Cisco UCS Express

Reading my blog, you’ve probably come across a few posts on Cisco’s Unified Computing System. UCS simplifies cabling costs by merging LAN and SAN fabrics using FCoE. It also simplifies management of the servers, VLANs, VSANs, etc. using the UCS Manager. But you’ve probably heard the UCS gospel before. Today I’m going to focus on Cisco’s latest release, the new Cisco UCS Express.

The Cisco UCS Express is basically a router with a server built in, designed for remote/branch offices that need a few servers. You’re thinking, well we already have Integrated Services Routers (ISRs) and a few servers at our offices… what does this UCS Express do? I’m glad you asked. Firstly, it combines the functionality of network and server into one device, simplifying deployment and management. But at the same time, it offers distinct management of network and server components. The network admin has access to the IOS via Cisco Configuration Professional or CiscoWorks and the the server admin has access to the servers via Cisco Integrated Management Controller for configuring and deploying servers.

The Three Flavors of Branch Offices

1. Your branch offices might have no servers at all. This model offers low maintenance as there are no servers at your branch office to manage, but also increases bandwidth demands as all traffic must traverse the WAN back to the data center.
2. Your branch offices might have the majority of servers locally. This model removes the reliance on the WAN’s performance, but greatly increases management cost as you have more infrastructure to manage, extrapolated against the number of offices you have.
3. The in-between model places one or two servers at the branch office, but still relies on the WAN to reach all of the other servers in the data center. The advantage of this in-between model is that your mission-critical servers and applications can reside at the branch office, but the management cost is lowered since the majority of your servers still reside in the data center. Add to that the fact that the UCS Express is an all-in-one device, so you’ve got one device to manage and one place to go for support (i.e. Cisco).

Before Cisco UCS Express

In the diagram below, the WAN router, switch, and server(s) are all managed independently:

After Cisco UCS Express

In the diagram below, the WAN routing, LAN switching, and server(s) have been consolidated into one device — the Cisco UCS Express. It is managed and deployed as a single device:

UCS Express Components

So we’ve covered the why, now let’s cover the components. I mentioned earlier that the UCS Express is a router with servers built in. It’s got a small footprint too, with the entire UCS Express taking up only 2 to 3U of a rack. At present, the UCS Express can house up to 4 server blades; the current UCS Express, ISR G2 model, supports x86 64-bit processors with up to 8GB RAM and up to 1TB hard drives. Check out Table 4 on this page for more technical specifications with regards to the servers. The UCS Express also performs all the routing features that a regular ISR would do. For instance, QoS, wireless mobility, VPN, IPS, Firewall, AAA, Unified Communications, etc. And finally, it supports EtherSwitch Modules, to connect the office LAN directly into the UCS Express.

Conclusion

More details are still forthcoming from Cisco on the new UCS Express, but they’ve definitely identified a need we see with a lot of our customers. Check out Cisco’s UCS Express page for more specifics.

– Andrew