White Paper
Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure with
Third-Generation Cisco UCS Servers
What You Will Learn
®
This document discusses desktop virtualization using Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure (VXI) with
™
®
third-generation Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS ) servers. It is intended for enterprise partners,
sales engineers, product sales specialists, solution architects, field engineers, and consultants who plan, design,
and deploy Cisco VXI. This document assumes that the reader has an understanding of Cisco UCS servers and
Cisco VXI.
Introduction
Migration of enterprise computing from traditional desktops to desktop virtualization directly depends on the
organization’s virtualization infrastructure capabilities. Requirements include sufficient computing power to
accommodate virtual desktops, voice, and video; the flexibility to use any desktop virtualization software; suitable
storage; and appropriate security. These requirements must be met while maintaining an enhanced user
experience.
Cisco VXI, reference architecture for virtual desktop, voice, and video solutions, meets these challenges with
uncompromised performance and scalability supported by a validated design on third-generation Cisco UCS
servers based on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family.
The main advantages of Cisco VXI on the third-generation servers include:
●
Increased density of virtual desktops per blade
●
Increased number of virtual machines per chassis
●
Lower cost of virtual machines per core
●
Increased application performance with large memory capacity
●
Enhanced user experience with faster memory speeds
●
Creative solutions with a wide range of supported storage options
The Cisco VXI validated design will be made available as a part of the Cisco VXI Release 2.6 planned for fall 2012
(Q1CY2013).
Cisco VXI and Third-Generation Cisco UCS Servers
The Cisco UCS server portfolio has been enhanced with the addition of third-generation Cisco UCS servers in both
blade and rack-mount form factors. The enterprise-class servers introduced are:
●
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server: Half-slot blade server
●
Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server: One rack-unit (1RU) rack-mount server
●
Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server: 2RU rack-mount server
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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These servers harness the power of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family, further extending the
capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in the data center and delivering exceptional levels of performance, memory
expandability, and I/O throughput.
Intel Xeon Processor E5-2600 Product Family
The Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family is the next generation of 64-bit, multicore enterprise processors
built on 32-nanometer (nm) process technology (Figure 1).
Figure 1.
Intel Xeon processor E5-2600
The main features of the processor are:
●
Eight-core processor in which each core supports two threads, with up to 16 threads per socket
●
20 MB onboard cache for faster instruction fetch operations
●
Support for 24 DDR3 memory DIMM slots with a data transfer rate of 1600 million transfers per second
(MT/s)
●
Onboard system SAS controller with RAID capabilities
●
Fast Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) bus between the processors
●
PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 support
Cisco UCS M3 Servers
Designed to handle demanding workloads and support requirements for massive scalability and memory and I/O
capacity, the broad portfolio of Cisco UCS blade and rack servers delivers industry-leading performance to data
centers in a unified infrastructure.
Some of the main features of the third-generation servers are:
●
1.3 times more cores with the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family
●
Four times more memory capacity with the new motherboard
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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●
Support for 16-GB high-speed DIMMs
●
Support for 80 Gigabit Ethernet I/O bandwidth
●
Support for 256 virtual network interface cards (NICs) and multiple mezzanine-card options
●
Support for hot-pluggable rotating media on all blades
●
Internal USB and internal flash memory, with Cisco Flexible Flash (FlexFlash) memory expanded storage
option
●
Local SSDs and SAS drives along with SAN storage and network-attached storage (NAS) options
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Half-Width Blade Server
Figure 2.
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server (Figure 2) is the initial offering of the third-generation servers in the blade
form factor. A 2-socket blade server, it harnesses Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 capabilities with up to 16
processing cores and 32 threads with hyper threading enabled. The processor’s increased Intel QPI speed and
cache accelerates the processing of the instruction set to provide a superior voice and video experience for the
user, reducing latency and jitter and creating a transparent scaling platform.
The blade is equipped with 24 DIMM slots that can address up to 384 GB of memory using 16-GB DIMMs at a data
transfer rate of 1600 MT/s. With its large memory capacity and faster speed, this server gives the user options to
characterize worker profiles and address density needs.
Cisco also has introduced the state-of-the-art Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1240 modular LAN on
motherboard (mLOM), which is capable of delivering an I/O bandwidth for 40 Gigabit Ethernet, and up to 80 Gigabit
Ethernet using the port expander for the Cisco UCS VIC 1240. The increased I/O bandwidth helps with applications
that demand large data pipes.
Cisco VXI architecture is designed to harness the capabilities of Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers and effectively
address business needs. This blade server enhances the Cisco VXI blade server offerings.
