In this chapter, we will provide an introduction to the Unified Computing System Manager (UCSM) and updates on the latest HTML5 support for UCSM. We will discuss the changes in the latest version of the graphical user interface (GUI), as well as the options that are available in tabs and nodes under the two main screen panes that are used for the configuration and management of UCS hardware and software components. We will look at some global configuration policies that provide information on DNS, Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), and power redundancy during initial configuration. We will then look at the basic steps to set up the initial configuration. In subsequent chapters, we will delve deep into individual configuration topics such as policies, identity or resource pools, templates, and service profiles for configuring servers.
We will then discuss the command-line interface (CLI), which provides the same UCS component configuration as that of the GUI. All UCS configurations are possible from both the GUI and CLI.
Throughout this book, we will extensively use the UCSM GUI for the configuration of various UCS components and policies.
The topics that will be covered in this chapter are as follows:
- Introduction to Cisco UCSM
- What's new with HTML5
- Walking through the UCSM interface
- Starting with the initial configuration
- Initial configuration step-by-step
- Global configuration policies
- UCS Manager—command-line interface