Troubleshooting ESXi Hosts & Cisco UCS Servers

Today we are going to talk about the Troubleshooting ESXi hosts. For that you need to launch vSphere client and enter your Operator login credentials. Be sure that Use Windows session credentials is NOT selected as shown below

Fig 1.1- VMware vSphere

Once you login, Please search the ESXi host that is experiencing the issue. Under the Tasks and Report tab check to see if there were any recent tasks run. If not then go ahead and check under the Summary tab in the General field check to see that the state shows as Connected.

Fig 1.1- autoapp.ndna.com ( Cisco UCS)

Check the Manufacturer and as shown above, it is Cisco. So login to UCSM and check the status of the UCS Server

Cisco UCS Server
A blade server is a stripped-down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy.  Cisco’s UCS blade servers provide ease of management and efficient network connectivity.  

Each of these servers connects to the Fiber Interconnect which facilitate network connectivity and ease of configuration.  To ensure high availability of the service the FI runs 2 Cisco Switches one Primary and the other Subordinate.  

Configuration of the service is available through the Cisco Unified Computing System Manager, a web based console.  This tool in conjunction with the Call Home functionality of the Cisco UCS, can be used by Operations to Monitor and Troubleshoot the service.  

The UCS consists of a Chassis and the option for 4 to 8 blades.  Also the UCS Server requires a power source and a fan for cooling component.  If there is an issue with any of these components or with the OS that runs the Unified Computing System, alerts will be generated.  

UCS Management Console:

The UCS Management Console is a web based utility that provides robust tools for querying the Server and its component devices.  The console will provide information about the state of the FIs, Switches, Chassis and Blade Servers. Additionally, a KVM session can be initiated to provide access to any single blade server.

Note ⭐  In order to launch the UCS Manager the workstation from which you are launching the utility must have Java version 7 update 40 or lower installed.   

Launch a browser session. In the URL field type the host name for the fabric interconnect that is to be monitored. The launch page for the UCS Manager will open. Once you login you will see the dashboard upon logging into the FI

You can now navigate the UCS by expanding the nodes in the left hand column of the UCSM and by clicking the available tabs in the right hand window

Using UCSM in this way will provide information on various aspects of the device including

• The state of the switches that comprise the FI 
• The blades in each chassis
• The purpose and power state of a blade
• Name of server
• Health status 
• Fault Summary

It is also possible to query a single UCS chassis directly by typing the server name of the device in a browser session. Once there you will gain access to much of the same information