Table 1 provides a comparison the Cisco UCS B200 M3 and Cisco UCS M2 blade servers.
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server and B250 M2 Extended Memory Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server can be an alternative to the Cisco UCS B250 M2 Extended Memory Blade
Server.
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 is half-width in size, and when compared to a full-width Cisco UCS B250 M2, it provides
room for businesses to scale transparently. It matches the full memory capacity of the Cisco UCS B250 M2, and it
has greater computing capability and more cores. Further, the Cisco UCS B200 M3 can generate the same amount
of I/O throughput with a single Cisco UCS VIC 1240, whereas a Cisco UCS B250 M2 requires the use of two
mezzanine cards, and by using an mLOM card on the Cisco UCS B200 M3, the throughput can be doubled,
overcoming a limitation of the Cisco UCS B250 M2.
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server and B230 M2 Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server can be an alternative to or positioned next to a Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade
Server.
Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers run on the Intel Xeon processor E7-2800 series, thus providing up to 40 cores,
and with increased memory slots, it can support up to 512 GB of memory. Although the Cisco UCS B230 M2 has a
large memory capacity and a large number of computing cores, it does not have the advantages introduced in the
Intel Xeon processor E5 series such as larger memory cache, faster Intel QPI speeds, and support for high-speed
DIMMs. The Cisco UCS B200 M3 thus provides more options to businesses to choose the right blade servers for
their needs.
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server and B200 M2 Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server exceeds the capabilities of the Cisco UCS B200 M2.
The supported memory, processing cores, and I/O throughput have been increased in the Cisco UCS B200 M3,
making it well suited for businesses wanting to upgrade their data centers.
Table 1.
Cisco UCS Blade Server Model Comparison
Model
Cisco UCS B200 M3
Cisco UCS B230 M2
Cisco UCS B250 M2
Cisco UCS B200 M2
Processor sockets
2
2
2
2
Processors supported
Intel Xeon processor
Intel Xeon processor
Intel Xeon processor
Intel Xeon processor
E5-2600 product family
E7-2800 product family
5600 series
5600 series
24 DIMMs;
32 DIMMs;
48 DIMMs;
12 DIMMs;
up to 384 GB
up to 512 GB
up to 384 GB
up to 192 GB
Memory size and speed
4-GB at 1333 MHz, and 8and 16-GB DDR3 at 1333
and 1600 MHz
4-, 8-, 16-, and 32-GB
DDR3 at 1066 and 1333
MHz
4- and 8-GB DDR3 at 1066
and 1333 MHz
4-, 8-, and 16-GB DDR3 at
1066 and 1333 MHz
Internal disk drive
Two 2.5-in. Small FormFactor (SFF) SAS or 15
mm SATA or SSD
Two 2.5-in. SSD
Two 2.5-in. SFF SAS or 15
mm SATA or SSD
Two 2.5-in. SFF SAS or 15
mm SATA or SSD
Maximum internal
storage
Up to 2.0 TB
Up to 200 GB (SSDs)
Up to 1.2 TB
Up to 1.2 TB
Integrated RAID
0, 1
0, 1
0, 1
0, 1
Mezzanine I/O adapter
slots
1
1
2
1
I/O throughput
Up to 2 x 40 Gbps
Up to 20 Gbps
Up to 40 Gbps
Up to 20 Gbps
Form factor
Half width
Half width
Full width
Half width
Maximum Number of
servers per chassis
8
8
4
8
Memory capacity
Cisco UCS C240 M3 2RU Rack Server
Figure 3.
Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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The Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server (Figure 3) adds to the offerings of the third-generation Cisco UCS servers in
the rack-mount form factor and is available in a 2RU size. A 2-socket server with the Intel Xeon processor E52600, it can support up to 16 processing cores and 32 threads with hyper threading enabled and can address up to
384 GB of memory using 16-GB DIMMs at a data transfer rate of 1600 MT/s and an on-board space of 24 memory
DIMM slots.
This server supports the Cisco UCS P81E VIC, which supports up to 18 PCIe virtual interfaces with 20 Gigabit
Ethernet bandwidth. An additional five PCIe slots are made available for certified third-party PCIe cards. The server
is equipped to handle 24 on-board SAS drives or SSDs along with shared storage solutions offered by our
partners.
This server caters to businesses that demand a large local storage capacity without compromising the user
experience. A fast processor and large memory and storage footprints help meet these business needs.
Cisco UCS C220 M3 1RU Rack Server
Figure 4.
