Table Of Contents
Using UCS-Server Configuration Utility
UCS-SCU Interface
License Agreement
Home Page
Updating from cisco.com
Updating from Network Share
Accessing Help
Server Inventory
Server Health
Server Snapshot
Server Configuration
Boot Order Configuration
RAID Configuration
Supported RAID Devices
UCS-SCU RAID Configuration
Automatic Setup With Redundancy
Automatic Setup Without Redundancy
Create Custom or Multiple RAID Arrays
OS Install
Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Operating System Installation
Windows 2003 Server Series
Windows 2008
Linux Server Series Operating System Installation
Diagnostic Tools
Features of Diagnostic Tools
Using Diagnostic Tools
Quick Test
Comprehensive Test
Quick Tasks
Tests Suite
Tests Log Summary
Tests Summary
Logs
System Logs
System Event Log
Using UCS-Server Configuration Utility
This chapter provides information on using the UCS-Server Configuration Utility and contains the following sections:
UCS-SCU Interface
Server Inventory
Server Health
Server Snapshot
Server Configuration
OS Install
Diagnostic Tools
Logs
UCS-SCU Interface
UCS-SCU is a bootable application that can be used to perform operations such as BIOS setup, configure RAID logical volume, install operating systems, and perform diagnostics on Cisco rack servers. It is designed to run on one server at a time. You can launch the application through physical or virtual media.
Note 
On UCS-C260 M2 servers you can launch UCS-SCU from the F6 boot option as well.
This section contains the following topics:
License Agreement
Home Page
Accessing Help
License Agreement
After UCS-SCU boots up, the first interface is the End User License Agreement. Select I Accept and click Next to agree to this license, or click Cancel to exit the application.
Home Page
The UCS-SCU home page consists of the following:
•Navigation Pane—The navigation pane on the left hand provides a tree for easy navigation.
•Content Pane—The content pane is the primary area for information and interaction.
•Tests Summary Pane (for Diagnostic Tools)—Provides details of tests passed, tests in queue and tests failed.
•Toolbar—The toolbar on the left hand top corner has a set of icons that allow you to access the following:
Network Configuration
Configures the IP address, DNS and Subnet mask and Cisco.com credentials. This configuration will be used to connect to Cisco.com or other network share locations to access the OS installation drivers or firmware. Click the icon to enter details of the network configuration, proxy server Cisco.com user credentials and click Configure.
Probe Server
Performs a server health check. Once complete, you can select the Server Health and check for the warning/failure/information.
Save Logs
Logs can be saved to a USB with this option.
Refresh
This will refresh the content area, if supported.
Reboot
Reboots the server.
Update
Allows you to download the most recent versions of UCS-SCU, OS drivers and Host Upgrade Utility (HUU). These images can be flashed to the SD card on your system. The F6 option on the server can then be used to boot with the most recent images (HUU and SCU) you downloaded.
Updating from cisco.com
To obtain the most recent version of UCS-SCU, OS drivers and HUU from cisco.com, follow these steps:
Step 1 On the home page, click on the update icon. The software selection window displays.
Step 2 Select from one of the three options of software available for download.
Step 3 Click From Cisco.com. The Select Updates screen displays.
Step 4 Select the required version from the Select Updates screen and click OK.
Step 5 Click Apply to download the image from Cisco.com and flash it to the SD card on your system. You can cancel the download at any time using the cancel icon. You can also minimize this screen, using the minimize icon. This action docks the screen to the toolbar, allowing you to perform other operations while the download takes place.
Once the image is flashed on to your system, you will be able to boot your system with the most current versions of the software you downloaded (SCU and HUU) from the F6 option on your server.
Updating from Network Share
To obtain the most recent version of UCS-SCU, OS drivers and HUU from a network share location, follow these steps:
Step 1 On the home page of SCU, click on the update icon. The SD update software selection window displays.
Step 2 Select from one of the three options of software available for download.
Step 3 Click From Network. The Network Location screen displays.
Step 4 Enter the User Name, Password and Network Location (where the updates you downloaded are located), click Connect. The network share location window with the most recent software images displays.
Step 5 Select the required image and click OK.
