VMWARE VREALIZE OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT PACK FOR
Cisco UCS
Installation & Configuration Guide
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Purpose...................................................................................................................................................................... 3
2.  Installation and Configuration Requirements....................................................................... 3
3.  Licensing Requirements............................................................................................................................ 3
4.  Installing the Management Pack ..................................................................................................... 4
4.1  Install the Management Pack............................................................................................... 4
4.2  License the Management Pack.......................................................................................... 6
5.  Configuring the Management Pack............................................................................................... 7
5.1  Overview of Configuration Steps...................................................................................... 7
5.2  Add a Credential................................................................................................................................ 7
5.3  Add an Adapter Instance.......................................................................................................... 8
5.4  Manually Discover Resources........................................................................................... 10
5.5  Validate Data Collection.......................................................................................................... 13
6.  Appendix I: Management Pack Folders and Files....................................................... 15
7.  Appendix II: Revision Notes............................................................................................................... 15
NOTE: This document supports the version of each product listed, as well as all subsequent versions, until
a new edition replaces it.
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the Blue Medora support site at:
http://support.bluemedora.com.
The Blue Medora website also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about
this documentation, submit your feedback to: [email protected].
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
1.  Purpose
The Blue Medora VMware vRealize Operations (vROps) Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation and Configuration
Guide describes how to install and configure the vROps Management Pack for Cisco UCS.
2.  Installation and Configuration Requirements
Before installing and configuring the Cisco UCS Management Pack, ensure your system meets the following
installation and configuration requirements:
Table 1: Management Pack Installation & Configuration Requirements
vRealize Operations (vROps)
Requirements
Cisco UCS Requirements
Version(s)
vRealize Operations v6.x
(Advanced or Enterprise editions)
Cisco UCS Manager, versions 2.1+.
Credentials
N/A
Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM) User Name/
Password
NOTE: If your UCSM credentials are for a
Domain User, you do NOT need to include
“domain@username” or “domain\username” for
authentication purposes. Only the username itself
is required.
Connection
vROps hostname or IP address
Cisco UCS Manager hostname (IP address/DNS
name of Cisco UCS server)
Ports:
• HTTP: 80
• HTTPS: 443
NOTE: The Fabric Interconnect that the Cisco
UCS Management Pack connects to must be
able to access Cisco UCS Manager.
NOTE: The vCenter adapter is installed by default when using vRealize Operations.
3.  Licensing Requirements
When purchased individually, the Management Pack for Cisco UCS is licensed based on the discovered blade
count in vROps, but it allows unlimited fabric interconnects, chassis, etc., for a given configuration.
Alternatively, customers who have purchased Blue Medora’s True Visibility Suite (Standard, Advanced, or Enterprise)
can access all management packs within that suite (and the edition below it, if applicable). The Management Pack
for Cisco UCS is part of Blue Medora’s Standard True Visibility Suite (TVS), which means a TVS Standard license or
higher is required to use it. For more information, visit http://www.bluemedora.com/true-visibility-suite-for-vmware/.
A license key will be provided by Blue Medora when the Management Pack or True Visibility Suite is purchased and
must be added as a Cisco UCS Adapter License within vRealize Operations before the Management Pack can be
configured and used. Refer to section “4.2 License the Management Pack”, for details.
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
4.  Installing the Management Pack
This section includes the following topics:
• Install the Management Pack
• License the Management Pack
4.1  Install the Management Pack
In vROps 6.0+, adapters are installed from .pak files.
4.1.1  Prerequisites
• Obtain the Management Pack installation file from http://www.bluemedora.com/true-visibility-suite-forvmware/.
• Back up any out-of-the-box dashboards that have been customized, as they will be overwritten.
4.1.2  Procedure
1. Save the .pak file in a temporary folder.
2. Log in to vROps as the admin user.
3. Click the Home icon, then select the Administration navigation shortcut from the panel on the left.
Figure 1: Home > Administration
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
4. In the right panel, the Solutions tab will be displayed.
Figure 2: Solutions tab
5. Click the Add icon (
) to upload the .pak file to the vROps server. In the dialog that appears (refer to
Figure 3), browse to the location of the saved .pak file, then click Upload.
