[c-nsp] Can UCS 6120XP be used for normal host connectivity?

[Brad Hedlund (brhedlun)]

Short answer, No, you don't want to do that.

Long answer:

There are two types of ports on the UCS 6100, "Uplink" ports, and  
"Server" ports.  At this time, only the 2104 FEX modules inside the  
blade chassis can be connected to "Server" ports.

The default and preferred mode of the 6100 is "End Host" mode. In this  
mode, there is no MAC learning on ports configured as "Uplinks".

You could potentially change the UCS 6100 mode to "Switch Mode" and  
connect your "backup server" to an "Uplink" port. However, "Switch  
Mode" is not the preffered mode of operation. There are some key  
benefits to "End Host" mode, such as: no STP processing, all uplinks  
forwarding on all VLANs, smaller MAC tables, the simplicity of  
connecting to the network like a "Host", not like a "Switch", etc.

Probably not worth the trade-off and best to connect your "backup  
server" to another switch outside of the system.

Check with your Cisco UCS specialist about things coming in the  
roadmap that might provide more options. Or unicast me offline ;)

Cheers,
Brad

Sent from my iPhone

Brad Hedlund, CCIE 5530
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Technical Solutions Architect
Data Center
http://bradhedlund.com


On Jul 7, 2010, at 6:02 PM, "David Hubbard" <dhubbard at dino.hostasaurus.com 
 > wrote:

> We're deploying a UCS setup that involves
> some of the 20 port fabric interconnect
> switches which basically connect our UCS
> blade chassis to our EMC storage.  I asked
> the sales rep today if we could plug a backup
> server at 10gig into one of the unused ports
> on one of the 6120's and she initially said
> no, but then when I questioned what the difference
> was between a backup server and our core L3
> switch or the EMC storage since all are just
> remote nodes talking IP on ethernet, she said
> well maybe I can connect a host to it.
>
> Trying to get some planning out of the way
> and haven't gotten an answer yet so I was
> wondering if anyone knows the answer to this?
> Assuming the 6120XP receives a tagged
> uplink from the core for normal network
> traffic coming and going from the UCS
> servers, can a port on a 6100 be configured
> for untagged 10gig in a specific vlan so I
> can hook a server into it?
>
> Thanks,
>
> David
>
> _______________________________________________
> cisco-nsp mailing list  cisco-nsp at puck.nether.net
> https://puck.nether.net/mailman/listinfo/cisco-nsp
> archive at http://puck.nether.net/pipermail/cisco-nsp/