Step 6 Click Apply to download the image and flash it to the SD card on your system. A confirmation message displays.
Accessing Help
To access the Cisco UCS-SCU online help, click the Help tab in the right hand corner.
Server Inventory
You can use the server inventory functionality to perform an inventory of your server. You can view details like server summary, server properties and an inventory of subsystems on your server like CPU, memory, power supplies, fans, IO devices, storage, BIOS and CIMC.
To view the inventory of your server, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click the Server Inventory tab on the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click the Server Information tab on the left navigation pane. The server properties and server summary appear.
Step 3 Click the Inventory tab to view an inventory of your server's subsystems, like CPU, memory, power supplies, fans, IO devices, storage, BIOS, and CIMC.
Table 3-1 explains the various subsystem details you can view.
Table 3-1 Server Inventory Properties
Subsystem
|
Description
|
CPU
|
View the socket name, status, number of cores, number of threads, vendor, version, cores enabled, and signature of the CPUs on your server.
|
Memory
|
View the size, data width, locator, speed, and serial number of the DIMMs on your server.
|
Power Supplies
|
View the input power, output power (in watts), part number, version, serial number, and product name of the power supply units on your server.
|
Fans
|
View the status, power state, and speed of the fans on your server.
|
IO Devices
|
View the type, vendor, description, and MAC address/serial number of the IO devices on your server.
|
Storage
|
View the type, description, vendor, size, BUS information, and serial number of the storage devices on your server.
|
BIOS
|
View the vendor, version, physical ID, size, capacity, and boot order of the BIOS on your server.
|
CIMC
|
View the IP address, MAC address, firmware version, and IPMI version of the CIMC on your server.
|
Server Health
Using this functionality you can view the health of all the subsystems of your server (like memory, processor, power supply, hard disk, fans, chipset and CIMC) along with the status and message of a specific subsystem.
To view the health of your server, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click the Server health tab in the left navigation pane. The server health displays in the right hand content pane, along with the status and message for a specific subsystem.
Step 2 To view the latest status of the subsystem, click Probe Server from the toolbar. Click on server health again to refresh the page after clicking on probe server
Step 3 Click the line corresponding to a subsystem to view details of your server health in the Server Health Details pane.
Note The message column in the server health pane displays the first issue corresponding to the subsystem. In case the subsystem has multiple issues, they will show up below in the Server Health Details pane.
Server Snapshot
You can use the Server Snapshot feature in UCS SCU user interface to take a point-in-time inventory of a server. This feature allows you to compare inventories or components of a server over certain periods of time. Prior to initiating a server snapshot, ensure that you connect a USB flash drive into the server. Without a flash drive available, the log file created by the server snapshot is not saved.
When you initiate a server snapshot, UCS SCU retrieves information on the server components, and also runs a series of quick tests to determine the state of the server. Taking a server snapshot could take around 20 minutes. After the server snapshot process is complete, the log file is saved on to the USB flash drive that you specified. You can open this log file in any editor. For example, WordPad. To help compare server inventories across time periods, it is recommended that you store these log files in a location and archive it. When you have multiple logs files, you can use a comparison tool from the Internet to view differences in the server inventory.
To take a server snapshot, perform these steps:
Step 1 Connect a USB flash drive to the server or through vMedia.
Without this flash drive, you cannot save the server snapshot log file. Also ensure that there is adequate space on the flash drive to save the log file.
Step 2 Click the Server Snapshot icon in the UCS SCU interface.
A dialog box prompting you to insert the USB flash drive is displayed.
Step 3 Click Yes to continue.
A dialog box prompts you to select the USB flash drive in which you would like to save the log file.
Step 4 Choose the USB flash drive from the drop-down menu and click Save.
The Server Snapshot process is initiated. This process could last up to 20 to 30 minutes. A dialog box indicating the progress of the server snapshot process appears. During this process, you cannot perform any other tasks on the server. At any moment during the process, you can cancel the server snapshot process by clicking Cancel in the dialog box.
Note During the server snapshot process, if the KVM connection is terminated, it does not terminate the server snapshot process. When you login again to the KVM console, you will notice that the server snapshot process is still running or has completed. However, if the USB flash drive is connected through vMedia and the KVM connection is terminated, then the server snapshot process is halted as the connection to the USB flash drive is lost.