NOTE: The .pak file upload may take several minutes to complete. Status information appears in the Installation
Details text box throughout the installation process
Figure 3: Select the .pak file to upload
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
6. Click the Next button when the upload has finished. Read the End User License Agreement (EULA) and click
the ‘I accept the terms of this agreement’ checkbox to accept, then click the Next button.
7. Click the Finish button when the installation process is complete.
NOTE: The installation utility creates the cisco_ucs_adapter folder and cisco_ucs_adapter.jar file in
the $VCOPS_BASE/user/plugins/inbound folder. Refer to section “6. Appendix I: Management Pack Folders
and Files” for more information.
4.2  License the Management Pack
The Management Pack requires a valid license for full operation. Complete the following steps to license the
Management Pack.
4.2.1  Install the License
1. In vRealize Operations Manager, navigate to Administration -> Licensing -> License Keys.
2. Click the Add icon (
). In the dialog that appears, select ‘Cisco UCS Adapter’.
Figure 4: Add License
3. Enter your license key, then click Validate. If successful, “License key validated successfully” will be
displayed.
NOTE: A “License is Invalid” message may display in the background unless the license is added to a Group.
Click on the added license, then click Edit to add it to a Group and discontinue the display of this message.
4.2.2  Add the License to a Group
1.Navigate to License Groups.
2.Select the license group ‘Cisco UCS Adapter Licensing’, then click the Edit (
3.Check the newly added Cisco UCS license.
4.Enter a name for this license group, then click Next.
5.Select the resources to include/exclude in this group, then click Next.
6.Click Finish.
7.Navigate back to License Keys and click Refresh License Usage.
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
)icon.
5.  Configuring the Management Pack
To configure the Cisco UCS Management Pack you must add a credential and an adapter instance in vROps.
Depending on your configuration, you might need to perform additional steps.
This section includes the following topics:
•
•
•
•
•
Overview of Configuration Steps
Add a Credential
Add an Adapter Instance
Manually Discover Resources
Validate Data Collection
5.1  Overview of Configuration Steps
Configuring the Management Pack involves the following steps:
1. Adding an adapter credential and instance.
2. Manually discovering resources if auto-discovery wasn’t selected when adding the adapter instance.
3. Validating the data collected by the adapter.
5.2  Add a Credential
The Cisco UCS Management Pack uses a user name and password to connect to the UCS Manager server. You
use this user name and password to create a credential for the adapter instance in vROps.
You can add the credential before you create the adapter instance and select the correct credential when you
define the adapter instance, or you can add the credential when you define the adapter instance.
5.2.1  Prerequisites
• Install the Cisco UCS Management Pack. Refer to section “4.1 Install the Management Pack”, for details.
• Verify that the user account meets the credential requirements. Refer to section “2. Installation and
Configuration Requirements”, for details.
5.2.2  Procedure
1. Log in to the vRealize UI as an administrator.
2. Click on the Administration navigation shortcut (
3. Click on Credentials in the navigator pane.
4. Click the Add icon (
)
).
5. In the Manage Credentials dialog that appears:
•
•
•
•
Select ‘Cisco UCS’ from the Adapter Type drop-down menu
Select ‘Cisco UCS Manager Credentials’ from the Credential Kind drop-down menu
Enter an appropriate name for the credential instance in the Credential name text box
Enter the user name and passwords for Cisco UCSM
NOTE: The Cisco UCSM user name/password must be at least read-only.
•
7
Click OK to add the credential for use in a Cisco UCS adapter instance.
Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
Figure 5: Manage Credential
NOTE: If your environment is configured to support multiple UCSM servers, and the servers are monitored by
vROps, you must create an adapter instance for each individual server.
5.3  Add an Adapter Instance
You must create an adapter instance for the Cisco UCS Management Pack. The adapter instance defines the
adapter type and identifies the UCSM server from which the adapter instance retrieves data.
If your UCSM server does not use the default protocol, you can select a different protocol. You can also
optionally specify a UCSM server resource group to filter the resources that the adapter instance imports.
NOTE: If your environment is configured to support multiple UCSM servers, and the servers are monitored by
vROps, you must create an adapter instance for each individual server.
