Cisco UCS Director Release Notes

Cisco UCS Director

Cisco UCS Director delivers unified, highly secure management for supported compute, network, storage, and virtualization platforms and for the industry's leading converged infrastructure solutions, which are based on the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) and Cisco Nexus platforms. Cisco UCS Director extends the unification of computing and network layers through Cisco UCS to provide data center administrators with comprehensive visibility and management capabilities for compute, network, storage, and virtualization. For more information, see Cisco UCS Director on Cisco.com.

Revision History

System Requirements

The system requirements for this release are available in the Cisco UCS Director installation and upgrade guides for the following:

  • VMware vSphere

  • Microsoft Hyper-V

Supported Browser Versions

Cisco UCS Director supports the following browsers:

  • Microsoft Edge version 120.x.x.x or higher

  • Firefox version 120.x or higher

  • Safari 17.x or higher

  • Google Chrome version 120.x.x.x or higher

Minimum System Requirements for a Single-Node Setup

The following tables detail the minimum resource requirements for a single-node setup of . Cisco recommends a single-node setup for installations of up to 5000 VMs.

For optimal performance, the entire memory and CPU allocations specified in the table below should be reserved. Failure to follow these specifications could affect performance. For example, 4 vCPU cores with 3000 MHz and 16G of memory must be reserved for the VM.

The minimum memory required for the inframgr service is automatically set during deployment. To enable the inframgr service to use more than the minimum required memory, edit the inframgr.env file available in the following location:

/opt/infra/bin/

In this file, update the MEMORY_MAX parameter to the value you want. To activate the changes, restart the inframgr service.

The default memory settings are MEMORY_MIN=8192m and MEMORY_MAX=8192m.

For information about minimum system requirements for a multi-node setup, see the Cisco UCS Director Multi-Node Installation and Configuration Guide.

Table 1. Minimum system requirements for a single-node installation (up to 5,000 VMs)
Element Minimum Supported Requirement

vCPU

4

Allocated Memory

16 GB

Reserved Memory

16 GB

Disk Space

100 GB

Disk Write I/O Bandwidth

4 MBps

Disk Read I/O Bandwidth

4 MBps

Memory Allocated for inframgr

8 GB

Restart the database and all services after making these changes to the /etc/my.cnf.

Minimum System Requirements for a Multi-Node Setup

System Requirements for the Primary Node

Number of VMs

vCPU Allocation

Memory Allocation (GB)

Memory Reservation (GB)

Disk Size (GB)

Inframgr Memory Allocation (GB)

1 - 5000

4

16

16

100

8

5001 - 10000

4

22

22

100

12

10001 - 15000

4

28

28

100

12

15001 - 20000

4

34

34

100

16

20001 - 25000

8

40

40

100

16

25001 - 30000

8

46

46

100

24

30001 - 35000

8

52

52

100

24

35001 - 40000

8

58

58

100

28

40001 - 45000

8

64

64

100

28

45001 - 50000

8

64

64

100

32

System Requirements for the Database Node

Number of VMs

vCPU Allocation

Memory Allocation (GB)

Memory Reservation (GB)

Disk Read I/O Bandwidth (MBps)

Disk Write I/O Bandwidth (MBps)

Disk Size (GB)

Database InnoDB Buffer Pool (GB)

1 - 5000

4

12

12

4

4

100

8

5001 - 10000

4

16

16

6

6

100

12

10001 - 15000

4

28

28

8

8

100

24

15001 - 20000

4

40

40

10

10

200

36

20001 - 25000

8

52

52

12

12

200

48

25001 - 30000

8

64

64

14

14

200

60

30001 - 35000

8

76

76

16

16

300

72

35001 - 40000

16

90

90

18

18

600

84

40001 - 45000

16

90

90

20

20

600

84

45001 - 50000

16

90

90

22

22

600

84


Note


To determine the currently configured disk read I/O bandwidth and disk write I/O bandwidth, use the Collect Diagnostics option from the Cisco UCS Director Shelladmin menu.