Step 5 After the snapshot process is complete, a dialog message appears to indicate that the server snapshot process is complete. Click OK.
The log file is saved on the USB flash drive. The log file is a text file and is saved with the server name and includes the date when the server snapshot was taken. For example: Server_C260-BASE-2646_FCH1234345_06_08_2011 is the log file name of a server snapshot taken for UCS C-260 server on August 6th, 2001.
Step 6 Open this log file with any editor. For example, WordPad.
Tip To compare inventory information of the same server over a period of time, it is recommended that you archive these log files so that they are always available for comparison.
The log file of the server snapshot process includes the following information:
•Chassis Summary
•BaseBoard Summary
•CIMC Summary
•Processor Summary
•Memory Summary
•Storage Summary
•PCI Adapter Summary
•Power Supply Summary
•Server diagnostics Quick Test Results
•Server Probe Data
Note The server snapshot feature, while running quick tests on the server, can only determine if a server component passed or failed a test. It cannot determine the reasons for a component not passing the quick test. While viewing the log file of the server snapshot process, if you notice that a server component did not pass the quick test, then check the quick test logs available under the Diagnostics Tools.
Server Configuration
You can configure your server's BIOS boot order settings and perform RAID configuration using the Server Configuration function. To enter this function area, from the left navigation pane, click Server Configuration.
This section contains the following topics:
Boot Order Configuration
RAID Configuration
Supported RAID Devices
Boot Order Configuration
SCU displays a list of all bootable devices on the server. To set the BIOS boot order of your server, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Server Configuration in the left navigation pane, and then click Boot order Configuration. You will be able to choose the devices you want to participate in the boot order configuration using the arrow keys between the Device Types and Boot Order column.
Step 2 Highlight a device in the Boot Order column (choose from either HDD, CD/DVD, Internal EFI Shell, Network Device or FDD), click the up or down arrow keys to arrange the server boot order you prefer, and click Apply.
Step 3 Click Apply.
Step 4 The Boot Order is saved on this server.
Step 5 To reset the boot order click Reset.
Note If the system has multiple boot devices under each component, for example, if the system has multiple bootable hard disks under the same controller or CD drives, SCU will not display this information. You will have to enter the BIOS and configure the order of these subcomponents manually.
RAID Configuration
You can use RAID Configuration to configure your systems' on-board (Mezz or ICH10R RAID controller) or PCIe supported RAID controller cards.
If your system has multiple RAID controllers, UCS-SCU displays a list of all available RAID cards on the RAID Configuration page. The RAID levels supported by SCU are RAID 0, 1, 5 and 6.
Supported RAID Devices
The LOM and LSI controller devices supported by UCS-SCU are the following:
Server
|
LOM Device
|
LSI Controller
|
C200
|
Intel 82576
|
1064E
1068E
8708EM2
9260-4i
9260-8i
9280-4i4e
|
C210
|
Intel 82576
|
1064E
8708EM2
9261-8i
9280-4i4e
|
C250
|
Broadcom BCM5709
|
3081E-R
9261-8i
|
C260
|
Broadcom BCM5709
Broadcom BCM57711
|
9261-8i
|
C460
|
Broadcom BCM5709
Broadcom BCM57711
|
9260-8i
9240-8i
|
Note The UCS-SCU RAID configuration utility detects the physical drivers only once when you enter this function area after the system is rebooted. Do not remove or add hard disk drivers while navigating within this function area.
Note Some LSI RAID controllers take time to complete the operation during RAID configuration. SCU does not have any control over this issue. As a workaround, you can either recreate the RAID or wait for the operation to complete.
UCS-SCU RAID Configuration
This section contains the following topics:
Automatic Setup With Redundancy
Automatic Setup Without Redundancy
Create Custom or Multiple RAID Arrays
UCS-SCU supports three types of RAID configurations:
Automatic Setup With Redundancy
Automatic setup with redundancy requires at least two hardware drives. If your server has two drives, UCS-SCU creates RAID 1. If it has more than two drives, UCS-SCU recommends creating RAID 5. If the controller does not support RAID 5, RAID 1 is created.
