From UCSM Managed Mode to Intersight Managed Mode with the IMM Transition Tool

If you have run Cisco UCS for any length of time, you know the building blocks by heart: policies, profiles, and templates managed through UCS Manager. Intersight Managed Mode keeps those exact concepts but moves the control point into Intersight. The good news is that you do not have to rebuild a domain by hand to get there. Cisco ships a free virtual appliance, the Intersight Managed Mode Transition Tool, that reads your live configuration, converts it, and in its newest mode performs the cutover for you.

This post walks through what the tool does, how UCSM Managed Mode and Intersight Managed Mode differ, and the full in place migration flow as it actually runs, including the few manual gates that catch people the first time.

At a glance

IMM is a software stack for Fabric Interconnects that puts UCS configuration and lifecycle under Intersight instead of UCS Manager.

The IMM Transition Tool is an OVA you deploy on vSphere. It replicates UCSM or UCS Central configuration and converts Service Profiles and Templates into Server Profiles and Templates.

Identities carry over. UUIDs, MAC addresses, WWNNs, WWPNs, IQNs, and IP addresses are preserved so a migrated server keeps its identity.

The tool offers five transition types. The headline one, In-Place UCS Domain Migration, automates fetch, convert, push, backup, erase, setup, claim, and domain deploy. You finish by deploying server profiles manually.

Latest release is 5.1.3 (January 2026). The automated in place migration arrived in 5.0.1.

UMM and IMM are the same parts, arranged differently

UCSM Managed Mode, often shortened to UMM, is the model most of us have run for years. An administrator builds policies, rolls them into a service profile, optionally wraps that in a template, and applies it to a server. Each domain is configured on its own, and the configuration lives on the Fabric Interconnects under UCS Manager.

Intersight Managed Mode reuses the same vocabulary. You still have policies, profiles, and templates. What changes is where they live and how they are reused. In IMM, those objects sit in Intersight and can be shared across many servers and many domains from one place. The Fabric Interconnects run a new software stack built on a Redfish based standard model, and Intersight becomes the single pane that supervises both standalone servers and Fabric Interconnect attached systems. Your existing knowledge carries over. You are applying what you already know in a more modular, more scalable structure.

Dimension	UCSM Managed Mode (UMM)	Intersight Managed Mode (IMM)
Control point	UCS Manager on the Fabric Interconnects	Intersight, SaaS or appliance
Building blocks	Policies, profiles, templates	Policies, profiles, templates (same concepts)
Reuse model	Per domain configuration	Objects shared across servers and domains
Server object	Service Profile and Service Profile Template	Server Profile and Server Profile Template
Underpinning	UCS Manager object model	Redfish based standard model
Scope of view	Domain by domain	Standalone and Fabric Interconnect attached, one pane

What the IMM Transition Tool actually does

The tool is a prebuilt virtual appliance. You point it at a running UCS Manager domain or a UCS Central instance and it fetches the entire configuration and inventory over HTTPS. From there it validates hardware and software compatibility against Intersight, converts the logical objects, and can push the result into your destination Intersight account.

The conversion does two things that matter for a clean cutover. First, it maps the Service Profile model onto the Server Profile model, including the policies and pools attached to each profile. Second, and this is the part that lets a physical server keep working after the move, it preserves the configuration identifiers that a server gets from its profile. That means UUIDs, MAC addresses, WWNNs, WWPNs, IQNs, and IP addresses come across rather than being regenerated.

Five transition types, one tool

When you click Add IMM Transition, you pick a transition type. They range from a read only assessment to a fully automated cutover. Choosing the right one is the first real decision in any project.

Transition type	What it does
Generate Readiness Report	Assessment only. Produces the compatibility and readiness summary for a UCS Manager domain or a UCS Central configuration. Nothing is pushed.
Generate Readiness Report + Push Config to Intersight	Converts the configuration and pushes it into Intersight, building the policies, pools, profiles, and templates in your account without touching the source domain.
In-Place UCS Domain Migration	Available from release 5.0.1. The automated end to end path. Fetches and converts, backs up UCSM, erases or changes the mode on the Fabric Interconnects, runs initial setup, claims them, then assigns and deploys the domain profile.
Clone Intersight	Copies configuration from one Intersight account to another, across SaaS, Connected Virtual Appliance, and Private Virtual Appliance accounts.
Upload Configuration + Push to Intersight	Takes a JSON configuration file you provide and pushes it straight to Intersight.

Conversion versus in place

The push only conversion stands up your configuration in Intersight alongside the running UCSM domain, which suits a side by side or staged adoption. The in place migration is the one that actually moves an existing domain over and reconfigures the hardware in IMM. Use the readiness report first either way. It is the same engine under both, and it tells you what will and will not convert before anything changes.

Before you start

Sizing and connectivity

The appliance is modest. The minimum is 2 vCPUs, 8 GB of RAM, and 100 GB of storage, with an optional extra 10 GB to 5000 GB if you plan to use the built in Software Repository for OS and firmware images. Plan the network for the ports the tool needs.

