First Published: February 1, 2021

Last Updated: January 29, 2021

Release Notes for Cisco UCS E-Series Servers and the Cisco UCS E-Series Network Compute Engine, Release 3.2.13

Overview

The Cisco UCS E-Series Servers (E-Series Servers) and the Cisco UCS E-Series Network Compute Engine (NCE) are a family of size-, weight-, and power-efficient blade servers that are housed within the Generation 2 Cisco Integrated Services Routers (Cisco ISR G2) and the Cisco ISR 4000 series. These servers provide a general-purpose compute platform for branch-office applications deployed either as bare-metal on operating systems, such as Microsoft Windows or Linux, or as virtual machines on hypervisors, such as VMware vSphere Hypervisor, Microsoft Hyper-V, or Citrix XenServer.

The E-Series Servers are purpose-built with powerful Intel Xeon processors for general-purpose compute. They come in the following form factors: single-wide and double-wide. The single-wide E-Series Server fits into one server module (SM) slot, and the double-wide E-Series Server fits into two SM slots.

The NCEs are price-to-power optimized modules that are built to host Cisco network applications and other lightweight general-purpose applications. They come in three form factors: SM, EHWIC, and NIM. The SM E-Series NCE fits into one SM slot, the NIM E-Series NCE fits into one NIM slot, and the EHWIC E-Series NCE fits into two EHWIC slots.


Note
EHWIC E-Series NCE can be installed in the Cisco ISR G2 only.

  • NIM E-Series NCE can be installed in the Cisco ISR 4000 series only.

  • The Cisco ISR 4331 has one SM slot. The Cisco ISR 4321 and the Cisco ISR 4431 have no SM slots.

  • Citrix XenServer is supported on the E-Series Servers only.

  • Cisco UCS-E160S-M3/K9, UCS-E1120D-M3/K9, and UCS-E180D-M3/K9 servers are supported on the Cisco ISR 4000 series only.

System Requirements

Hardware Requirements


Note
E-Series Servers and the SM E-Series NCE can be installed in the Cisco ISR G2 and the Cisco ISR 4000 series.

  • The EHWIC E-Series NCEs are not supported from CIMC release 3.2.x.

  • The NIM E-Series NCE can be installed in the Cisco ISR 4000 series only.

The following M3 E-Series Servers are supported:

  • UCS-E160S-M3—Single-wide E-Series Server, 6-cores CPU, 1.9 -GHz clock speed

  • UCS-E180D-M3—Double-wide E-Series Server, 8-cores CPU, 2.0 -GHz clock speed

  • UCS-E1120D-M3—Double-wide E-Series Server, 12-cores CPU, 1.5 -GHz clock speed


Note
The M2 and M3 E-Series Servers naming terminology indicates different generations of Intel processors within the respective servers.

The following NIM E-Series NCE is supported:

  • UCS-EN140N-M2—NIM E-Series NCE, 4-cores CPU, 1.7-GHz clock speed


Note
For details about the M2 and M3 E-Series Servers and the EHWIC E-Series NCE hardware, see the “Hardware Requirements” section in the Cisco UCS E-Series Servers and the Cisco UCS E-Series Network Compute Engine Hardware Installation Guide .

Software Requirements

E-Series Servers require three major software systems:

CIMC Firmware

Cisco Integrated Management Controller (CIMC) is a management module, which is built into the motherboard. A dedicated ARM-based processor, separate from the main server CPU, runs the CIMC firmware. The system ships with a running version of the CIMC firmware. You can update the CIMC firmware, but no initial installation is needed.

CIMC is the management service for the E-Series Servers. CIMC runs within the server. You can use CIMC to access, configure, administer, and monitor the server.

BIOS Firmware

BIOS initializes the hardware in the system, discovers bootable devices, and boots them in the provided sequence. It boots the operating system and configures the hardware for the operating system to use. BIOS manageability features allow you to interact with the hardware and use it. In addition, BIOS provides options to configure the system, manage firmware, and create BIOS error reports. The system ships with a running version of the BIOS firmware. You can update the BIOS firmware, but no initial installation is needed.


Note

Table below lists the minimum BIOS versions required to use with CIMC 3.2.x and later releases.

Table 1. Minimum BIOS Versions Required

Server Name

BIOS Version

UCS-E160S-M3

2.x

UCS-E180D-M3

UCS-E1120D-M3

2.x

UCS-EN140N-M2

1.5.0.4

Minimum System Requirements

The management client must meet or exceed the following minimum system requirements:

  • Sun JRE 1.6.0_14 or later

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher

  • Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows Vista

  • Apple Mac OS X v10.6, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0 or higher operating systems

E-Series Server Options

E-Series Servers are available in the following options:

  • Option 1—E-Series Server without preinstalled operating system or hypervisor

  • Option 2—E-Series Server with preinstalled Microsoft Windows Server

At the time of purchase, you can choose the appropriate RAID option that you want enabled on the E-Series Server.


Note
If you purchase this option, the Microsoft Windows Server license is preactivated.

  • Option 3—E-Series Server with preinstalled VMware vSphere Hypervisor TM

At the time of purchase, you can choose the appropriate RAID option that you want enabled on the E-Series Server.