Note The common parameters, except for total size, are the default values for the controller.
Automatic Setup Without Redundancy
Automatic setup without redundancy requires one or more hard drives. UCS-SCU creates RAID 0 with this option. To configure RAID using the automatic setup with or without redundancy, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Server Configuration in the left navigation pane and then click RAID configuration. The RAID Configuration page displays.
Step 2 Click the Configure button displayed next to the device. The RAID Configuration page displays. You can also view properties of the device by clicking Show Details.
Step 3 On the RAID Configuration page, the following options appear:
•Automatic Setup with Redundancy
•Automatic Setup without Redundancy
•Create Custom or multiple RAID arrays
Step 4 Select either the first or second option and click Create Array. A pop-up displays upon completion of this task.
Create Custom or Multiple RAID Arrays
When you select Create Custom or Multiple RAID arrays, UCS-SCU displays a window in which you can select physical hard disks. Only unconfigured good disks can be used for RAID configuration. Disks that are already part of RAID will not be available for RAID configuration. Clear the configuration to make all the disks' statuses Unconfigured Good. You can use the Clear configuration option to remove these disks from existing RAID, but be extra careful here as the data on the existing RAID will be lost if you clear the configuration.
To create custom or multiple RAID arrays, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Server Configuration in the left navigation pane and then click RAID configuration. The RAID Configuration page displays.
Step 2 Click the Configure button displayed next to the device. The RAID Configuration page appears. You can also view properties of the device by clicking Show Details.
Step 3 On the RAID Configuration page, the following options appear:
–Automatic Setup with Redundancy
–Automatic Setup without Redundancy
–Create Custom or multiple RAID arrays
Step 4 Select the third option (Create Custom or multiple RAID arrays) and click Create Array. The Select Drives for Logical Drive page appears.
Step 5 Select the Unconfigured Good physical drives that you want to include in the RAID array. If you choose to clear configuration, all the old configurations applied to the list are lost.
Step 6 Check the Status column to verify that the drive is Unconfigured Good.
Step 7 Click Next. The Select Hotspare Drives page displays.
Step 8 Select the required physical drives to be used as global hot spare drives and click Next. The Define Array Attributes page displays.
Step 9 Select the required array attributes from the drop-down lists and click Next. The summary page displays.
Step 10 Click Create Array.
Table 3-2 explains the various disk status conditions.
Table 3-2 Disk Status Conditions
Status Condition
|
Description
|
Online
|
The drive is already used in another array.
|
Global Hotspare
|
The drive will be used to repair any array in the system that had a drive failure, if the failed drive is equal to, or smaller than the hot spare drive.
|
Unconfigured Good
|
The drive is unused or available.
|
Ready
|
The drive is online and operating correctly.
|
Offline
|
The drive is offline or absent. No actions can be performed on the drive until it is back online.
|
Unconfigured Bad
|
The drive is not operational and needs to be replaced.
Disks with a status of "Unconfigured bad" cannot be used for RAID configurations.
|
Foreign
|
The drive is part of an array created on a different controller, or created within one enclosure and moved to another on the same controller. It can be used to create a new array after clearing configuration.
|
Table 3-3 explains the RAID array attributes.
Table 3-3 RAID Array Attributes
Option
|
Description
|
RAID level
|
RAID 0 (Data striping), 1 (Disk Mirroring), 5 (Data Striping with Striped Parity), 6 (Distributed Parity and Disk Striping).
|
Stripe size
|
Size of the data stripe across all disks. Each physical disk has a smaller stripe of data. The sum of all the stripes equals the stripe size.
|
Read policy
|
No Read Ahead, Read Ahead, Adaptive. Read Ahead will read additional consecutive stripes. Adaptive will turn on Read Ahead for sequential reads and turn it off for random reads.
|
Write policy
|
Write Through or Write Back. With Write Through, I/O completion for write operations is signaled when the data is written to the disk. With Write Back, I/O completion is signaled when the data is transferred to cache.