Database Parameters

VMs

Thread Cache Size

Maximum Connections

innodb lock wait timeout

Query Cache Size (MB)

Maximum Connection Errors

Connection Timeout

innodb read I/O Threads

innodb write I/O Threads

1 - 5000

1000

1000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

5001 - 10000

1000

1000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

10001 - 15000

1000

1000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

15001 - 20000

1000

1000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

20001 - 25000

2000

2000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

25001 - 30000

2000

2000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

30001 - 35000

4000

2000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

35001 - 40000

4000

4000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

40001 - 45000

4000

4000

100

128

10000

20

64

64

45001 - 50000

4000

4000

100

128

10000

20

64

64


Important


Upon successful definition of required VMs in the Shelladmin option, the inframgr memory allocation and database configuration values are automatically updated in the /opt/infra/bin/inframgr.env and /etc/my.cnf files respectively. In order for the modifications to take effect, the Shelladmin restarts the database and services through Shelladmin options. For more information, see Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide.


Installation and Upgrade Notes

Cisco UCS Director uses a standard virtual machine that is delivered in OVA format for VMware, and in VHD format for Microsoft Hyper-V. It can be hosted on VMware vSphere or vCenter, or on Microsoft Hyper-V Manager. For installation instructions, see the appropriate Cisco UCS Director installation guide.

Installation and Upgrade Notes for Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9

Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9 uses a new version of Almalinux operating system and Maria DB version. The previous releases of Cisco UCS Director uses CentOS version 7.x, which is about to reach End of Life. To continue to receive support for security issues and patches, upgrade to Cisco UCS Director 6.9 and Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal Agent 6.9


Note


Cisco UCS Director OVA and VHD zip files are created using zip 3.x in Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9. For Linux systems, you can extract the zip files with unzip 6.x or higher or with the latest version of the 7-Zip archiving tool. For Windows systems, you can extract the zip files with the native Extract All in Windows Explorer for Windows or with the latest versions of archiving tools such as 7-Zip or WinRAR.


Installing Cisco UCS Director Powershell Agent

Installing a newer version of the PowerShell Agent requires that you uninstall the older version first. To remove the older version of PowerShell Agent, stop the Cisco PSA Service first and then uninstall the agent. For instructions on installing, see Cisco UCS Director PowerShell Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.

Supported Migration Paths to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9(0.0)

See the Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide for detailed steps on how to migrate to Release 6.9 from your current release.


Important


You must upgrade to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.7(4.3) or should be in Release 6.8(x.x) before migrating to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9. For more information, see the Supported Upgrade Paths to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.7 and and Supported Migration Paths to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.8 documented in the Cisco UCS Director Release Notes, Release 6.7 and Cisco UCS Director Release Notes, Release 6.8 respectively.


The following are the supported migration paths for the Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9:

  • From Release 6.7(4.3) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(0.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(1.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(2.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(3.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(4.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(5.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(6.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(7.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(8.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)


Note


Before migrating from Release 6.7(4.3)/6.8(x.x) to Release 6.9, in progress service requests (SRs) must be in completed state (no in progress service requests) because you cannot complete the service requests after migrating to Release 6.9.


Supported Migration Paths for Bare Metal Agent Release 6.9(0.0)

The following are the supported migration paths for the Bare Metal Agent Release 6.9:


Important


You must upgrade to Bare Metal Agent Patch, Release 6.7(4.2) or should be in Release 6.8 (x.x) before migrating to Bare Metal Agent, Release 6.9. For more information, see the Supported Upgrade Paths for Bare Metal Agent Patch, Release 6.7(4.x) and 6.8 in the Cisco UCS Director Release Notes, Release 6.7 and the Cisco UCS Director Release Notes, Release 6.8.


  • From Release 6.7(4.2) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(0.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(1.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(2.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(3.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(4.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(5.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(6.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(7.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

  • From Release 6.8(8.0) to Release 6.9(0.0)

Supported Migration Paths to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9(1.0)

See the Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide, Release 6.9 for detailed steps on how to migrate to Release 6.9(1.0) from your current release.