Cisco UCS C220 M3 Blade Server
™
Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server (Figure 4) is the initial offering of the third-generation Cisco UCS servers in the
rack-mount form factor. A 1RU 2-socket server, it harnesses Intel Xeon process E5-2600 capabilities with up to 16
processing cores and 32 threads with hyperthreading enabled. The server is equipped with 16 DIMM slots that can
address a total memory 256 GB using 16-GB DIMMs at a data transfer rate of 1600 MT/s.
This server supports the Cisco UCS P81E VIC, which supports up to 18 PCIe virtual interfaces with 20 Gigabit
Ethernet bandwidth. Additional PCIe slots are made available for certified third-party PCIe cards. The server is
equipped to handle eight on-board SAS drives or SSDs along with shared storage solutions offered by our
partners.
With an increased memory footprint and greater storage capabilities, the Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack Server can be
used in small-scale Cisco VXI deployments, incremental Cisco VXI deployments, etc. The comprehensive
utilization of the server capabilities helps businesses understand the benefits of Cisco VXI before they implement a
large-scale deployment.
Table 2 provides a comparison the Cisco UCS M3 and M2 rack servers.
Table 2.
Cisco UCS Rack Server Model Comparison
Model
Cisco UCS C200
M2
Cisco UCS C220
M3
Cisco UCS C210
M2
Cisco UCS C240
M3
Cisco UCS C250
M2
Cisco UCS C260
M2
Processors
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processor 5600
series multicore
processors
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processors E52600 product
family
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processor 5600
series multicore
processors
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processors E52600 product
family
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processor 5600
series multicore
processors
Up to 2 Intel Xeon
processors E72800 product
family
Form factor
1RU
1RU
2RU
2RU
2RU
2RU
Maximum
memory
192 GB
256 GB
192 GB
384 GB
384 GB
1 TB
Internal disk
drive
Up to 8
Up to 8
Up to 16
Up to 24
Up to 8
Up to 16
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 5 of 8
Model
Cisco UCS C200
M2
Cisco UCS C220
M3
Cisco UCS C210
M2
Cisco UCS C240
M3
Cisco UCS C250
M2
Cisco UCS C260
M2
Maximum
internal storage
Up to 8 TB
Up to 8 TB
Up to 16 TB
Up to 24 TB
Up to 8 TB
Up to 16 TB
Built-in RAID
0 and 1 (SATA
only)
Optional RAID
0 and 1 (5 SATA
drives only)
Optional RAID
None
None
Optional RAID
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50,
and 60 *
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 60
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50,
and 60
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 60
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50,
and 60
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50,
and 60
Integrated
networking
2 integrated
Gigabit Ethernet
ports;
10-Gbps unified
fabric optional
2 Gigabit Ethernet
ports;
10-Gbps unified
fabric optional
2 integrated
Gigabit Ethernet
ports;
10-Gbps unified
fabric optional
4 Gigabit Ethernet
ports;
10-Gbps unified
fabric optional
4 integrated
Gigabit Ethernet
ports;
10-Gbps unified
fabric optional
2 Gigabit Ethernet
LOM ports; 2 10
Gigabit Ethernet
ports
I/O using PCIe
2 half-length x8
PCIe slots: 1 full
height and 1 low
profile
2 PCIe
5 full-height x8
Generation-3 slots; PCIe slots: 2 full
length and 3 half
1 x8 half height
length
and half length,
2 PCIe
Generation-3, x16
slots: both full
height and 1 half
length and one
three-quarters
length;
5 PCIe slots: 3
low-profile, halflength x8 slots;
and 2 full-height,
half-length, x16
slots
3 low-profile, halflength x8 PCIe
slots; 2 full-height,
half-length x16
slots; and 1 lowprofile, half-length
x4 slot
and 1 x16 full
height and 3/4
length
2 PCIe
Generation-3, x8
slots: both full
height and 1 half
length;
and 1 PCIe
Generation-3 x8
slot: half height
and half length
* Not available for the four-disk Cisco UCS C200 M2 that has RAID 0, 1, 5, and 6 but not RAID 10, 50, and 60
Cisco UCS B200 M3: Increased Virtual Machine Density
Based on an independently verified scalability report by a third-party vendor (see
http://www.principledtechnologies.com/clients/reports/Cisco/UCS_B200_VDI_0312.pdf), on the Cisco UCS B200
M3 server, the virtual machine density on Cisco VDI can be increased by 14 percent or more compared to the
density on the Cisco UCS B250 M2 server (Figure 5). The actual validated results of the testing for Cisco VXI will
be made available as a part of Cisco VXI Release 2.6 planned for fall 2012 (Q1CY2013).