|
Cache policy
|
Direct I/O or Cached I/O. Choose Direct I/O for uncached read and write operations. Choose Cached I/O to cache all write operations and check the cache first for read operations
|
Size
|
Logical drive size. The maximum value depends on RAID level selected and the physical disks size involved.
|
OS Install
The unattended operating system installation function helps you install the Microsoft Windows, SuSE Linux, and RedHat Linux operating system families. UCS-SCU has integrated device drivers including RAID drivers to seamlessly install operating systems on supported RAID logical arrays without additional load driver steps or devices such as the USB. UCS-SCU supports OS installation only on Virtual Disks. OS installation on Physical Disks is not supported. All UCS-SCU supported operating systems are organized into three groups: Windows, RHEL, and SUSE.
Note While installing the OS on C-260 servers, after you provide the OS CD, the system prompts you to reboot to continue with the installation. At this time, you must change the boot order for the server, and set the appropriate HDD or VD as the first boot device.
This section contains the following topics:
Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Operating System Installation
Linux Server Series Operating System Installation
Tip Prior to initiating the operating system installation, ensure that you have disabled the Watchdog Timer. If this feature is enabled and the value is set for a time duration that is lesser than the time taken to install the OS, then the OS installation process is interrupted. This Watch Dog Timer feature automatically reboots or powers off the server after the specified time duration. To ensure that the OS installation is not interrupted, disable the Watchdog Timer on the server.
Windows Server 2003 and 2008 Operating System Installation
For unattended Windows Server 2003 and 2008 OS installation, follow these steps:
Step 1 To enter the unattended OS installation function area, click OS Install in the left navigation pane. The OS Install page appears.
Step 2 Click the Windows radio button and choose an operating system from the drop-down list. For Windows 2008 operating system, an additional edition drop-down list displays.
Step 3 Click Next.
Step 4 On the Set Installation Partition page, select a disk from the Select Disk drop-down list to create a partition.
Step 5 If your server has more disk controllers such as SATA, SAS, or RAID, click Select Disk to choose an active disk. UCS-SCU switches to the corresponding disk that is under the selected disk controller.
–To create a new partition on disk free space, click New.
–To remove a partition, click Delete.
–To change a partition size, click Edit.
Step 6 If you have multiple arrays created under the same controller, UCS-SCU marks the array chosen for OS installation as the primary bootable array.
Step 7 Click Next.
Step 8 Enter the following information in the subsequent screens:
•Region and Location
–Windows 2003 server series—UCS-SCU prompts you to select Time Zone, Windows Language and additional language
–Windows 2008—You can select the Time Zone.
•Personalization
–Enter server owner name, organization, license information and license type.
•Name and password
–On Windows 2003 server series you must set the server computer name and administrator password.
–On Windows 2008 server series you must set the server computer name. Because administrator password is reset when Windows 2008 installation completes, UCS-SCU does not request a Windows administrator password.
•Network Settings—Enter the network configuration settings for the onboard network adapters that will be detected by the operating system during installation. You will be able to view the link status of available network interfaces along with the IP address, subnet mask, gateway, DNS, link status, vendor, type and MAC address on this page. You can also enter the Work Group or Network Domain information on this page and enable Remote Access (RDP). These settings will not affect the network settings for the CIMC. We recommend that you set different IP addresses for the OS and CIMC. The "network interface" column lists each network adapter detected by the UCS-SCU. Your operating system may have a different name after you install the operating system.
•Get Updated Drivers—This section allows you to select the source from where UCS-SCU can download server driver packages. The selected drivers are installed to the operating system by UCS-SCU.
Choose one of the following options:
–From www.cisco.com—To get the most recent drivers from the Cisco support website, select this option. Ensure that the server is only connected to one network during the download. You will have the option to setup a network connection for your server, configure proxy server to access internet and cisco.com user credentials.
–From SCU boot media—Directly use the driver packages that are stored in the Tools and Drivers CD. UCS-SCU selects this option as default.
–From my network—UCS-SCU can download a driver package stored on a network share folder. You must manually download the most recent drivers from http://www.cisco.com and copy them to your network share.