The following are the supported migration paths for the Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9(1.0):

  • From Release 6.7(4.3) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(0.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(1.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(2.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(3.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(4.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(5.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(6.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(7.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(8.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(9.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

Supported Upgrade Paths to Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9(1.0)

See the Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide, Release 6.9 for detailed steps on how to upgrade to Release 6.9(1.0) from your current release.

The following are the supported upgrade paths for Cisco UCS Director, Release 6.9(1.0):

Upgrade Paths from Release 6.9

  • From Release 6.9 to Release 6.9(1.0)

Upgrading from Versions Prior to Release 6.8

Supported Migration Paths for Bare Metal Agent, Release 6.9(1.0)

The following are the supported migration paths for the Bare Metal Agent, Release 6.9(1.0):

  • From Release 6.7(4.2) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(0.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(1.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(2.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(3.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(4.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(5.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(6.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(7.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(8.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

  • From Release 6.8(9.0) to Release 6.9(1.0)

Migration from Versions Prior to Release 6.8

If you have a version prior to Release 6.7(4.2) installed, refer Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide, Release 6.8 for the migration paths.

Supported Upgrade Paths for Bare Metal Agent, Release 6.9(1.0)

The following is the supported upgrade path for the Bare Metal Agent, Release 6.9(1.0):

  • From Release 6.9 to Release 6.9(1.0)

New and Changed Features

This section provides an overview of the significant new and changed features in this release. This section does not provide an exhaustive list of all enhancements included in this release.


Note


For information about the physical and virtual devices and software supported by Cisco UCS Director in this release, see the Compatibility Matrix for this release.


New and Changed Features in Release 6.9

This section provides an overview of the significant new and changed features in this release. This section does not provide an exhaustive list of all enhancements included in this release.

Data Migration

In this release, you must migrate the data from Cisco UCS Director Release 6.7.4.3/6.8.x.x to Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9. If you have a version prior to Release 6.7.4.3 installed, you cannot upgrade directly to Release 6.9(0.0). You must first upgrade to Release 6.7(4.3) from Release 6.7(4.x), and then migrate to Release 6.9(0.0).


Note


The dhcpd.conf file of Bare Metal Agent (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) appliance is copied into the migrated Bare Metal Agent (version 6.9.0.0) appliance in the /etc/dhcp path.


Before you add a Bare Metal Agent account, do the following:

  • If the Samba Service for Windows PXE check box is enabled, make sure to use the same Samba password of the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x ) in the Samba Password and Confirm Samba Password fields in the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0).

  • If the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) and migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0) are deployed with different PXE IP addresses, log into Bare Metal Agent VM using SSH client and update WinPE.wim with ens224 IP address details of the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0).

  • If the legacy BMA (version 6.7.4.2 / 6.8.x.x) and migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0) are deployed with different PXEVLAN ID or a failed service request is available in the migrated Cisco UCS Director appliance (version 6.9.0.0), log into Cisco UCS Manager and update the service profile with PXE VLAN details of the migrated BMA (version 6.9.0.0), reset the server, and then resubmit the service request in Cisco UCS Director appliance.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Multi-Node Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9 and Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.

Support for Downloading Rack server Firmware Images to Local Cisco UCS Director System

Starting with Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9(0.0), offline configuration of Cisco credentials under Cisco.com User configuration page for software downloads from Cisco is discontinued.

For enhanced security, you should activate your device first using Activate Device action under Images- Local page in order to download Standalone Rack server firmware from Cisco.com.


Note


For enhanced security, device activation done once stays active for an hour, allowing secure downloads. After one hour, you have to re-activate your device with the Activate Device action to download software from Cisco.com .


Enhancement to Physical Compute Chassis Inventory Report and Global Equipment Policies

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, Physical Compute Chassis Inventory is enhanced with new XFM module report and Fan Module report under I/O modules to show the real-time status of the Fan modules and Fans under it.

