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Solution Guide
September 2015
SimpliVity partners with Cisco to create hyperconverged infrastructure leveraging Cisco UCSthe industrys fastest growing
x86 server platform. SimpliVitys OmniStack Integrated Solution with Cisco UCS assimilates eight to twelve core data center
functions on Cisco UCS C240 rack-mount servers, including the hypervisor, compute, storage, network switching, backup,
replication, cloud gateway, caching, WAN optimization, real-time deduplication and more. SimpliVitys OmniStack Integrated
Solution with Cisco UCS includes three fundamental elements:
1. OmniStack, the foundational software, delivers the critical enterprise capabilities: performance, data efficiency,
data protection, and global unified management.
2. The OmniStack Accelerator Card: a PCIe card with an FPGA and NVRAM, protected with super capacitors. It
provides data processing at near-wire speeds, delivering enterprise-class performance and reduced latency by
deduplicating, compressing and optimizing all data inline, at inception, once and forever.
3. Cisco UCS C240 rack-mount servers.
The OmniStack Data Virtualization Platform is SimpliVitys critical enabling technology that ultimately produces the
Hyperconvergence solution delivered to customers in the form of the OmniStack-powered Cisco UCS.
SimpliVity is able to provide all of the benefits of deduplication, without sacrificing performance. In order to deduplicate,
compress and optimize data before it ever hits the disk, SimpliVity developed the OmniStack Accelerator Card, a PCIe
card with an FPGA and NVRAM, protected with super capacitors. This architecture allows data processing at near-wire
speeds, delivering enterprise-class performance and reducing latency. Not only does this save capacity and prevent
administrators from over-provisioning hardware, it also increases performance.
1) Providing a single tool to manage entire Virtual Data center hosted on Cisco and SimpliVity infrastructure.
2) Exposing SimpliVitys unique Data Virtualization platform management through UCS Director to provide VM-
centric operations including data mobility available through UCS Director.
3) Implementing SimpliVity automation tasks that can be combined with others available within UCS Director for
Virtual Machine level automated IT workflows.
4) Demonstration of Self-Service portal showing multi-tenancy and creation of an application level workflow.
5) Showcasing the power of SimpliVity with UCS Director for orchestration with example workflows for test and
development (test/dev) and remote office / branch office (ROBO) management that also incorporates the self-
service and multi- tenancy capabilities.
Software Version
Cisco UCS Director 5.3.0.0
Cisco UCS Manager v2.2(4b)
SimpliVity OmniStack 2.1.11.806
VMware vSphere 5.5 U2
Hardware
(4) Cisco UCS C240 M4SX
(4) SimpliVity OmniStack Accelerator Card
For more information about the installation and initial configuration of UCS Director please see the Cisco UCS Director
Install and Upgrade Guides found here (http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-
director/products-installation-guides-list.html).
This section goes through the steps for deploying the SimpliVity UCS Director plugin.
OmniCube Virtual Controller for each OmniCube deployed and to be managed via Cisco UCS Director
Cisco UCS Director version 5.3.0.0 deployed in the production environment
The SimpliVity OmniStack UCS Director plugin downloaded and available to deploy into Cisco UCS Director
Clicking on the SimpliVity Logo opens the OmniStack View and allows you to manage the OmniStack Systems,
Datastores, Virtual Machines, Backups, and Backup Policies (Figure 6). You can also capture support information from
the OmniStack to send to SimpliVity Customer Support. The OmniStack Summary tab shows widgets with info about the
SimpliVity Nodes, Virtual Machines, Datastores, etc.
The Omnistack Systems tab allows you to view more detailed information about the nodes; the datacenters,
Host/Mgmt/Federation/Storage IP addresses, version and status information (Figure 7).
The OmniStack Systems tab also provides a Support Capture task. This uses the svt-support-capture command to create
a support capture. If you do not specify any arguments, the command creates a complete support capture which might
take several minutes to complete and might be hundreds of megabytes to several gigabytes in size. Options include
Bzip2 compression and include vCenter information. Warning: Run this command under guidance of your technical
support provider.
The Datastores tab lists all existing VMware datastores, the datacenter, SimpliVity backup policy, size, created timestamp,
and access nodes (Figure 8). Before clicking any datastores, the Create task is available to add a new datastore to the
OmniStack.
Clicking on a datastore in the list opens up all relevant tasks including Create, Delete, Set Policy, Resize, Share, and
Unshare.
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Figure 11 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Set Policy to Datastore
The UCS Director plugin shows a form box to enter the IP address of the host to share/unshare the selected datastore
(Figure 13 & Figure 14).
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Selecting a virtual machine opens up the available tasks on the menu bar in the UCS Director Virtual Machine tab. The
available tasks are Backup, Clone, Move, Restore and Set Policy (Figure 15).