Figure 5.
Virtual Machine Density with Cisco UCS B200 M3 and B250 M2 Servers
Industry-Standard Performance Benchmark Records
Cisco captured eight world records on industry benchmarks on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family.
This world-record performance demonstrates the breadth of Cisco’s product line and the way in which Cisco UCS
can accelerate performance across the data center (Table 3).
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 6 of 8
Table 3.
Cisco UCS Benchmarks
Server
Processor
Benchmark
Score
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade
Server
Intel Xeon processor E5-2690 at 2.9
GHz
Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.2
Extra Large Payroll
828,729 employees per hour:
number-one result
Oracle E-Business Suite
206,044 lines per hour: number-one
result
12.1.2 Large Order-to-Cash
Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack
Server
Intel Xeon processor E5-2690 at 2.9
GHz
Cisco UCS C220 M3 Rack
Server
Intel Xeon processor E5-2690 at 2.9
GHz
®
SPEComp Mbase2001
94,065: number-one 2-socket server
SPECjbb®2005
1,584,567 business operations per
second (bops), and 792284 bops
with 2 Java virtual machines (JVMs):
number-one 2-socket server
SPECint®_rate_base2006
671: number-one 2-socket server
®
SPECfp _rate_base2006
496: number-one 2-socket server
SPECfp®_base2006
89.9: number-one 2-socket server
SPECompLbase2001
527,122: number-one 2-socket
server
Storage
Storage is an integral part of Cisco VXI, and both local and shared storage solutions are supported. With a wide
range of options made available on both the Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series servers, Cisco VXI provides a
platform that can be tailored to industry-specific needs.
Tier-0 storage, which consists of the SSDs, hard drives, and RAM cache on the servers, can be creatively used
along with shared storage to reduce the number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) and provide an improved
user experience and return on investment (ROI), since the SSDs are local to the server and flash disks operate at
a faster speed than shared storage. Detailed guidance related to these technologies will be made available as a
part of Cisco VXI Release 2.6 planned for fall 2012 (Q1CY2013).
Cisco VXI Benefits on Cisco UCS Third-Generation Servers
●
Next-generation blade servers with faster processors allow increased density of virtual machines per blade
server.
●
Half-width blade servers provide the space needed to linearly increase the number of virtual machines per
chassis.
●
Eight times more memory and four times greater I/O throughput reduces latency and jitter for interactive and
delay-sensitive traffic streams.
●
Larger memory capacity and faster memory speeds increase application performance, providing an
enhanced user experience.
●
A wide range of storage choices (SAS, SATA, SSD, NAS, and SAN) are supported with a variety of
protocols such as Network File System (NFS), Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and
Small Computer System Interface over IP (iSCSI).
●
Workload mobility between servers of different form factors can be achieved by using Cisco UCS Manager
service templates and service profiles.
●
One Cisco UCS Manager instance manages all Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series servers.
●
A wide range of blade offerings with a variety of CPU, memory, and I/O configurations cater to specific
industry needs.
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
Page 7 of 8
●
The addition of the next-generation servers to the existing portfolio reduces deployment time.
●
The power, cooling, and data center footprints of the server infrastructure can save costs.
Conclusion
The Cisco VXI reference architecture for virtual desktop, voice, and video solutions is supported and can be
deployed at the enterprise level using the Cisco UCS B-Series M3 blade servers, and Cisco UCS C-Series M3
rack servers.
A Cisco Validated Design with single-server scalability results, performance metrics, validated with realistic
workload profiles, along with design and integration guidance for the these third-generation servers will be made
available as a part of Cisco VXI Release 2.6 planned for fall 2012 (Q1CY2013).
For More Information
Cisco VXI
●
Cisco VXI Design Zone
●
Cisco VXI 2.5 Based on Citrix XenDesktop 5.5
●
Cisco VXI 2.5 Based on VMware View 5.0
●
Cisco VXI 2.5 Performance and Capacity Validation Results Guide for Citrix
●
Cisco VXI 2.5 Performance and Capacity Validation Results Guide for VMware
Cisco UCS
●
Cisco UCS M3 Blade Server Specifications
●
Cisco UCS M3 Rack Server Specifications
●
Cisco UCS M3 Servers Performance Benchmark
●
Principled Technologies: White Paper About Cisco UCS M3 Servers
About the Author
Abdul Khan is a senior Technical Marketing Engineer currently focused on VXI Smart Solution with expertise in
end-to-end data center solutions.
Printed in USA
© 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
C11-709047-00
06/12
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