UCS Express SRE-V 1.5 Released

Cisco has released version 1.5 of their software, giving you the ability to add and modify users as well as install licenses in the GUI. Prior to this, you had to enter the SRE-V CLI (see my earlier post). Though, the most notable improvement is the ability to manage the UCS Express servers with vCenter! Prior, users had to connect their vSphere clients directly to each UCS Express server. Now those servers can be added to vCenter for better integration to the existing virtual environment. Cisco also fixed a bunch of bugs as is customary in software releases. Check out the release notes for all of the details: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/interfaces_modules/services_modules/sre_v/1.5/release/notes/sre_v_release.html.

For the vCenter integration, you will need to either buy a vCenter-managed license from Cisco or apply an existing Advanced/Enterprise/Enterprise Plus vSphere license. From talking with Jason Nash, buying a vCenter-managed license from Cisco is the cheaper option. The UCS Express managed by vCenter supports DRS, VMotion, etc., but is not supported by TAC. vCenter integration is a much welcomed (and requested) feature I’m glad to see added.

– Andrew