Cisco SD-WAN and SD-WAN IOS XE Support on UCS-E Series

Table 2. Cisco SD-WAN and SD-WAN IOS XE Release Compatibility

Cisco SD-WAN

SD-WAN IOS XE | ISR4000

UCS-E Series using External Interfaces in SD-WAN mode

UCS-E Series using Internal Backplane Interfaces** in SD-WAN mode

19.2.x

16.12.1b and later releases

Supported

Not supported

20.1.1

17.2.1r

Supported

Limited feature support configurable using only Cisco vManage CLI templates

Note

** Interfaces - ucse x/y/0 and ucse x/y/1

For related information on Cisco SD-WAN and SD-WAN IOS XE support, refer to the Compatibility Matrix section in the Release Notes for Cisco IOS XE SD-WAN Devices, Cisco IOS XE Release Amsterdam 17.2.x

Cisco ISR 4000 Series, E-Series Server, NCE, CIMC, and Cisco IOS Software Release Compatibility

Table 3. Cisco ISR 4000 Series, E-Series Server, NCE, CIMC, and Cisco IOS Release Compatibility

Cisco ISR

Cisco IOS Software Release for Single-Wide E-Series Servers and the SM E-Series NCE

Cisco IOS Software Release for Double-Wide E-Series Servers

Cisco IOS Software Release for the NIM E-Series NCE

CIMC

4400 Series

XE 3.12S

XE 3.12S

—

2.2.2 and later releases

XE 3.13S and later releases

XE 3.13S and later releases

—

2.3.1 and later releases

—

—

XE 3.15S and later releases

3.0.1 and later releases

XE 16.2.1

XE 16.2.1

XE 16.2.1

3.0.1 and later releases

4300 Series

XE 3.13S and later releases

XE 3.13S and later releases

—

2.3.1 and later releases

—

—

XE 3.15S and later releases

3.0.1 and later releases

XE 16.2.1

XE 16.2.1

XE 16.2.1

3.0.1 and later releases

Important Information About the VMware FL-SRE-V-HOST License

If you are using a VMware FL-SRE-V-HOST license (equivalent to VMware vSphere Hypervisor™ 5.X), make sure that you are using 32 GB or less of RAM. If more than 32 GB of RAM is used, you will get an error message, and you will not be able to apply the license. If you want to use 48 GB RAM, upgrade your license to FL-SRE-V-HOSTVC.

Resolved and Open Bugs

The resolved and open bugs are accessible through the Cisco Bug Search Tool . This web-based tool provides you with access to the Cisco bug tracking system, which maintains information about bugs and vulnerabilities in this product and other Cisco hardware and software products.


Note
You must have a Cisco.com account to log in and access the Cisco Bug Search Tool. If you do not have one, you can register for an account .

For more information about the Cisco Bug Search Tool, see the Bug Search Tool Help & FAQ .

Resolved Bugs in Release 3.2.13

The table below lists the bugs that are resolved in release 3.2.13:

Caveat ID Number

Description

CSCvx30395

CIMC is not launching in latest Chrome version.

CSCvx52079

Tacacs server1 and key1 are displaying data without entering any values.

CSCvw69695

UCSE/ENCS 5400: Remote SCP/SFTP access password supports only restricted list of special characters.

CSCvx71928

vBranch: Out of memory (oom-killer): Stopping strobe of WDT monitoring BMC. Reset coming!

CSCvw71008

CLI copy methods in the recent CIMC, the special characters are limited.

CSCvw35165

SCP protocol support in CIMC CLI for BIOS firmware upgrade.

CSCvt45046

ENCS SNMP Trap support for storage disk removal and CIMC reboot.

CSCvw32845

ENCS-W: CIMC - IP Access filter configuration limit count should be more than 4.

CSCvy96518

CIMC TACACS+ feature Accounting support.

Open Bugs in Release 3.2.13

Access the Bug Search tool at Bug Search Tool. Enter the bug identifier in the Search For field, and then press Enter .

Caveat ID Number

Description

CSCvy54967

BIOS is not upgrading using SCP for the first time after CIMC reboot.

CSCvz06834

CIMC GUI login page loading issue with TACACS and TACACS Accounting enable.

CSCvz12121

Physical drive locator-led accepts unsupported value.

CSCvz12130

Sol set commands and cancel-update not committed via CLI.

CSCvy79253

CIMC certificate deleted after factory reset.

CSCvw35502

ENCS-W: Shared LOM feature Redundancy support.

Related Documentation

For links to the following Cisco UCS E-Series Servers and the NCE documents, see Documentation Guide for Cisco UCS E-Series Servers and the Cisco UCS E-Series Network Compute Engine :

Obtaining Documentation and Submitting a Service Request

For information on obtaining documentation, submitting a service request, and gathering additional information, see the monthly What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation , which also lists all new and revised Cisco technical documentation, at:

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/general/whatsnew/whatsnew.html

Subscribe to the What’s New in Cisco Product Documentation as a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and set content to be delivered directly to your desktop using a reader application. The RSS feeds are a free service and Cisco currently supports RSS version 2.0.