Details
The Cisco UCS C24 M3 server interfaces with Cisco UCS using another Cisco® innovation: the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1225. The Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card 1225 is a virtualization-optimized Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) PCIe 2.0 x8 10-Gbps adapter designed for use with Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers. The Virtual Interface Card 1225 is a dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe adapter that can support up to 18 PCIe standards-compliant virtual interfaces, which can be dynamically configured so that both their interface type (network interface card [NIC] or host bus adapter [HBA]) and identity (MAC address and worldwide name [WWN]) are established using just-in-time provisioning. In addition, the Cisco UCS VIC 1225 can support network interface virtualization and Cisco Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology.
Applications
Not all storage-intensive workloads are alike, and the Cisco UCS C24 M3 server’s disk configuration delivers balanced performance and expandability to best meet individual workload requirements. With up to 12, 16 or 24 internal drives, the Cisco UCS C24 M3 optionally offers 10,000- and 15,000-RPM SAS drives to deliver a high number of I/O operations per second (IOPS) for transactional workloads such as database management systems. In addition, high-capacity SATA drives provide an economical, large-capacity solution. The Cisco UCS C24 M3 further increases performance and customer choice over many types of storage-intensive applications such as:
- IT and Web Infrastructure
- Big data
- Consolidation
- Storage server
- Entry-level virtualization
- Small to Medium databases
- File Server
- Storage-intensive infrastructure
Cisco UCS Servers Change the Economics of the Data Center
Cisco continues to lead in data center innovation with infrastructure as a service (IaaS), bare metal, virtualized servers, and cloud computing with the introduction of new building blocks such as the C24 M3 server for Cisco UCS that extend the system’s exceptional simplicity, agility, and efficiency (Figure 2). The C24 M3 server also continues Cisco’s commitment to delivering uniquely differentiated value, fabric integration, and ease of management that is exceptional in the marketplace. For example, Cisco innovations, such as the form-factor-agnostic Cisco UCS Manager software, allows administrators to create a software model of a desired server (using Cisco service profiles and templates) and then instantiate that server and its I/O connectivity by associating a model with physical resources. This stateless approach contrasts with the traditional method of configuring each system resource manually, one at a time, through individual element managers. Unlike vendors of traditional systems, Cisco uses a unified management model with service profiles that can be moved easily between any Cisco UCS servers, whether blade server or rack server, in a Cisco UCS Manager domain. Other Cisco UCS building blocks include enhanced server I/O options and expanded Cisco UCS fabric interconnects that extend scalability, investment protection, and management simplicity for both rack and blade systems. Here are a few examples of investment protection:
- Fabric extenders can be upgraded using the same fabric interconnects and the same Cisco UCS VIC 1225.
- Fabric interconnect hardware can be upgraded independently of fabric extenders and rack servers.
In addition, Cisco continues to innovate in nearly all hardware and software components of Cisco UCS, helping ensure that more powerful rack servers have adequate I/O bandwidth, management scalability, and investment protection both now and in the future. The Cisco UCS C24 M3 is also part of a larger family of rack servers: the Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers. Designed to operate both in standalone environments and as part of Cisco UCS, all Cisco UCS C-Series servers complement and extend Cisco innovation, investment protection, and simplicity. Cisco UCS C-Series servers provide innovations such as a standards-based unified network fabric, Cisco Data Center VM-FEX virtualization support, Cisco UCS Manager software, Cisco fabric extender and fabric interconnect architectures, and Cisco Extended Memory Technology. With Cisco UCS C-Series innovations, Cisco UCS architectural advantages, software advances, continuous innovation, and unique rack and blade server designs, Cisco UCS is the first truly unified data center platform. In addition, Cisco UCS can transform IT departments through policy-based automation and deep integration with familiar systems management and orchestration tools.