–From USB Disk on Key or Hard Drive—UCS-SCU can get the drivers stored on a USB key or USB hard disk drive. You must manually download the most recent drivers from http://www.cisco.com and copy them to a USB key. To download drivers from http://www.cisco.com follow these steps:
1. Log on to http://www.cisco.com.
2. Click Support.
3. Click Download Software and then click Products.
4. Click Unified Computing and Servers.
5. Click Cisco UCS C-Series Rack-Mount Servers.
6. Select the required server type and then select Software on Chassis.
7. Select Unified Computing System (UCS) Server Configuration Utility Device Drivers Package and then select either VMWare, Linux, Windows and EFI.
8. Select the required release and click either Download Now or Add to cart.
•Choose Drivers to Install—UCS-SCU displays all available drivers downloaded from the driver source. Uncheck the drivers that you do not want to install. If you want to install an operating system on a RAID volume, you can deselect the driver for the appropriate RAID controller. The path to the selected drivers will be stored and will then be used to download and install the drivers during the operating system installation.
•Remove the UCS-SCU CD and insert the required operating system CD.
Windows 2003 Server Series
For unattended installation of the Windows 2003 operating system, follow these steps:
Step 1 Insert the Windows 2003 operating system CD, and click Next for UCS-SCU to apply all settings.
Step 2 After completing this process, UCS-SCU prompts you to reboot the server.
Step 3 Leave the operating system CD in the CD-ROM, while the system completes the OS installation after this reboot.
Windows 2008
For unattended installation of the Windows 2008 operating system, follow these steps:
Step 1 Insert the Windows 2008 OS DVD and a USB key with at least 10 MB free space on which UCS-SCU can store server drivers temporarily. The answer file unattended.xml is also stored in the USB during installation.
Step 2 Click Next to apply all settings.
Step 3 Click Restart to reboot the server.
Step 4 During server POST, press F2 to enter the server BIOS configuration interface.
Note You can use only virtual USB drives for OS installation on the C460 M1. Both physical and virtual are supported on all other platforms.
Linux Server Series Operating System Installation
For unattended Linux operating system installation, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click OS Install in the left navigation pane. The OS Install page appears.
Step 2 Click either the RHEL or SLES radio button, choose an operating system from the drop-down list and click Next.
Step 3 On the Set Installation Partition page, select a disk from the Select Disk drop-down list to create a partition.
Step 4 If the server has more disk controllers such as SATA, SAS, or RAID controller, click Select disk to choose active disk controller. UCS-SCU switches to the corresponding disk that is under the selected disk controller and displays a recommended default partition.
Step 5 Click New to create a new partition on disk free space. Click Delete to remove a partition, or click Edit to change partition size. Partition Root and Swap are necessary. If you miss them, SCU generates an alert message. SCU displays a suggested partition solution. Accept it if you are not familiar with Linux partition.
Step 6 If you have multiple arrays created under the same controller, UCS-SCU marks the array that is chosen for OS installation as primary bootable array.
Step 7 Enter the following information in the subsequent screens:
•Basic configuration—Edit the following items on the Basic Configuration page:
–Root Password
–Default language
–Keyboard
–Time Zone
–Additional Languages
•Package Selection—Select all Linux packages that you want to install on your server.
•Network Settings—Enter the network configuration settings for the onboard network adapters that will be detected by the operating system during installation. These settings do not affect the network settings for the CIMC. We recommend that you set different IP addresses for the operating system and CIMC. The network interface column lists each network adapter detected by the UCS-SCU. Your operating system may have a different name after you install the operating system.
•Get Update Drivers—This section allows you to select the source from which the UCS-SCU can download server driver packages. Those drivers are installed to the operating system by UCS-SCU.
Choose one of the following options:
–From www.cisco.com—You can get the most recent drivers from the Cisco support website by selecting this option. Please check that the server is only connected to one network during the download.
–From SCU boot media—Directly use the driver packages stored in the Tools and Drivers CD. Although this CD may not contain the most recent driver packages, this option is the fastest. UCS-SCU selects this as a default option.
–From my network—UCS-SCU can download a driver package stored on a network share folder. You must manually download the most recent drivers from http://www.cisco.com and copy it to your network share.