New Global Equipment Policies such as Power Policy, Cisco UCS X9508 Chassis Power Extended Policy, Cisco UCS X9508 Chassis Fan Control Policy were added to support and manage the X9508 Chassis.

For more information please refer to the Cisco UCS Director Management Guide for Cisco UCS Manager, Release 6.9

Enhanced Custom Workflow Tasks

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Custom Workflow Tasks Report in the user interface was enhanced with a new column to filter and sort based on category.

Rollback Service Request Enhancements

From this release and later, you can do the following:

  • See the rollback details of service requests, which includes the rollback service request ID's of selected service request.

  • Schedule the rollback of a service request at a particular time

For more information, see the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9

CSV Format Type in Cloud Sense

This release introduces the capability to generate and export cloud sense reports in CSV format. For more information, see Managing CloudSense Analytics in the UCS Director Administration Guide, Release 6.9.

New Parameters for the APIC Device

This release introduces the following new parameters for the APIC device in the Add Domain to APIC EPG workflow task.

  • Untagged VLAN Access

  • Primary VLAN

  • Active Uplinks Order

  • Standby Uplinks

  • Custom EPG Name

Edit Server IP Address in LDAP Integration

This release introduces the capability to edit the Server IP Address field in the LDAP Integration report - LDAP Configuration form.

Migration of F5 device communication to REST API from SOAP

In UCS Director, the loadbalancing communication process of an F5 device was migrated to REST API from SOAP. In addition, iControl Axis jar files were removed.

New End User VM Disk Report

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, a new VM Disk report has been brought in for End user in order to provide insight to the disk information in more detail.

The Resize VM feature Supports Custom Input

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, custom user input is enabled for Resize VM Memory GUI action and workflow task instead of pre-defined drop down values in order to provide more flexibility to users in allocating the resources.

Support for New OS versions in Guest OS ISO Image Mapping Policy

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Guest OS ISO Image Mapping policy which is used to provision VM(s) using ISO images is enhanced to support SUSE Linux Enterprise 12 (64-bit), SUSE Linux Enterprise 15 (64-bit), CentOS 8 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 (64-bit), Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 (64-bit).

New and Changed Features in Release 6.9(1.0)

Cisco UCS Director Release 6.9(1.0) includes fixes for security vulnerabilities reported in the Release 6.9(0.0).

Scale Setup Configuration through Shelladmin Option

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Shelladmin can define a number of required VMs for the Standalone node, Primary node, and Database node. Based on the VM value, Cisco UCS Director fetches the related information from the VMware vCenter and automatically updates the inframgr memory allocation values and database configuration values in the /opt/infra/bin/inframgr.env and /etc/my.cnf files respectively.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

Configuration of DNS with DNSSEC through Shelladmin Option

Starting from Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), the Shelladmin can use Configure DNS option to configure a DNS server with DNSSEC (Domain Name System Security Extensions) which is a feature in AlmaLinux 9 OS for enhancing the security and integrity of DNS operations.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

NTP Authentication with NTP Server During Time Sync through Shelladmin Option

Starting with this release, the Shelladmin can use an NTP server auth key and its value for time synchronization with the NTP server. The Cisco UCS Director confirms that the NTP authentication is successful if the auth key and its value are valid.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Shell Guide, Release 6.9.

SR-MPLS VRF L3Out in APIC

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, SR-MPLS L3Out feature is implemented. This feature combines advanced routing technologies to enable scalable, efficient, and secure connectivity between isolated network segments (VRFs) and external networks. By leveraging Segment Routing with MPLS, VRFs, and L3Outs, this functionality offers robust traffic engineering capabilities, network segmentation, and seamless external connectivity, all managed through the ACI fabric.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director APIC Management Guide, Release 6.9.

Creating Route Map in APIC

Starting with Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), you can now create a route map that includes multiple route control contexts.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director APIC Management Guide, Release 6.9.

User Approval for Rollback Service Request

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, the Skip Approvals check box is included on the Schedule Rollback settings page. If selected, the service request requires no approval from the user who created the rollback service request during the execution process.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9.