5.3.1  Prerequisites
• Install the Cisco UCS Management Pack. Refer to section “4.1 Install the Management Pack”, for details.
• Create a credential, or, if you plan to create a credential when you add the adapter instance, become
familiar with creating credentials. Refer to section “5.2 Add a Credential”, for details.
5.3.2  Procedure
1. Log in to the vRealize UI as an administrator.
2. Click on the Administration navigation shortcut (
). The Solutions view should automatically open.
3. Select ‘Cisco UCS Adapter’ from the Solutions list.
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
Figure 6: Solutions List
4. Click the Configure (gear) icon (
). The following dialog will appear.
Figure 7: Manage Solution window
.
NOTE: If adding multiple adapter instances, click the Add icon (
to add more.
9
) above the list of Instance Names on the left
Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
5. Enter/select the following information under Basic, Adapter, and Advanced Settings:
• Adapter Display Name
• Description (optional)
• Host name (IP address/DNS name) of the UCSM server
• Protocol option
NOTE: Because the UCSM server runs on HTTP (port 80) by default, the default selection is HTTP. If your UCSM
server runs on HTTPS (port 443) instead of HTTP, change the setting accordingly.
• The credential to use to sign on to the data source, or click Add (
• Collector option
• Port option
) to add a new credential.
NOTE: If the Port entry field is 0 or blank, it uses the default for the protocol selected (HTTP, 80; or HTTPS, 443).
If it is a different number, the port (but not the protocol) will be overridden.
• Auto Discovery option
NOTE: If you select True, the adapter instance creates UCSM resources for you. If you select False, you must
manually discover UCSM resources. The default setting is False.
• Enable Ports? option (whether to enable port collection for ethernet and fiber channel)
• Click Save Settings to save your configuration.
5.3.3  What to do next
If you set the Auto Discovery option to False, you will have to go back and manually discover Cisco UCS
resources. Refer to section “5.4 Manually Discover Resources”, for details.
5.4  Manually Discover Resources
With manual discovery, the Cisco UCS adapter instance sends a request to the UCSM server to return resources,
and you then select the resources to import into vROps. The discovery mode that you configure determines
whether it imports only the selected resource, or the selected resource and all of its child resources.
5.4.1  Prerequisites
Create a Cisco UCS adapter instance. Refer to section “5.3 Add an Adapter Instance”, for details.
5.4.2  Procedure
1. Log in to the vROps user interface as an administrator.
2. Click the Administration navigation shortcut (
).
3. Click Environment Overview in the navigator pane as shown in Figure 8.
NOTE: In vROps 6.1+, you will select Inventory Explorer instead of Environment Overview.
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
Figure 8: Environment Overview (Inventory Explorer) > Adapter Instances
4. Under Adapter Instances, select ‘Cisco UCS - Adapter Instance’.
5. Click the Discover Resources icon (
) to open the Discover Objects window.
Figure 9: Discover Objects
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
6. In the Discover Objects window, select the following information from the drop-down menus:
• The Collector to use
NOTE: Unless you added additional collectors, the only available collector is your vROps server.
•
•
•
•
‘Cisco UCS Adapter’ for Adapter Type
The applicable Adapter Instance
‘Cisco UCS Discovery’ for Discovery Info
If Only New Objects (checkbox) should be collected
7. Click OK to start the discovery process.
8. The discovery process can take several seconds to several minutes. When it has finished, the Discovery
Results window lists your resources as shown.
Figure 10: Discovery Results
9. Double-click each resource kind that contains resources to add.
10. Select options for each kind of resource (Refer to Table 1).
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
Table 1: Resource Options
OPTION
DESCRIPTION
Import
Import the resources but do not start collecting data. Resources appear in the
resource list as Not Collecting; data is not stored; analysis is not performed.
Collect
Import the resources and start collecting data. When you select the Collect check
box, the Import check box is also selected.
11. Click OK. The Discovery Results window closes and the new resources appear on the List tab.
5.4.3  What to do next
If you did not select the option to start metric collection when you defined a resource, you can start metric
collection after the resource is defined. To start collecting metrics for a resource, click the Start Collecting
(
) icon.