–From USB stick on Key—UCS-SCU can get the drivers stored on a USB key or USB hard disk drive. You must manually download the most recent drivers from http://www.cisco.com and copy them to the USB key.
•Network Location—Enter the login and location information for the network share where the update packages are located.
•Choose Drivers to Install—UCS-SCU displays all available drivers that downloaded from the driver source. Uncheck the drivers that you do not want to install. If you want to install an operating system on a RAID volume, you can select the driver for the appropriate RAID controller. The path to the selected drivers will be stored and will then be used to download and install the drivers during the operating system installation.
•Insert OS CD—Insert the Linux Server OS CD and click Next. UCS-SCU starts to apply all settings. Reboot the server after the process completes. You should leave the OS CD in the CD-ROM. The server will complete all the operating system installation steps after this reboot.
Diagnostic Tools
You can use diagnostics tools to diagnose hardware problems with your Cisco servers. The user interface displays the status of the test run and examines log files for troubleshooting hardware issues.
Features of Diagnostic Tools
These are the features of Diagnostic tools:
•Allows you to run tests on various server components to find out hardware issues along with analysis of the test results in a tabular format.
•Provides an easy interface to run all the tests using the Quick Tasks functionality, without browsing through available tests.
•Runs tests serially, as running some tests in parallel may interfere with other tests.
•Allows you to configure the test by entering different argument values other than the default ones.
• Allows you to select tests you want to run using the Test Suite functionality.
•Allows you to save all the tests logs such SEL logs to an external USB flash drive.
• Provides a method to probe the current state of the server and displays hardware issues.
This section contains the following topics:
Quick Test
Comprehensive Test
Quick Tasks
Tests Suite
Tests Log Summary
Using Diagnostic Tools
The table below details when you should use a specific diagnostic functionality:
Table 3-4 Using Diagnostics
Diagnostic Component
|
Usage
|
Quick Test
|
Use this test when you want to quickly check the status of a sub-system within a stipulated period. The components that can be tested under the quick test are - processor, cache, memory, disk, video, network, QPI, CIMC, RAID and chipset.
|
Comprehensive Test
|
Use this test when you want to test a sub-system elaborately. These tests are designed to stress the sub-systems and report the error. The tests that can be run are - processor, memory, QPI, disk, and NUMA.
|
Quick Tasks
|
Allows for consolidated testing of both comprehensive and quick tests. You can run both types of tests using quick tasks.
|
Test Suite
|
All the tests available under the quick and comprehensive test are available here. The test suite gives you an option to pick as many tests as you like (using a check box) and running them together.
|
Tests Log Summary
|
Use the test log summary to view the log, error log and analysis of all the tests you have run. There are four filters you can use to sort the logs.
|
Tests Summary
|
This table on the left hand navigation gives you the results of the tests you have run in the form of either passed tests, tests in queue and failed tests.
|
Quick Test
You can run these tests quickly to determine any hardware issue. These tests usually take 20-30 minutes to run and test limited functionality for a few subsystems. The comprehensive test provides more exhaustive diagnostics.
To run the quick test follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Diagnostic Tools from the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click Tests.
Step 3 Click the Quick Test collapsible button to view the types of quick tests available for you to run.
Step 4 Click a subsystem (like memory, video, or network).
Step 5 On the content pane, click Run Test.
Step 6 If you click Run Test, the test is run and the status displays in the Tests Status area.
The table below describes the sub-systems covered under quick tests:
Table 3-5 Quick Tests
Test
|
Description
|
Processor Test
|
Runs processor specific tests. This test performs arithmetic and floating point operations on all available cores. You can also specify the duration of the tests
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Cache Test
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Runs test to exercise the CPU caches and checks for correctable/uncorrectable cache errors.
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Memory Test
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Tests DIMMs and memory controllers.
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Disk Test
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Tests the available disks in the system by reading each disk block-by-block.
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Video Test
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Test to stress the Video Memory.
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Network Test
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Tests the available network interfaces by running internal loopback test, register test, eeprom test and interrupt test.
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QPI Test
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Tests the Quick path interconnect fabric.
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CIMC Test
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Runs CIMC self test through the IPMI interface and also checks for SEL fullness.