Exporting Searched Workflow with Encryption in WFDX Format

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can export searched workflows in WFDX format. Before exporting, you have the option to encrypt the file by setting a password. When importing the file into another Cisco UCS Director appliance, you can decrypt it by entering the password set during export.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Orchestration Guide, Release 6.9.

Disabling Cisco UCS Director BigData Express Personality

Starting with Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), support for BigData Express personality is disabled as the BigData support has reached End of Life (EoL). For more information, see BigData EOL.

Before proceeding with the migration or upgrade to Cisco UCS Director 6.9(1.0), you must uncheck the BigData check box in the Cisco UCS Director user interface, and restart the services.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Administration Guide, Release 6.9 and Cisco UCS Director Upgrade Guide, Release 6.9.

Workflow Tasks for Bare Metal Server Provisioning with Secure Boot Enabled

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can enable secure boot on the following bare metal servers by executing the related workflow that includes the secure boot enable/disable task:

  • HP ILO

  • IPMI

On the Task Inputs page, you can select the required server and enable secure boot.

Documented in the Cisco UCS Director Task Library Reference, Release 6.9.

Bare Metal Server Provisioning Using vMedia

In this release of Cisco UCS Director, you can provision the following OSs to Dell, HP, and Cisco UCS Manager bare metal servers through the vMedia as the vMedia support is enabled on the Bare Metal Agent:

  • ESXi

  • RHEL

Some prerequisites must be met before executing the provisioning workflows. The prerequisites are documented in the Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal Agent Installation and Configuration Guide, Release 6.9.

Open and Resolved Bugs

The open and resolved bugs for this release are accessible through the Cisco Bug Search Tool. This web-based tool provides you with access to the Cisco bug tracking system, which maintains information about bugs and vulnerabilities in this product and other Cisco hardware and software products.


Note


You must have a Cisco.com account to log in and access the Cisco Bug Search Tool. If you do not have one, you can register for an account.


For more information about the Cisco Bug Search Tool, see the Bug Search Tool Help & FAQ.

Open Bugs in Release 6.9(0.0)

You can find detailed information about all open bugs in Release 6.9 through the open bug search for Release 6.9. This search uses the following parameters:

Field

Parameter

Product drop-down list

Choose Series/Model and enter Cisco UCS Director.

Releases drop-down list

Choose Affecting or Fixed in these Releases and enter 6.9(0.0).

Filter

Choose Open from the Status drop-down list.

Open Bugs in Release 6.9(1.0)

You can find detailed information about all open bugs in Release 6.9(1.0) through the open bug search for Release 6.9(1.0). This search uses the following parameters:

Field

Parameter

Product drop-down list

Choose Series/Model and enter Cisco UCS Director.

Release drop-down list

Choose Affecting or Fixed in Releases and enter 6.9(1.0).

Filters

Choose Open from the Status drop-down list.

Resolved Bugs in Release 6.9(0.0)

You can find detailed information about all resolved bugs in Release 6.9 through the resolved bug search query for Release 6.9. This search uses the following parameters:

Field

Parameter

Product drop-down list

Choose Series/Model and enter Cisco UCS Director.

Releases drop-down list

Choose Affecting or Fixed in these Releases and enter 6.9(0.0).

Filter

Choose Fixed from the Status drop-down list.

Resolved Bugs in Release 6.9(1.0)

You can find detailed information about all resolved bugs in Release 6.9(1.0) through the resolved bug search query for Release 6.9(1.0). This search uses the following parameters:

Field

Parameter

Product drop-down list

Choose Series/Model and enter Cisco UCS Director.

Release drop-down list

Choose Affecting or Fixed in Releases and enter 6.9(1.0).

Filters

Choose Fixed from the Status drop-down list.

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Cisco Bug Search Tool

Cisco Bug Search Tool (BST) is a web-based tool that acts as a gateway to the Cisco bug tracking system that maintains a comprehensive list of defects and vulnerabilities in Cisco products and software. BST provides you with detailed defect information about your products and software.