5.5  Validate Data Collection
After you add a Cisco UCS adapter instance, validate the data that it collects in vROps.
5.5.1  Prerequisites
Add a Cisco UCS adapter instance. Refer to section 5.3, Add an Adapter Instance, for details.
5.5.2  Procedure
1. Select the Environment Overview shortcut. NOTE: If you enabled Auto Discovery for the adapter instance, it creates resources as soon as it begins collecting
metrics. If you disabled Auto Discovery for the adapter instance, you must discover resources manually.
2. Under Inventory Trees, select ‘Cisco UCS Environment’ for Cisco UCS resource relationships.
Figure 11: Inventory Trees
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
NOTE: The Management Pack creates a resource relationship when the parent and child resource exist in
vROps. It creates resource relationships during manual discovery.
3. Select a resource, then click the Troubleshooting tab and All Metrics view to validate values against the
data source.
Figure 12: Troubleshooting Tab
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Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
6.  Appendix I: Management Pack Folders and Files
The installer places the Management Pack files in the $VCOPS_BASE/user/plugins/inbound/cisco_ucs_
adapter folder as shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Management Pack Folders and Files
FOLDER
conf
lib
FILE
DESCRIPTION
describe.xml
Describes the adapter
version.txt
Contains version information
httpclient-4.3.6.jar, log4j-1.2.14.jar, cisco_ucs_
adapter_jruby.jar, httpclient-cache-4.3.6.jar,
platform-api-model-1.0.jar, commons-codec-1.6.jar,
httpcore-4.3.2.jar, slf4j-api-1.7.2.jar, commons-io2.4.jar, httpcore-4.3.3.jar, slf4j-log4j12-1.7.2.jar,
commons-lang-2.5.jar, httpmime-4.3.6.jar,
spring-beans-3.2.9.RELEASE.jar, commonslogging-1.1.3.jar, jackson-core-asl-1.9.2.jar,
spring-context-3.2.9.RELEASE.jar, commonslogging-1.1.jar, jackson-mapper-asl-1.9.2.jar,
spring-core-3.2.9.RELEASE.jar, fluent-hc-4.3.6.jar,
jackson-xc-1.9.2.jar, spring-web-3.2.9.RELEASE.
jar, guava-14.0.1.jar, jboss-logging-3.1.0.CR2.jar,
validation-api-1.0.0.GA.jar, hibernate-validator4.3.1.Final.jar, jruby-core-1.7.19.jar, vcops-suiteapiclient-1.0.jar, httpclient-4.3.3.jar, jruby-stdlib-1.7.19.
jar, vcops_core.jar, mime-types-2.4.3, netrc-0.7.7,
rest-client-1.6.7
JAR files that contain the classes and
resources used to implement the adapter
7.  Appendix II: Revision Notes
This installation guide is updated with each release of the product, or when necessary. The following table provides
its revision history.
REVISION
REV-04
DATE
DESCRIPTION
2016-SEP-23
• Added note to section “2. Installation and Configuration Requirements”
regarding UCSM Domain User credentials
• Added information regarding TVS Licensing in section “3. Licensing
Requirements”
• Added Enable Ports? configuration option to Manage Solution window
(Figure 7)
REV-03
2016-APR-14
• Removed vRealize user name/password entries from Manage Credential
window (Figure 5)
• Added default port information to section “2. Installation and Configuration
Requirements”
REV-02
2016-FEB-03
REV-01
2015-DEC-17
15
Updated compatibility information in section “2. Installation and Configuration
Requirements” to vRealize Operations 6.x+ and Cisco UCS Manager 2.1+
Initial release.
Blue Medora vRealize Operations Management Pack for Cisco UCS Installation & Configuration Guide
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the Blue Medora
support site at: http://support.bluemedora.com.
The Blue Medora website also provides the latest product updates. If you
have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:
[email protected].
Copyright © 2016 Blue Medora. All rights reserved. U.S. and international copyright and intellectual
property laws protect this product. Blue Medora is a registered trademark or trademark of Blue
Medora in the United States and/or other jurisdictions.
The Cisco name (including Cisco UCS and Cisco UCS Manager) and logo are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All
other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Blue Medora
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www.bluemedora.com