Installing and Removing a FEX or Fabric Interconnect
The chassis houses two IOM (FEX) modules that allow the blade servers in the chassis to communicate with
Cisco UCS fabric interconnects. For the Cisco UCS 2100 Series, the model is Cisco UCS 2104XP. For the
Cisco UCS 2200 Series, the models are UCS 2208XP and UCS 2204XP. For the Cisco UCS 2300 Series, the
model is the Cisco UCS 2304 IOM.
The Cisco UCS 2304 IOM cannot be installed in the same chassis with a UCS 2208XP or UCS 2204XP
IOM except during migration.
Note
The same slot that is used for a FEX is used for the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect. Up to two of these
modules can be installed in the chassis.
UCS 2104 to UCS 2200 Series FEX Upgrade Considerations
Before you install a pair of UCS 2208XP FEXes to an existing UCS chassis using a pair of UCS 2104XPs,
or add a new chassis with a pair of UCS 2208XP FEXes to a UCS instance you must perform a full upgrade
to UCS software version 2.0(1) or later. The UCS 2208XP FEX is not recognized by earlier software releases.
Before you install a pair of UCS 2204XP FEXes to an existing UCS chassis using a pair of UCS 2104XPs,
or add a new chassis with a pair of UCS 2204XP FEXes to a UCS instance you must perform a full upgrade
to UCS software version 2.0(2) or later. The UCS 2204XP I/O Module is not recognized by earlier software
releases.
Upgrading from a pair of UCS 2104XP to a pair of UCS 2200 series modules should be done first on the FEX
connected to the standby Fabric Interconnect, standby should be made active, then the FEX connected to the
new standby Fabric Interconnect can be upgraded.
If you are also performing an upgrade on the fabric interconnects, perform the upgrades separately. Attempting
to upgrade both FEXes and fabric interconnects in a single process will likely complicate any reconfiguration
needed on the FI ports.
Adding any M3 model blade server may require an upgrade from UCS 2104XP to UCS 2208 series FEXes.
M3 blade servers use newer MLOM and adapter card models that are not fully compatible with the older FEX
model.
Before you disconnect any data cables, make a record of which FEX ports are connected to which Fabric
interconnect ports.
Configurations of 1, 2, 4, or 8 10 GB connections between FEX and Fabric interconnect are supported in
UCS. If your UCS 2104XP has 4 physical connections and you want more, the next available upgrade step
is the full 8 connections on the UCS 2208XP. You should verify that the FEX upgrade is completed with no
problems before adding the connections for ports 5-8.
If you intend to implement the Fabric port channel feature available in UCS software version 2.0, you may
need to rearrange the cabling between FEX and Fabric Interconnect before performing the feature configuration.
Fabric port channel will require that all physical links from a given FEX physically connect to a contiguous
block of ports (1 to 8 or 9 to 16, and so on). This feature requires a Cisco UCS M82-8P Virtual Interface Card
in at least one blade server, and a UCS 2200 Series I/O module that is connected to a UCS 6200 Series Fabric
Interconnect. See the Fabric Port Channel sections in the configuration guides for more details.
Cisco UCS 5108 Server Chassis Installation Guide
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Installing and Removing Components
Installing and Removing a FEX or Fabric Interconnect