Feature |
Benefit |
10-Gbps unified network fabric |
- Low-latency, lossless, 10-Gbps Ethernet and industry-standard FCoE and native Fibre Channel fabric
- Wire-once deployment model in which changing I/O configurations no longer means installing adapters and recabling racks and switches
- Fewer interface cards, cables, and upstream network ports to purchase, power, configure, and maintain
|
Virtualization Optimization |
- Cisco Data Center VM-FEX and Adapter FEX technologies, I/O virtualization, and Intel Xeon processor E5‑2400 product family features, extending the network directly to virtual machines
- Consistent and scalable operational model
- Increased security and efficiency with reduced complexity
|
Unified management (when integrated into Cisco UCS) |
- Entire solution managed as a single entity with Cisco UCS Manager, improving operation efficiency and flexibility
- Service profiles and templates that implement role- and policy-based management, enabling more effective use of skilled server, network, and storage administrators
- Automated provisioning and increased business agility, allowing data center managers to provision applications in minutes rather than days by associating a service profile with a new, added, or repurposed Cisco UCS C24 M3 server
- Capability to move virtual machines and their security features and policies from rack to rack or rack to blade or blade to blade
- Only Cisco UCS C-Series servers offer a built-in entry point into unified computing
|
Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family |
- Automated energy efficiency reduces energy costs by automatically putting the processor and memory in the lowest available power state while still delivering the performance required and flexible virtualization technology that optimizes performance for virtualized environments, including processor support for migration and direct I/O
- Up to twice the performance is provided for floating-point operations. Intel Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX) provides new instructions that can significantly improve performance for applications that rely on floating-point or vector computations
- Cisco UCS C-Series servers keep pace with Intel Xeon processor innovation by offering the latest processors with an increase in processor frequency and improved security and availability features. With the increased performance provided by the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family, Cisco UCS C-Series servers offer an improved price-to-performance ratio, making Cisco UCS servers among the best values in the industry
- Advanced reliability features, including Machine Check Architecture Recovery, automatically monitor, report, and recover from hardware errors to maintain data integrity and keep mission-critical services online
- Hardened protection for virtual and cloud Environments: Establish trusted pools of virtual resources with Intel ® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel ® TXT). Intel TXT helps ensure that physical servers and hypervisors boot only into cryptographically verified “known good states.” It safeguards your business more effectively by protecting your platform from the insertion of malware during or prior to launch
|
High-capacity, flexible internal storage |
Up to 12 (LFF), 16 (SFF) or 24 (SFF) front-accessible, hot-swappable, SFF SAS or SATA drives for local storage, providing redundancy options and ease of serviceability
- Balanced performance and capacity to meet application needs
- 15,000-RPM SAS drives for highest performance
- 10,000-RPM SAS drives for high performance and value
|
RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60 support |
A choice of RAID controllers to provide data protection for up to 12 (LFF), 16 (SFF) or 24 (SFF) SAS or SATA drivers in PCIe |
Cisco UCS C-Series Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) |
- Web user interface for server management; remote keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM); virtual media; and administration
- Virtual media support for remote CD and DVD drives as if local
- Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 2.0 support for out-of-band management through third-party enterprise management systems
- Command-line interface (CLI) for server management
- 7200-RPM SATA drives for high capacity and value
|
Fast memory support |
12 DIMM slots supporting up yo 1333 or 1600 MHz of memory for optimal performance |
Redundant fans and power supplies |
- Dual, redundant and hot-swap fans and power supplies for enterprise-class reliability and uptime
- Power efficiency through Cisco common form-factor platinum power supplies (450 and 650W)
|
5 PCIe “Generation” 3.0 slots |
- Flexibility, increased performance, and compatibility with industry standards
- PCIe “Generation” 3.0 slots, which are estimated to substantially increase the bandwidth compared to the previous generation and offer more flexibility while maintaining compatibility with PCIe 2.0
|
Integrated dual-port Gigabit Ethernet |
- Outstanding network I/O performance and increased network efficiency and flexibility
- Increased network availability when configured in failover configurations
|