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Chipset Test
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Runs a test to check the chipset for any errors logged in the chipset RAS registers.
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RAID Adapter Test
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Runs test to check the LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i and 8708 controller and battery backup unit diagnostics.
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Comprehensive Test
The Comprehensive test can run for hours and usually runs when quick tests cannot diagnose the issue with your server. They are designed to test multiple hardware components and find issues that may be caused due to multiple components on your server.
The individual tests run can be customized to test some user-defined conditions. You can also select a group of tests to be run.
To run the comprehensive test, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Diagnostic Tools from the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click Tests.
Step 3 Click the Comprehensive Test collapsible button to view the types of comprehensive tests available for you to run.
Step 4 Click a subsystem (like processor, memory, or network).
Step 5 On the content pane, click Run Tests.
Step 6 If you click Run Tests, the test is run and the status displays in the Tests Status area.
The table below describes the sub-systems covered under comprehensive tests:
Table 3-6 Comprehensive Tests
Test
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Description
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Processor Stress Test
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Imposes maximum stress on CPU and memory on the system. You can set the time (in minutes) you want this test to run for.
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Memory Pattern Test
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Tests the available free memory by writing and reading various patterns to the memory.
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QPI Stress Test
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Runs test to stress the QPI interconnect by generating traffic between the NUMA nodes.
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Smart Disk Test
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Tests the available disks in the system by reading each disk block by block
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NUMA Test
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Runs test to stress the NUMA memory access patterns and check for errors.
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VDisk Stress Test
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Runs test to stress the virtual disks in the system. This test runs for a longer time, depending on the size of the virtual disk.
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Quick Tasks
Quick Tasks allow you to get started with diagnostic tools immediately. You can run all the tests (Quick/Comprehensive) from here and report the details to Cisco to troubleshoot the logs and provide information about problems with your system. To use this feature, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Diagnostic Tools from the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click Quick Tasks.
Step 3 Click either Run Quick Tests or Run Comprehensive Test from the toolbar. The status appears in the Test Status pane. You can also view detailed test results under Tests log summary.
Tests Suite
The Test Suite allows you to run the quick test and comprehensive test in a batch. It lists the various tests available, along with the test type and description of the test. You can select any number of tests you want to run from the list and view the result in the Tests Status column.
To run the test suite, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Tests Suite from the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Select the tests you want to run by clicking the required checkboxes.
Step 3 Click Run Tests Suite to run the tests you added to the test suite. The status appears in the Tests Status pane along with the name, suite ID, Result, start time and end time. You can also view the Tests Log Summary to view the execution status of the tests in the test suite.
Tests Log Summary
Use the Tests Log Summary functionality to examine the test logs for troubleshooting. To view the Tests Log summary, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Diagnostic Tools on the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click Tests Log Summary on the left navigation pane.
Step 3 Select a filter from the filter drop-down and click Go. The status, result, start time, and end time of the test displays.
Step 4 For more details, click a specific log entry (for example, click memory test). The Log, Error Log (if the test failed) and the analysis of the specific test displays in the content pane.
Tests Summary
The Test Summary table in the left navigation area provides you with a quick view of the tests that have passed, tests in queue and tests that have failed.
Logs
The Logs functionality allows you to take corrective action by examining your server's logs. UCS-SCU provides three types of logs:
•System logs
•System event logs
This section contains the following topics:
System Logs
System Event Log
System Logs
The system log file displays events that are logged by the operating system components. These events are often predetermined by the operating system itself. System log files display information about device changes, device drivers, system changes, events, operations, and more.
To view the system logs, follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Logs on the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click System Logs.
Step 3 Select a filter from the filter drop-down list.
Step 4 Click Go. The system log displays.
System Event Log
The system event log file displays events that are logged by your server.
To view the system event logs follow these steps:
Step 1 Click Logs on the left navigation pane.
Step 2 Click System Event Log.
Step 3 Select from either the Description or Severity filter from the drop-down list.
•If you select the Description filter and click Go, all the system event logs with a description and severity displays.
•If you select the Severity filter, you can select the type of severity from the second dropdown and click Go. A list with the logs of the specified severity type displays.
•Click Clear Filter to clear the filter you applied.
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