Cisco UCS QuickStart PowerShell - Version 1.1

So, I made a huge mistake when I released the first revision of my Cisco UCS QuickStart script...I did not verify the version of the Cisco PowerShell module I was working vs the one available on Cisco's developer site.

Turns out, by the time I finished my script, Cisco released a major revision to their PoSh module and, literally, changed the name and syntax of every single cmdlet.

These script issues were componded by the very recent release of the Cisco UCS Emulator 2.0, which is the shipping firmware on all new UCS Fabric Interconnects.

With these two issues in mind, I have revised the original script and have made siginificant improvements. I have taken out almost all of the custom XML in favor of newly released cmdlets with very small exceptions.

Download the new and improved version HERE

2 Tips on Speeding up VMware Converter 5

If you haven't checked out VMware Converter 5 yet, you should. There are a lot of really nice enhancements, the two big ones being vSphere 5 support and automatic partition alignment (which is huge in a shared storage environment).

If you have checked it out, you may have noticed it can be a heck of a lot slower than 4.3.

There are a few reasons (in my experience) for this:

1. If you are REDUCING partition sizes, the file copy method will switch from block based (1's and 0's) to file based (think fragmentation / seek speed / etc), which can really slow things down.
   1. If you are increasing partition sizes, this does not apply.
   2. Recommended practice would be to just drop the allocation method to Thin provisioning (which you can do right from inside converter)
2. If you are running Converter 5 with the default settings, converter is encrypting all traffic from the source machine to the ESX(i) host over SSL. On older machines (or machines with a tight maintenance window), this is especially painful. Either way, if you want the fastest possible converter experience (and don't care about someone sniffing your conversion), Disable NFC SSL in the converter configuration file (steps taken from the converter release notes):
   1. Disable NFC SSL
      1. Open the converter-worker.xml configuration file. It is usually located in C:\ProgramData\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone folder.
      2. Set the key Config/nfc/useSsl to false. Save the configuration file.
      3. Restart the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone Worker service

Jump Start UCS Pods with Cisco UCS QuickStart PoSh

Update: See my updated post about Version 1.1

We recently implemented Cisco UC on UCS, which was our first production UCS deployment. 

Given the amount of time needed for the initial config and looking ahead to many more of these deployments over the next few years, I decided to create a rubber stamp for these configurations. I have spent the past few weeks on / off working on the attached PowerShell script to rollout the vast majority of configuration.

While this script is not 100% polished, I wanted to get it out there to get some feedback and help others who might be in similar situation.

Disclaimer: I have tested it throughly against the UCS 1.4 Emulator and it does everything I ask it to do (exceptions noted below). As always, test any script changes against the UCS emulator before running this against your (pre)production environment(s).

The Basics

1. Download Cisco UCS PowerShell
2. Download Cisco UCS Emulator
3. Download my Cisco UCS QuickStart 1.1 Script
4. Read / Edit top section of the script / define all of your custom static variables (DNS, NTP, SAN Boot WWNs, etc)
5. Review the schema below. This schema is designed to give administrators a very repeatable and easily recognizable pattern for laying out connectivity within a UCS Pod. Administrators will easily be able to tell where a Pod is located, what fabrics everything is running on (think ease of zoning here), etc. 
6. Run your new script against the emulator a few times to get comfortable with the results.
7. Run against new UCS deployment
8. Leave a comment with feedback

Notes

1. Script is written for Boot from SAN
2. Fabric Failover is not enabled 

Stuff It Doesn't Do

• Create Host Firmware and Management Firmware Policies
• Create IPMI Policy (VMware DPM)
• Create Intial Service Profile / Service Profile Template
• Enable LDAP / RADIUS / TACACS (Remote Authentication)
• Setup Call Home 
• Setup Misc Administrative Settings

Schema Definitions

• A: Fabric A
• B: Fabric B
• F: Fabric
• N: Increment (IE Adapter Number, etc)
• X: Site ID
• Y: Pod ID

LAN Cloud Schema

• MAC Pools: 
  • Name: MAC-Pool
  • Block: 00:25:B5:XY:FN:00
• vNIC Templates
  • Name: vNIC-SX-PY-FN

SAN Cloud Schema

• vHBA Templates
  • Name(s): vHBA-FN-$vsanID
• WWNN Pool
  • Name: WWNN-SX-PY-FN
  • Block: 20:00:00:25:B5:XY:00:00
• WWPN Pools
  • Name:  WWPN-SX-PY-FN 
  • Block: 20:00:00:25:B5:XY:FN:00

Misc Schema

• UUID Pool: 00XY-000000000001

Reference: VMware vSphere CLI and PowerCLI Posters

With VMware's transition to ESXi as the primary hypervisior, more and more management is taking place through command line interfaces such as ESXCLI and PowerCLI and, frankly, it can be a heck of a lot to keep track of.

With that in mind, VMware has release two giant reference posters for both traditional vSphere CLI and PowerShell PowerCLI.

If you do any host level administration and have access to a plotter (or Kinko's), these are two must have posters.

VMware Management with vCLI 5.0

VMware Management with PowerCLI 5.0

Setting Default PSP on a SATP in vSphere 5

VMware has changed the structure of the ESXCLI namespaces in ESXi 5 (both TSM Shell and vSphere CLI versions).

I ran into a case tonight where I needed to set the default path selection policy (PSP) for an EMC NS120 array from Fixed to Round Robin. The fixed policy is set automatically by the VMW_SATP_ALUA_CX SATP (storage array type plugin) when the array targets are in failover mode 4.

This behavior is less than ideal and should be updated whenever possible.

To correct this, I executed this via the vSphere 5 CLI on a local serve:

esxcli --server 1.1.1.1 --username root --password ****** storage nmp satp set --satp VMW_SATP_ALUA_CX --default-psp VMW_PSP_RR

Note: This could also be done via the local ESXi console if needed by leaving out the server / username / password sections.

This differs slightly from what you will find on Duncan's site which lists the command for 4.1 and below.

I also changed all of the existing LUNs to Round Robin with this quick and dirty PoSh script:

Connect-VIServer localhost

foreach ($ESXhost in get-cluster "Cluster Name Here"| get-vmhost)

{Get-VMHost $ESXhost |Get-ScsiLun -LunType "disk"|where {$_.MultipathPolicy -ne "RoundRobin"}| Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy "RoundRobin"}