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XModem
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Cisco UCS plugin non-functional/outdated?

Hi everyone,

I'm currently in a difficult situation. We need to plan automation for a customer using Cisco UCS blades.

Now, in our test UCS system, I had to upgrade to the latest UCS Manager 2.2(1f), since Java changed their security policies again and the old UCS Manager application was signed with an expired certificate (until and including 2.2(1d)).

Now I had installed the vCO UCS plugin v1.0.2 I've found (only using Google) on the VMware download page, which seems to be well-engineered (probably by VMware) and delivers a rich variety of workflows, but then again that plugin is 3 years old. When I tried to add the UCS system to the plugin configuration, it would not throw an error, but it would not register it too; it simply sits there displaying the red triangle error icon in vCO Configurator, plus it would not display the instance within vCO.

Then I found another vCO Plugin, this time from Cisco itself, but with a significantly lower version 0.9.2 (BETA), plus the workflow library with examples is really poor, even though some Actions exist, it leaves me puzzled as to how e.g. create a VLAN and add it to a Service Profile.

So, if anyone knows, how to bring the 1.0.2 back to life, that would be most appreciated, or alternatively, if anyone has examples how to use 0.9.2 to create a VLAN and assign it to a Service Profile or Service Profile Template, let me know.

Regards,

Jonas

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Michael_Rudloff
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Enthusiast

Hi,

welcome to my world. I am on an engagement where we go through the same exercise. I can't really give specifics as we are still talking to VMware Support, but it is indeed a bit confusing.

The plugin with the version 1.01 / 1.02 are, as you found out yourself - made by VMware. You need to dig deep in the documentation to find out that these are for vCO 4.x - so if you run vCO 5 - these won't work. So technically the latest plugin is indeed the one from Cisco with version 0.92 and yes, it is in Beta.

Having said that - so far it only supports UCSM up to version 2.1 (we use 2.1(3a)).

As to how to add a VLAN to a Service Profile - I don't think this is possible with the plugin at this stage (heard birdis saying it goes GA by the end of the year).

Depending on your UCS setup, VLANs are likely defined in the Service Profile Templates via the vNIC templates. As you can see, none of the workflows delivered with the vCO plugin allow you to do this. At a push you can create a Service Profile based on a Template, but not actually create a Service Profile Template to begin with.

You do have Actions such as "getManagedObjects" and "addManagedObjects" and "setManagedObjects". I am not sure they can be used though. You'd have to put your developing hat on and create your own workflows.

The problem also, UCS Manager does not support REST. The native API of UCS Manager is XMLAPI so you'd have to develop something "around it". I am not a developer myself, so I can't really help you with the specifics, but I can see that one developer we are working with is able to do a lot more magic with the stuff than I understand.

If you got the resources you could maybe install vCO 4.x, install the plugin and see if any code snippets can be re-used.

Actually I might do that myself now thinking about it.

___ My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com
cdecanini_
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Apart if someone has an example at hand in this community your best chance is to reach out to your CISCO rep and request such an example.

Also it would be good if Cisco could communicate on the status of their plug-in. I am not sure if it was ever released besides the beta.

If my answer resolved or helped you, please mark it as Correct or Helpful to award points. Thank you! Visit http://www.vcoteam.info & http://blogs.vmware.com/orchestrator for vCenter Orchestrator tips and tutorials - @vCOTeam on Twitter
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Michael_Rudloff
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The documentation is quite poor actually. Having said that - VMware's documentation regarding the UCS Manager integration in vCAC needs a lot of work too Smiley Wink

___ My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com
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XModem
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Hi Michael

Thanks for the lengthy reply. Good to hear that I'm not completely nuts.

Just saying that you do not need to install a 4.x Orchestrator just to use the old plugin. It simply does not work on the later 2.x UCS Manager API, but you can view all workflows and scripts within. They're using variable types which don't exist within the new plugin though, which makes it nearly impossible to re-use code snippets.

Let's hope that Cisco catches up and delivers a plugin which at least offers functionality as such the VMware UCS plugin offered back in time OR VMware gets their head around and fixes up their plugin for the latest UCS Manager.

Regards, Jonas

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Michael_Rudloff
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Another piece of advise. If you intend to use vCAC in your environment in relation to UCS Manager, you may face a few more difficulties.

For example - the vCAC 6 documentation only mentions the custom Property "Cisco.Organization.DN" whereas the vCAC 5 Operating Guide goes a bit deeper into its limitations and usage. There is one error in all of the VMware documentation regarding to this custom property, I posted more about it on my site:

http://open902.com/vcac-cisco-ucs-manager-custom-property-cisco-organization-dn-wrong/

Basically it is "Cisco.Organization.Dn" not ".DN"

Either way - vCAC integration is not 100% working and well documented either so your best bet at the moment is using vCO where possible.

___ My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com
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