Figure 15 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Virtual Machines Tab
Unlike a policy backup, a manual backup is not deleted during the automatic cleanup performed by a backup policy. You
must manually delete these backups to make sure that they do not consume excessive system resources.
Application consistentInclude a VMware application consistent snapshot in the backup. This type of backup brings
guest VM applications to a consistent state before taking a backup. Using application consistency increases the time
required to complete a backup, and you should not use it for guest VMs that have high I/O.
NameBy default, the command creates a unique name for the backup by appending a timestamp to the VM name.
You can override the default by specifying a unique name for the backup. You can also rename backups at any time.
The example CLI command is svt-vm-backup --datastore datastore-name --vm vm-name --name backup-name --
appconsistent --destination datacenter-name [common-options]
Once a virtual machine is selected and the Backup task clicked, the UCS Director plugin shows a form box to enter the
optional backup name, option to select application consistency and the destination datacenter (Figure 16).
Figure 16 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Virtual Machines Backup
The Clone Virtual Machine task leverages the svt-vm-backup command from the SimpliVity CLI. The svt-vm-clone
command creates a new virtual machine (VM) that contains the same contents as an existing VM. The new VM has a
different name, but resides in the same datastore as the original VM. Characteristics of the cloned VM are:
Clone nameBy default, the command appends the string -clone-<timestamp> to the original VM name. You can
override this by specifying the --name option.
The example CLI command is svt-vm-clone --datastore datastore --vm vm --name new-name --appconsistent [common-
options]
Once a virtual machine is selected and the Clone task clicked, the UCS Director plugin shows a form box to enter the
clone name and option to select application consistency (Figure 17).
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Figure 18 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Virtual Machines Move
Figure 19 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Restore Task
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Figure 20 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Virtual Machines Set Policy
Figure 22 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Delete Task
Lock Backup
The Lock Backup task leverages the svt-backup-lock command from the SimpliVity CLI. The svt-backup-lock command
preserves automatic (policy) VM backups, preventing them from deletion. In Cisco UCS Director, select the backup that
you want to lock and click the lock task in the menu bar. A dialogue box will open asking to confirm the lock of the backup
(Figure 23). The example CLI command is svt-backup-lock --datastore datastore --vm vm --backup backup [common-
options].
Figure 23 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Lock Task
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Figure 24 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Rename Task
Restore Backup
The Restore Backup task leverages the svt-backup-restore command from the SimpliVity CLI. The svt-backup-restore
command restores a VM backup to a new VM at any accessible datacenter and datastore. You can use this command to
create a new VM, preserving the original VM. In Cisco UCS Director, select the backup that you want to restore and click
the restore task in the menu bar. A dialogue box will open asking for the new VM name and datastore (Figure 25). The
example CLI command is svt-backup-restore --datastore datastore --vm vm --backup backup --source datacenter --
destination datacenter --home datastore --name vm [ common-options].
Figure 25 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Restore Task
Figure 26 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Cancel Task
Copy Backup
The Copy Backup task leverages the svt-backup-copy command from the SimpliVity CLI. The svt-backup-copy
command copies VM backups to remote datacenters. Use this command to create a copy of a backup. In Cisco UCS
Director, select the backup that you want to copy and click the copy task in the menu bar. A dialogue box will open asking
to select the destination datacenter (Figure 27). The example CLI command is svt-backup-copy --datastore datastore --
vm vm --backup backup --source datacenter --destination datacenter [common-options].
Figure 27 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backups Copy Task
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Figure 29 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backup Policies Create Policy Task
Figure 30 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backup Policies Delete Policy Task
Figure 31 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backup Policies Rename Policy Task
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Figure 32 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backup Policies Create Rule Task
Figure 33 Cisco UCS Director Converged - Storage SimpliVity Backup Policies Delete Rule Task
Figure 34 Cisco UCS Director Policies - Orchestration SimpliVity Test/Dev Example Workflow
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Figure 37 Cisco UCS Director Policies - Orchestration SimpliVity ROBO Gold Backup Example
Figure 39 Cisco UCS Director Self Service Portal SimpliVity ROBO Catalog Items
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More information regarding the operation of the self service portal can be found on the Cisco Self-Service Portal Guide.
(http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/servers-unified-computing/ucs-director/products-user-guide-list.html)
6 Solution Summary
The SimpliVity OmniStack Integrated Solution with Cisco UCS simplifies IT operations with automation and orchestration
of all IT infrastructure and services below the hypervisor including compute, network, storage, and built-in data protection.
SimpliVitys integration with UCS Director effectively eliminates the complexity around provisioning applications and
speeds time to delivery with automated VM-centric workflows. To learn more, read the OmniStack with Cisco UCS
Reference Architecture and view OmniStack Integrated Solution with Cisco UCS on Cisco Marketplace.