lenovo xclarity and cisco ucs manager just the facts

Lenovo XClarity™ &Cisco UCS ManagerJust the Facts

Product Marketing

Jul-2015

2015 Lenovo. All rights reserved. 2

System Deployment is Faster & Less Complex with Lenovo

95% 75%Less

Time

Fewer

Steps

Than un-managed systems1

75% 72%Less

Time

Fewer

Steps

Than Cisco UCS Manager2

Start EndSetup &

Discover

Update

Firmware

Configure

System

Install

Hypervisor

1. http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_Flex_System_0615.pdf

2. http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_management_comparison_0615.pdf

http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_Flex_System_0615.pdf

http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_management_comparison_0615.pdf


System Deployment is Faster & Less Complex with Lenovo

95% 75%Less

Time

Fewer

Steps

Than un-managed systems1

75% 72%Less

Time

Fewer

Steps

Than Cisco UCS Manager2

Start EndSetup &

Discover

Update

Firmware

Configure

System

Install

Hypervisor

1. http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_Flex_System_0615.pdf

2. http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_management_comparison_0615.pdf




26

6

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Cisco UCS

Lenovo XClarity

System Deployment ComparisonTime in Minutes

Lenovo XClarity Saves Time

Start

End

Setup &

Discover

Update

Firmware

Configure

System

Install

Hypervisor

75%LESS TIME


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdQqu3UUDDc&feature=youtu.be




114

32

0 20 40 60 80 100 120

Cisco UCS

Lenovo XClarity

System Deployment Comparison# Steps

Lenovo XClarity Reduces Labor and Risk of Error

Start

End

Setup &

Discover

Update

Firmware

Configure

System

Install

Hypervisor

72%FEWER STEPS






Lenovo Hardware Systems

All-New Lenovo XClaritySoftware-Driven Hardware Infrastructure Management

Network-based

auto-discovery of

systems

Real-time

monitoring, alerts,

& events

Policy-based

firmware

compliance

Server

configuration

patterns

OS & hypervisor

deployment to

bare metal servers

• Virtual appliance

• Modern Web-based graphical user interface

• REST APIs

• PowerShell

• Out-of-band


Cisco’s Hardware-Controlled Approach to Systems Management

• Server management tool is embedded in expensive network

switches running proprietary NOS

• Switch is licensed per physical network port or per physical switch

• Service profiles defined in the proprietary network switch

• Server configuration settings

• Network: vNICs and VLANs

• Storage: vHBAs and VSANs

• Auto-discovery

• Monitoring & alerting

• Firmware updates

• OS/hypervisor installs are manual using each server’s virtual

KVM console, or UCS Director can be purchased separately

Hardware-Controlled Systems

Management & VM Switching

Hardware-Controlled Systems

Management Features

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-manager/solution_overview_c22-522755.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/gui/config/guide/2-2/b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_2.html

Hardware-Controlled VM Switching• Diverts VM traffic from out of the blade chassis

and up into proprietary network switches




Graphical User Interface

Lenovo XClarity Graphical User Interface

• Web-based

• HTML5

• Simplified and intuitive

• Tablet-friendly

Cisco UCS Hardware Graphical User Interface• Launched in 2009• UCS Manager Java client connects end user to

proprietary physical switch• Two sets of multiple tabs• Resource object tree

Easier to learn & use than Cisco’s GUI


Server Configuration Templates

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

manager/solution_overview_c22-522755.html

Cisco UCS Hardware-Controlled Service Profiles• Service Profiles in proprietary switches define the state

of the server• Can automatically apply settings of a failed server to a

spare server• OS/hypervisor still needs to be installed on the spare

server

Lenovo XClarity Configuration Patterns

• Configuration patterns (templates) control the state of

the server

• Enables the administrator to manually failover the

settings of a failed server to a spare server

• Automates OS/hypervisor deployment to spare servers

Address pools*

Category

patternsConfiguration

patternServer profiles

Create

patternDeploy

pattern

Server Configuration Patterns

77% less time and 76% fewer steps than Cisco UCS

Manager to configure systems


Faster and More Efficient System Management with Lenovo XClarity Administrator vs. Cisco UCS Manager



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdQqu3UUDDc


OS and Hypervisor Deployment to Bare Metal

UCS Manager GUI

Server KVM

console

Cisco UCS Hardware-Controlled Bare Metal• From the proprietary physical switch GUI, admins

manually• Launch each server’s KVM console screen• Launch virtual media & map the .ISO image as a

virtual CD/DVD• Configure the server’s boot order in BIOS to boot

from CD/DVD

Lenovo XClarity Bare Metal

• With Lenovo XClarity admins import OS and

hypervisor ISO images into the VA, select 1 or more

servers/blades for deployment, and click “deploy”

button

Import

Image

Deploy

Image

Repository

of images

Image Profile

Image Profile

Image Profile

Automated Bare Metal Deployment

77% less time and 65% fewer steps than Cisco UCS

Manager to deploy OS/hypervisor to bare metal


Faster and More Efficient System Management with Lenovo XClarity Administrator vs. Cisco UCS Manager




Cisco UCS Optional Software-Controlled Bare Metal

http://www.cisco.com/c/dam/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-director/final_ucsd_ucs_v2.pdf

