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VCE™ Technology Extensionfor Cisco UCS Compute Product Guide

Document revision 1.2

November 2016

Revision history

Date Document revision Description of changes

November 2016 1.2 Added information about the NVIDIATesla M60 GPU card.

Added information about the C220M4 and C240 M4 servers

May 2016 1.1 Removed physical planninginformation from this book andmoved it to the VCE SystemsPhysical Planning Guide

October 2015 1.0 Initial release

Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide Revision history

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Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................4

Understanding the architecture.................................................................................................................5System architecture and components.................................................................................................... 5VCE Technology Extension deployment................................................................................................ 5

Administering the system..........................................................................................................................8Administering a VCE Technology Extension..........................................................................................8

Sample configuration................................................................................................................................. 9Sample VCE Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Compute............................................................... 9

Reference materials..................................................................................................................................10VCE Technology Extension reference materials..................................................................................10

Contents Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide

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IntroductionThis document provides an overview of the VCE™ Technology Extension for Cisco UCS compute. It alsoprovides the information required for planning the installation of the VCE Technology Extension.

The target audience for this document includes field personnel, partners, and customers. This documentis designed for people familiar with:

• Cisco UCS C-Series M4 servers

• VCE™ Systems

• Cisco UCS 2200 Series Fabric Extenders (FEX)

• NVIDIA GRID graphics processor cards (GPU)

• NVIDIA Tesla M60 graphics processor cards (GPU)

The VCE Glossary provides terms, definitions, and acronyms that are related to Vblock Systems.

Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide Introduction

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Understanding the architecture

System architecture and componentsThis topic provides an overview of the architecture and components.

The VCE Technology Extension provides Cisco UCS C220 M4 and C240 M4 Rack Servers to extend theVCE Systems for increased workload requirements. The workload requirements are met using one of thefollowing options:

Option Available with...

VDI optimization Cisco UCS C240 Rack Server with NVIDIA GPU cards

Transaction processing Cisco UCS C220 M4 or Cisco UCS C240 M4 RackServer with local hard drives

The VCE Technology Extension provides the following features:

• Standardized VCE cabinets, with multiple North American and international power solutions

• Extends VCE System compute resources based on required workloads

• Compliance with VCE System Release Certification Matrix

• Optional NVIDIA GPU cards for high-density graphics processing

Each VCE Technology Extension might contain some of the following hardware components:

Resource Components

Compute • Cisco UCS C220 M4 Rack Servers

• Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Servers

• Cisco Nexus 2232PP Fabric Extenders

• Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects

• Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1227

• NVIDIA GPU cards

The VCE Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for thetechnology extension and the VCE System.

VCE Technology Extension deploymentThe VCE Technology Extension is deployed with new or existing VCE Systems using either a direct orFEX connection.

Understanding the architecture Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide

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Direct connection

The VCE Technology Extension server Virtual Interface Card (VIC) connects to the Fabric Interconnect(FI) of the VCE System servers. This connection uses a single connection from each VIC to each FI. Thismethod is used for customers who require a small number of servers. A directly-connected VCETechnology Extension provides the following features:

• 10 GB per FI from the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1227

• Cisco UCS C-Series M4 Rack Server direct connect license

• Disjoint layer 2 networking

FEX connection

The VCE Technology Extension connects to the FEX of the VCE System. This method allows for 32 host-capable connections and eight uplink ports. A Cisco UCS FEX-connected VCE Technology Extensionhas the following features:

• Cisco Nexus 2232PP 10 GB FEX

• Four or eight uplinks to the Cisco FI

• Cisco UCS port licensing

• 10 GB per FI from the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1227

• Disjoint layer 2 networking

Hardware acceleration

In applications that require dense processing or dense VDI deployments, the VCE Technology Extensioncan contain optional NVIDIA GPU cards.

Note: The optional NVIDIA GPU cards must be used with Cisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Servers.

Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide Understanding the architecture

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Required and optional components

The Cisco UCS C-Series M4 Rack Servers are deployed using the following required and optionalcomponents.

Required Optional

• One CPU

• Minimum memory: 2 L/R DIMMs

• Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1227

• Cisco Fabric Interconnect

• Two CPUs

• Maximum memory: 24 L/R DIMMs

• Cisco UCS C220 M4 Rack Server HDD/EFD

• NVIDIA K1 GPU card - Must be used with a CiscoUCS C240 M4 Rack Server

• NVIDIA K2 GPU card - Must be used with a CiscoUCS C240 M4 Rack Server

• NVIDIA Tesla M60 GPU card - Must be used with aCisco UCS C240 M4 Rack Server.

Understanding the architecture Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide

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Administering the system

Administering a VCE Technology ExtensionVCE Technology Extension administration procedures are described in the host VCE Systemdocumentation.

For more information, refer to the appropriate VCE System Administration Guide.

Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide Administering the system

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Sample configuration

Sample VCE™ Technology Extension for Cisco UCS computeCabinet elevations for VCE Technology Extensions vary based on the specific configurationrequirements. This elevation is provided for sample purposes only. For specifications for a specific VCETechnology Extension design, consult your vArchitect.

Sample configuration Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide

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Additional references

VCE Technology Extension reference materialsThe calculations in this document are based on information provided by equipment manufacturers. Formore information, refer to the manufacturer documentation.

Product Description Link to documentation

Cisco Nexus 2232PP FabricExtender

Provides a highly scalable server access platformacross a range of environments and a single pointof management.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-6200-series-fabric-interconnects/data_sheet_c78-675243.html

Cisco UCS C220 M4 RackServer

Deliver unified computing in an industry-standardform factor to reduce total cost of ownership andincrease agility. Each product addresses varyingworkload challenges through a balance ofprocessing, memory, I/O, and internal storageresources.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c220-m4-rack-server/datasheet-c78-732386.html

Cisco UCS C240 M4 RackServer

Designed to deliver exceptional performance,expandability, and efficiency for storage and I/O-intensive workloads.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c240-m4-rack-server/datasheet-c78-732455.html

Cisco UCS 6200 SeriesFabric Interconnects

Cisco UCS family of line-rate, low-latency,lossless, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel overEthernet (FCoE), and Fibre Channel functions.Provide network connectivity and managementcapabilities.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-6200-series-fabric-interconnects/data_sheet_c78-675245.html

Cisco UCS Virtual InterfaceCard 1227

Enables a policy-based, stateless, agile serverinfrastructure that presents up to 256 PCIestandards-compliant interfaces to the host.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/interfaces-modules/unified-computing-system-adapters/datasheet-c78-732515.html?mdfid=282603418

Cisco UCS Manager Provides centralized management capabilities forthe Cisco Unified Computing System.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/index.html

NVIDIA GRID GraphicsProcessor Cards

Accelerates virtualized desktops and applications. http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-grid.html

NVIDIA Tesla GraphicsProcessor Cards

Accelerates virtualized desktops and applications. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-c-series-

Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide Additional references

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Product Description Link to documentation

rack-servers/whitepaper-c11-735450.html

Additional references Technology Extension for Cisco UCS Product Guide

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About VCE

VCE, an EMC Federation Company, is the world market leader in converged infrastructure and converged solutions. VCEaccelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that reduce IT costs while improvingtime to market. VCE delivers the industry's only fully integrated and virtualized cloud infrastructure systems, allowingcustomers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating, and managing IT infrastructure. VCE solutionsare available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, andapplication development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating,and managing IT infrastructure.

For more information, go to http://www.vce.com.

Copyright 2015-2016 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. VCE, VCE Vision, VCE Vscale, Vblock, VxBlock, VxRack,VxRail, and the VCE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company LLC. All other trademarks used hereinare the property of their respective owners.

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