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Today a new release of the Platform Emulator has been released. Cisco is no longer an upstart in the blade New Software Features Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, Release 2.2(1bPE1) includes the I also received the following error when trying to open the UCS Manager Java Applet on my Mac. Xamarin Testflight is a free tool to build native cross-platform apps. Developers use this tool for creating apps for both iOS and Android devices. Testflight can only work on Windows when it is linked up to a networked Mac computer. This means that you are completely reliant on external hardware for it to work.
Are you a Cisco UCS user? Do you want to be a Cisco UCS user? Either way, the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, also known as the Cisco UCS Emulator, is the tool you need to have in your arsenal. It allows users to get experience with and manipulate Cisco UCS Manager configurations without every making any changes to heir production environment.How does it work, and more importantly how to you get started with the latest and greatest version which is Cisco UCS Platform Emulator Version 3.2(3ePE1)? Read on to find out.
How the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator Works
The Cisco UCS Emulator is a simply a virtual machine which contains two important things:
- An emulated Cisco UCS hardware environment
- A special build of UCS Manager that “runs” on the emulated hardware
You can run the virtual machine in any supported virtualization environment such as:
- VMware vSphere
- VMware Fusion
- VMware Player
- Microsoft Hyper V
For a full list of system requirements, be sure to take a look at the release notes. It does not require much and you can run it right on your local workstation.
It comes with a very complete virtual hardware configuration, as you can see here:
I have just logged into UCS Manager on the Cisco UCS Emulator, and here is the default configuration in version 3.2(3ePE1). If you would like to modify the hardware, you are able to very easily.
How to Download Cisco UCS Platform Emulator
The first step in using the Cisco UCS emulator is downloading the software. The Cisco UCS Platform emulator has two download options. They are OVA and ZIP. The OVA file would need to be deployed, while the ZIP file contains a VMX, which allows you to simply copy the files within the ZIP to the location of your choice and run the VMX file.
The official download location for the UCS Platform Emulator is right here on the UCS Section of the Cisco Communities site. Here you can find all versions of the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator.
Each version also has its own dedicated page with information about what is included in the release, click here to see ifmoration about the latest release, the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator 3.2(3ePE1). In case you were wondering, the naming convention tells you which version of UCS Manager the UCSPE version is based on. In this case, it is Cisco UCS Manager version 3.2(3e)
Getting Started With Cisco UCS Platform Emulator Version 3.2(e3PE1)
Ready to get started? Great! I have everything you need.
If you are already using the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, take a look at this article which tells you how to upgrade your UCS Platform Emulator. It also includes all the instructions you need to back up your existing configuration and bring it to the new platform emulator.
If you are new to the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator, here is the complete guide to Setup and Use of the Cisco UCS Platform Emulator.
New Features in Cisco UCS Platform Emulator 3.2(3ePE1)
The Cisco UCS Platform Emulator 3.2(3ePE1) brings the features of UCS Manager 3.2(3e) to the Cisco UCS Emulator.
As we know, new features in Cisco UCS word usually also mean support for new hardware types, such as all the M5 servers you could ever want to to use, including C-Series servers.
This includes the Cisco HX220C and Cisco HX240C. It also includes the magnificent Cisco UCS S3260 platform, which you can read more about here.
Are you new to the Cisco UCS emulator? Be sure to read through these articles to help you get started:
The Cisco UCS Platform Emulator is a must for any current or prospective Cisco UCS administrator, operator, or architect. The best part is that it is easy to install and configure, and completely free. This specific Cisco emulator is designed to give you all of the hands on experience you could ever want managing Cisco UCS, with zero cost.
- Configures MAC address pools and MAC address blocks on Cisco UCS Manager.
- Examples can be used with the UCS Platform Emulator https://communities.cisco.com/ucspe.
The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.
- ucsmsdk
Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments |
---|---|---|
description | A description of the MAC pool. You can use any characters or spaces except the following: ` (accent mark), (backslash), ^ (carat), ' (double quote), = (equal sign), > (greater than), < (less than), or ' (single quote). | |
first_addr - | This is the From field in the UCS Manager MAC Blocks menu. | |
hostname | IP address or hostname of Cisco UCS Manager. | |
last_addr | The last MAC address in the block of addresses. This is the To field in the UCS Manager Add MAC Blocks menu. | |
name | The name of the MAC pool. This name can be between 1 and 32 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), '_' (underscore), : (colon), and . (period). You cannot change this name after the MAC pool is created. | |
order |
| This can be one of the following: default - Cisco UCS Manager selects a random identity from the pool. sequential - Cisco UCS Manager selects the lowest available identity from the pool. |
org_dn | Default: 'org-root' | The distinguished name (dn) of the organization where the resource is assigned. |
password | Password for Cisco UCS Manager authentication. | |
port | Port number to be used during connection (by default uses 443 for https and 80 for http connection). | |
proxy | If use_proxy is no, specfies proxy to be used for connection. e.g. 'http://proxy.xy.z:8080' | |
state |
| If present , will verify MAC pool is present and will create if needed.If absent , will verify MAC pool is absent and will delete if needed. |
use_proxy |
| If no , will not use the proxy as defined by system environment variable. |
use_ssl |
| If no , an HTTP connection will be used instead of the default HTTPS connection. |
username | Default: 'admin' |
- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]
- This module is maintained by an Ansible Partner. [certified]
Authors¶
- David Soper (@dsoper2)
- CiscoUcs (@CiscoUcs)
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