Cisco UCS Director Bare Metal

• UCS Director can optionally automate OS installation –

a complex, and expensive way to automate the task

• UCS Director is a workflow and orchestration tool for

managing VMs, physical servers, physical networking,

and physical storage

Lenovo XClarity Bare Metal

• Lenovo XClarity simplifies OS and hypervisor

deployment while reducing cost

Import

Image

Deploy

Image

Repository

of images

Image Profile

Image Profile

Image Profile

Automated Bare Metal Deployment

Simpler and lower cost OS / hypervisor

deployment automation than Cisco UCS Director



Virtual Machine Switching

Lenovo Flex System and VM Switching

• Flex System enables hypervisors to exploit bandwidth

within the chassis, reducing north-south VM traffic

1. Tolly Report #214104, IBM Flex System Network Architecture: VM Migration and Aggregate Network Performance versus Cisco UCS, Apr-2014, http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=214104

Cisco UCS Hardware-Controlled VM Switching

• Proprietary UCS switches bypass software-based

switching of VM traffic by the hypervisor

• UCS hardware diverts VM traffic within the chassis out

and up into proprietary network switches, eliminating

software-defined VM switching efficiency and

increasing latency

Extensive Traffic

Reduces Latency

Extensive Traffic

Increases Latency

• 2.5x faster vMotion

than Cisco UCS1

• 4.9x more available

network capacity

than Cisco UCS1

http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=214104


Scalability

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect Scalability

• Install, connect, and power two proprietary physical

network switches for every 160 managed endpoints,

for redundancy of systems management

Lenovo XClarity Scalability

• Deploy one XClarity virtual appliance to a Hyper-V or

ESXi host for every 560 managed endpoints

• Utilizes the virtualization infrastructure for high

availability and disaster recovery

Up to 560 Lenovo servers

and/or blades

Up to 160 Cisco UCS servers

and/or blades

Proprietary Physical Network Switches

http://www.slideshare.net/Ciscodatacenter/cisco-unified-computing-system-ucs-changing-the-economics-

datacenter-21179192?qid=5e9d83cf-9cf7-473a-95fe-be6d42fcac1b&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1

Virtual Appliance

http://www.slideshare.net/Ciscodatacenter/cisco-unified-computing-system-ucs-changing-the-economics-datacenter-21179192?qid=5e9d83cf-9cf7-473a-95fe-be6d42fcac1b&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1


Transparent cost, flexible deployment of the

management solution, and greater scalability?

Modern software-driven systems management?

Easily integrated with managed hardware?

Protect software-defined control of VM switching to

reduce latency?

Greater ease of use?

The Difference is Clear

Deploy systems faster & with less effort?


Useful Links

• Independent Labs‒ Principled Technologies

• Faster and More Efficient System Management with Lenovo XClarity Administrator report

• Faster and More Efficient System Management with Lenovo XClarity Administrator vs. Cisco UCS Manager report

• Faster and More Efficient System Management with Lenovo XClarity Administrator vs. Cisco UCS Manager video

‒ The Tolly Group

• Flex System Network Architecture: VM Migration and Aggregate Network Performance versus Cisco UCS report

• Lenovo‒ Lenovo XClarity product web page

‒ Lenovo XClarity data sheet

‒ Lenovo XClarity demonstration videos

‒ Lenovo XClarity product guide

• Cisco‒ Cisco UCS Manager web page

‒ Cisco UCS Manager GUI configuration guide

‒ Cisco UCS Manager Release Notes

‒ Cisco UCS Presentation

‒ Cisco UCS and Cisco UCS Director Solution Brief

For more

information

contact your

Lenovo sales

representative

lenovo.com


http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Lenovo/XClarity_Administrator_management_comparison_0615.pdfPT found


http://www.tolly.com/DocDetail.aspx?DocNumber=214104

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/servers/thinkserver/system-management/xclarity/

http://www.lenovo.com/images/products/system-x/pdfs/datasheets/xclarity_ds.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLCyAP2GDJmb4rMv-oWIT9qurNj3d6tnxS

http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/technotes/tips1200.pdf



http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/release/notes/ucs_2_2_rn.html#82834

http://www.slideshare.net/Ciscodatacenter/cisco-unified-computing-system-ucs-changing-the-economics-datacenter-21179192?qid=5e9d83cf-9cf7-473a-95fe-be6d42fcac1b&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1



Comparison of All Deployment Use Cases

Use CaseLenovo XClarity Administrator Cisco UCS Manager

Time

(hr:min:sec)

Steps Time

(hr:min:sec)

Steps

Initial configuration, discovery,

and inventory of chassis

0:03:27 7 0:12:29 21

Creating and applying

configuration patterns/profiles

0:00:51 12 0:03:42 50

Deploying ESXi 0:01:39 7 0:07:17 20

Acquiring and applying

firmware updates

0:00:30 6 0:02:19 23

Total 0:06:27 32 0:25:47 114





lenovo xclarity and cisco ucs manager just the facts

Technology

steps lenovo xclarity

lenovo hardware systems

time http

minutes lenovo xclarity

fewer steps http

time fewer steps

cisco ucs manager2

hardwarecontrolled vm