Cisco UCS Supervisor transition: Getting began with Intersight

Constructing on greater than 17 years of Cisco UCS Supervisor innovation, Cisco Intersight is the strategic platform for the way forward for Cisco UCS software program administration.

When Cisco launched the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) in 2009, it did greater than launch a brand new server platform. It introduced compute, networking, storage entry, and administration collectively as one built-in system. On the heart was Cisco UCS Supervisor: embedded within the material interconnects and designed to handle server and material assets by a constant, policy-based management level.

My workforce and I are the product managers accountable for UCS Supervisor. We’re happy with what this platform made attainable. For greater than 17 years, it has helped infrastructure groups provision, function, change, and repurpose Cisco UCS servers with repeatable, standardized, automatable, and fast processes. We’re particularly grateful to the directors, companions, and prospects whose expertise and suggestions formed UCS Supervisor, Cisco IMC, UCS Central, and Cisco Intersight throughout a number of generations of Cisco UCS servers.

An innovation that grew to become an working mannequin

Cisco UCS Supervisor helped set up a brand new approach to handle server infrastructure. Service profiles separated a server’s id and configuration from the underlying {hardware}. Reusable insurance policies, id swimming pools, and templates made configurations repeatable, whereas role-based administration and the appliance programming interface (API) gave groups a basis for governance, integration, and automation.

These concepts mattered as a result of they tackle on a regular basis operational challenges. Directors might outline intent as soon as, apply it persistently, and transfer a supported server id when {hardware} wanted to get replaced or repurposed. The outcome was not merely a administration interface; it was a sturdy policy-based mannequin that modified what number of organizations operated Cisco UCS. That mannequin stays a part of the inspiration for what comes subsequent.

Planning the subsequent chapter

Cisco has introduced deliberate end-of-sale and end-of-life milestones for Cisco UCS Supervisor. As said within the relevant Finish-of-Life announcement, Cisco UCS M8 is the ultimate server era deliberate for Cisco UCS Supervisor help. UCS Supervisor Final Date of Assist is December 31, 2030. Assist by that date stays topic to lively service contracts and relevant Cisco service phrases. Every server mannequin’s eligibility and lifecycle stay ruled by its product documentation and relevant Finish-of-Life discover.

Cisco Intersight has supported UCS operations for near 9 years. Most Cisco UCS M7- and M8-generation servers related to material interconnects at the moment are managed by Cisco Intersight Managed Mode (IMM). This adoption displays Cisco Intersight’s function because the strategic platform for the way forward for Cisco UCS software program administration.

Cisco UCS Supervisor Finish-of-Life milestones

The relevant Cisco Finish-of-Life announcement is the authoritative supply for the affected merchandise, milestone definitions, dates, and help phrases.

Why Cisco Intersight is the subsequent step

Cisco Intersight carries ahead the profiles, insurance policies, and templates acquainted to Cisco UCS directors whereas extending administration past a single area deployment. It supplies centralized visibility and constant administration throughout supported UCS domains in information facilities, colocation, and edge environments. Its API-first structure helps cross-domain automation and integrations that may assist groups function distributed infrastructure at scale. Cisco Intersight software program as a service (SaaS) makes use of a steady integration and steady supply (CI/CD) mannequin to introduce new capabilities usually each couple of weeks. This method offers prospects ongoing innovation and computerized platform updates with out requiring them to plan and preserve management-platform upgrades.

Prospects can consider IMM in line with the {hardware}, software program, licensing, connectivity, deployment mannequin, and performance supported for his or her atmosphere. The aim is a deliberate transition that builds on the working practices Cisco UCS Supervisor helped set up.

With Cisco Intersight, you get:

• Centralized visibility and constant administration: Provision, monitor, and handle supported Cisco UCS infrastructure throughout a number of domains and areas from a typical platform.
• Reusable policy-based operations: Apply supported profiles, insurance policies, and templates throughout distributed environments to advertise consistency and scale back repetitive administration.
• Coordinated lifecycle administration: Schedule and carry out supported firmware updates and working system set up workflows from a centralized interface, topic to compatibility and change-control necessities.
• Clever insights and proactive help: Use well being info, {hardware} compatibility record findings, contextual safety advisories, automated log assortment, and Cisco Technical Help Heart integration to assist determine and resolve points sooner.
• API-first automation: Construct repeatable workflows utilizing supported APIs, software program growth kits, and integrations with instruments resembling Ansible, Terraform, PowerShell, and Python.
• Ecosystem integration: Join with supported platforms resembling ServiceNow, Splunk, VMware vCenter, and supported storage techniques for stock visibility, monitoring, incident administration, and workflow automation. Obtainable capabilities range by integration and license.
• Versatile deployment selections: Select SaaS, Intersight Related Digital Equipment (CVA), or Intersight Personal Digital Equipment (PVA) to match your connectivity, data-locality, and safety necessities. Capabilities and replace processes differ by deployment mannequin.
• Ongoing platform innovation: Undertake newly supported capabilities by the discharge and replace course of for the chosen Intersight deployment mannequin.

Importantly, adopting Intersight delivers integration with Cisco Cloud Management, the unified platform for AgenticOps. This brings your total Cisco property into one operational atmosphere, enabling collaborative incident decision throughout compute, networking, safety, observability, and collaboration together with natural-language help for context-aware operational steerage and duties to additional simplify operations.

Carrying the inspiration ahead

Cisco UCS Supervisor’s legacy shouldn’t be solely the infrastructure it managed; it’s the working mannequin it launched. Profiles, insurance policies, templates, id abstraction, and automation proceed to form Cisco UCS administration in Intersight. We stay dedicated to offering instruments, documentation, and steerage that assist prospects assess their atmosphere and plan the subsequent step with confidence.

Prospects with eligible Cisco UCS M7- and M8-generation servers that stay managed by Cisco UCS Supervisor ought to plan to transition their material interconnect-attached domains to IMM no later than December 31, 2030. That method, they may preserve a Cisco-supported UCS administration aircraft after the deliberate Cisco UCS Supervisor Final Date of Assist. Transition eligibility and help stay topic to the relevant {hardware} Finish-of-Life bulletins, lively service contracts, and the {hardware}, software program, licensing, and performance supported by the related Intersight launch.

Cisco account groups and Cisco Licensed Channel Companions may also help prospects study extra about Intersight, assess transition readiness, evaluate deployment and licensing choices, and develop a migration plan. Cisco additionally supplies demonstrations, product documentation, migration assets, and trial choices. New Intersight accounts embrace a 90-day Benefit trial; analysis licensing and activation necessities for virtual-appliance deployments range, and Cisco representatives or approved companions may also help determine the suitable possibility.

The Cisco Intersight Managed Mode Transition Device helps prospects assess the readiness of an current Cisco UCS Supervisor area and convert supported insurance policies, service profiles, templates, and material configuration to be used in IMM. Present releases information and automate key parts of an in-place migration, together with taking a Cisco UCS Supervisor configuration backup. As a result of an in-place transition requires deliberate area downtime and administrator-controlled steps, prospects ought to evaluate the present person information, supported-feature info, and limitations earlier than starting the transition.

That will help you assess your atmosphere and plan your path ahead, discover the assets under: