisco Unified Computing Solutions Server Deployment
- Cisco Unified Computing Solution Applications
- Installation of the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers
- Cisco IMC Configuration
- Cisco UCS B-Series Hardware and Management
- Cisco UCS Connectivity Configuration and Management
- Server Resources Implementation
- Virtual Server Networking
- Cisco UCS Management and Maintenance
Course Labs
Lab 0: Introduction to the Remote Labs System
Lab 1: Analyze the Existing Computing Solution
Lab 2: Size the Cisco UCS C-Series Solution
Lab 3: Size the Cisco UCS B-Series Solution
Lab 4: Plan the Physical Deployment
Lab 5: Design the Server Deployment for Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 or 2012
Lab 6: Initial Cisco UCS C-Series Configuration
Lab 7: Verify LAN and SAN Physical Connections
Lab 8: Configure Identity and Resource Pools
Lab 9: Create Logical Service Profiles from Updating Templates
Lab 10: Building a vSphere Datacenter
Lab 11: Install a Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM
Lab 12: Deploy a Cisco Nexus 1000V VEM and Configure Port Profiles
Lab 13: Cisco's UCS Manager and VMware's vSphere Integration
Lab 14: Configuring VM-FEX and VM-FEX with Pass-Thru Switching
Lab 15: Configure RBAC
Lab 16: Back up and Import Cisco UCS Manager Configuration Data
Lab 17: Reporting in the Cisco UCS
Appendix A: Design labs answer key, Complete Lab Topology, Optional labs
Appendix B: Installing Hyper-V 2012, vSphere v4.1, and vSphere v5.1
Appendix C: Real-world problem resolutions, Optional labs
Appendix D: C-Series Host Upgrade Utility
