Cisco Cisco UCS B260 M4 Blade Server White Paper

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entirely programmable using unified, model-based management to simplify and speed deployment of enterprise-

class applications and services running in bare-metal, virtualized, and cloud-computing environments (Figure 1).

The system’s x86-architecture rack-mount and blade servers are powered by Intel® Xeon® processors. These

industry-standard servers deliver world-record performance to power mission-critical workloads. Cisco servers,

combined with a simplified, converged architecture, drive better IT productivity and superior price/performance for

lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

Building on Cisco’s strength in enterprise networking, Cisco Unified Computing System is integrated with a

standards-based, high-bandwidth, low-latency, virtualization-aware unified fabric . The system is wired once to

support the desired bandwidth and carries all Internet protocol, storage, inter-process communication, and virtual

machine traffic with security isolation, visibility, and control equivalent to physical networks. The system meets the
bandwidth demands of today’s multicore processors, eliminates costly redundancy, and increases workload agility,

reliability, and performance.

Cisco Unified Computing System is designed from the ground up to be programmable and self integrating. A
server’s entire hardware stack, ranging from server firmware and settings to network profiles, is configured through

model-based management. With Cisco virtual interface cards, even the number and type of I/O interfaces is

programmed dynamically, making every server ready to power any workload at any time.

With model-based management, administrators manipulate a model of a desired system configuration, associate a
model’s service profile with hardware resources, and the system configures itself to match the model. This

automation speeds provisioning and workload migration with accurate and rapid scalability. The result is increased

IT staff productivity, improved compliance, and reduced risk of failures due to inconsistent configurations.

Cisco Fabric Extender technology reduces the number of system components to purchase, configure, manage,

and maintain by condensing three network layers into one. It eliminates both blade server and hypervisor-based

switches by connecting fabric interconnect ports directly to individual blade servers and virtual machines. Virtual

networks are now managed exactly as physical networks are, but with massive scalability. This represents a

radical simplification over traditional systems, reducing capital and operating costs while increasing business

agility, simplifying and speeding deployment, and improving performance.

Cisco Unified Computing System helps organizations go beyond efficiency: it helps them become more effective

through technologies that breed simplicity rather than complexity. The result is flexible, agile, high-performance,

self-integrating information technology, reduced staff costs with increased uptime through automation, and more

rapid return on investment.