Cisco Cisco UCS B200 M4 Blade Server Libro blanco
Architectural Comparison: Cisco UCS and the Dell FX2 Platform
September 2015
© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public information.
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You are not forced to purchase and overprovision in-chassis switches regardless
of the application requirements. Because Cisco UCS architecture requires fewer
components to scale your bandwidth for peak traffic flows, you don’t have to pay for
components or bandwidth that you don’t need.
of the application requirements. Because Cisco UCS architecture requires fewer
components to scale your bandwidth for peak traffic flows, you don’t have to pay for
components or bandwidth that you don’t need.
Management Comparison
Unified management is essential to efficient deployment and ongoing management
of blade servers. Because they are meant to be high-density servers, you will be
deploying more of them in a smaller footprint.
of blade servers. Because they are meant to be high-density servers, you will be
deploying more of them in a smaller footprint.
Management Cabling
With the Dell solution, each chassis requires a separate management cable from
the chassis to the ToR switch, which requires more cabling and switch ports than
with Cisco UCS. You can daisy-chain these management cables to reduce the
number of upstream ports required, but not the number of cables. Daisy chaining
also makes your management network fragile. If one management unit or cable
fails, management connectivity to all the downstream units is lost, and you lose
connectivity to any device lower on the daisy chain (and cooling fans are set to their
maximum speed). With Cisco UCS, management connectivity is carried over the
same unified fabric connections made to each chassis, and it is redundant by design
and requires no additional cabling.
the chassis to the ToR switch, which requires more cabling and switch ports than
with Cisco UCS. You can daisy-chain these management cables to reduce the
number of upstream ports required, but not the number of cables. Daisy chaining
also makes your management network fragile. If one management unit or cable
fails, management connectivity to all the downstream units is lost, and you lose
connectivity to any device lower on the daisy chain (and cooling fans are set to their
maximum speed). With Cisco UCS, management connectivity is carried over the
same unified fabric connections made to each chassis, and it is redundant by design
and requires no additional cabling.
Management Complexity
In the Dell solution, each chassis has a chassis management controller (CMC), and
each blade has an integrated Dell remote access controller (iDRAC). For access
to advanced features such as power management, Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP), and two-factor authentication, you need iDRAC Enterprise, at a
cost of US$332 per server per year.
each blade has an integrated Dell remote access controller (iDRAC). For access
to advanced features such as power management, Lightweight Directory Access
Protocol (LDAP), and two-factor authentication, you need iDRAC Enterprise, at a
cost of US$332 per server per year.
At a higher level of management, Dell OpenManage continues to be the standard
management option. However, OpenManage does not have flexible policies or
templates or support for stateless servers. To obtain advanced features, such as
basic configuration templates, you are required to purchase Dell Active System
Manager (ASM), with an additional per-server, per-year licensing cost.
management option. However, OpenManage does not have flexible policies or
templates or support for stateless servers. To obtain advanced features, such as
basic configuration templates, you are required to purchase Dell Active System
Manager (ASM), with an additional per-server, per-year licensing cost.
Dell ASM uses a top-down, scripted approach with limited configurability. ASM
does not have a notion of policies, nor does it offer configurable role-based access
control (RBAC). Dell has made multiple changes to its management strategy in the
past few years, including changes in various high-level tools.
does not have a notion of policies, nor does it offer configurable role-based access
control (RBAC). Dell has made multiple changes to its management strategy in the
past few years, including changes in various high-level tools.
Simplified Management
With Cisco UCS, servers, connectivity, and management are inseparable. The
complete abstraction of configuration information creates an on-demand, zero-
touch environment. Cisco UCS was designed from the beginning with embedded,
all-inclusive, model-based management through Cisco UCS Manager. Cisco
UCS is intelligent infrastructure that is self-aware and self-integrating. Every
server connected to Cisco UCS, whether it is a blade server or a rack server,
is automatically detected and placed in a resource pool and even automatically
configured if you so desire. The system is built from the foundation so that every
aspect of server identity, personality, and connectivity is abstracted and can be
complete abstraction of configuration information creates an on-demand, zero-
touch environment. Cisco UCS was designed from the beginning with embedded,
all-inclusive, model-based management through Cisco UCS Manager. Cisco
UCS is intelligent infrastructure that is self-aware and self-integrating. Every
server connected to Cisco UCS, whether it is a blade server or a rack server,
is automatically detected and placed in a resource pool and even automatically
configured if you so desire. The system is built from the foundation so that every
aspect of server identity, personality, and connectivity is abstracted and can be