• TCP 443 (HTTPS) for the tool UI and for talking to UCS Manager, UCS Central, and Intersight.
• TCP 22 (SSH) for troubleshooting and advanced configuration.
• DNS on TCP and UDP 53, and NTP on UDP 123.
• For an in place migration specifically, both 443 and 22 must reach each Fabric Interconnect IP. The tool uses them for the erase, setup, and claim steps.

Supported source versions are UCS Manager 3.2(1d) or later and UCS Central 2.0(1a) or later. The appliance is delivered as an OVA at virtual hardware version 11 and runs on ESXi 6.0 or later.

Three gates that catch people on an in place run

These come straight from a real run of the tool. Handle them before you reach the erase step or the validation will stop you.

Unclaim the domain first. The source UCS Manager domain must not already be claimed by the destination Intersight account. If it is, the pre assignment of server profiles to server serial numbers will not work. Unclaim it from Intersight before you start, and confirm in the UCS Manager device connector that it shows unclaimed.

Set the password encryption key. If you want passwords in converted policies to remain intact, set the password encryption key in UCS Manager and remember it. From UCS Manager 4.2(3d) and later you cannot create or import a backup configuration without it, and the in place flow takes a full state backup.

Power off the servers. The erase validation requires every server in the domain to be powered off so the domain is in a clean state before it is reconfigured in IMM. Shut them down cleanly and retry the validation if it flags one.

HyperFlex

If your UCSM domain has any HyperFlex cluster deployed, do not migrate it to IMM. HyperFlex servers are not currently supported in Intersight Managed Mode.

Deploying and reaching the appliance

Download the OVA from the UCS Tools page at ucstools.cloudapps.cisco.com, then deploy it through vCenter. Direct deployment from an ESXi host is not supported and tends to fail, so use the vSphere Web Client.

1. Deploy the OVF template. In the vSphere Web Client, right click the host or cluster, choose Deploy OVF Template, and point it at the downloaded OVA.
2. Customize the template. Enter the network settings and set the system password. The NTP field is mandatory and defaults to ntp.ubuntu.com. Set the Software Repository disk size if you want it, between 10 and 5000.
3. Finish, power on, and open the console to confirm the VM is up.
4. Sign in. Browse to https://<VM IP>. HTTP redirects to HTTPS. Log in as admin with the password you set during deployment. The session times out after 30 minutes of inactivity.

An auto generated default password is substituted into converted policies that carry secrets, such as Virtual Media and iSCSI Boot, and a separate one is used for Mutual CHAP in iSCSI Boot. Plan to reset those on the converted policies after they land in Intersight.

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The in place migration, step by step

This is the path that moves a live domain. The tool drives the sequence, pausing at the points where you need to make a decision or take a manual action. The flow below groups the work into four phases.

Phase 1: Prepare

This is the work you do in UCS Manager and Intersight before you open a transition. Unclaim the source domain from the destination Intersight account, set the password encryption key in UCS Manager, confirm that 443 and 22 reach both Fabric Interconnects, and power off every server in the domain. The first three save you from a failed validation later. The power off is enforced at the erase step.

Phase 2: Convert and push

Now you build the transition. Click Add IMM Transition, name it, choose In-Place UCS Domain Migration, and the tool shows a short guided tour of the steps before you Start.

1. Add the source. Select an existing UCS Manager device or add a new one with its IP or FQDN, username, password, and a user label. Refresh so the latest configuration and inventory are pulled in. On a sizeable domain this takes a few minutes, with progress shown on the right.
2. Add the destination. Choose an existing Intersight account or add a new one. A new SaaS or appliance account needs an API Key ID and Secret Key, which you generate in Intersight under Settings, API, API Keys. For SaaS you also pick the region, US or EU.
3. Set the transition settings. Tags, fabric policy targets, and profile options live here. From release 5.1.2 the tool can configure vCon to PCI slot mappings automatically.
4. Select profiles and templates. All are selected by default. The tool warns on profiles in an invalid state, such as a pending reboot or a configuration failure, and warns again if you push more than 100 profiles.
5. Map organizations. Choose Default Mapping to mirror your UCS org names into Intersight, or Advanced Mapping to fold several UCS orgs into one Intersight org. In a simple lab you might map root straight to the default Intersight org.
6. Generate and read the report. The readiness report is produced once and cannot be regenerated for that config, so review it carefully. Errors must be resolved before you continue. Warnings can be acknowledged, but understand each one first.
7. Push the configuration. The converted objects are committed to Intersight. The push summary marks each object Success, Skipped, or Failed, with a detail view per object.

Phase 3: Cut over the Fabric Interconnects

This is the irreversible part, which is why the tool takes a backup first.

1. Backup. A full state backup of the UCSM setup is taken so a rollback is possible. Download it and keep it somewhere safe.
2. Erase or change mode. Two options. Erase Configuration resets the Fabric Interconnects to factory defaults and then reconfigures them in IMM, with initial setup done by DHCP or manually on the console. Change Mode switches the Fabric Interconnects to Intersight Managed Mode on reboot with no initial setup at all, which removes the DHCP and console work. Change Mode needs FI firmware 4.3(5c) or later and the tool at 5.0.3 or later. Before either runs, the tool validates that servers are powered off, the domain is unclaimed, and both protocols reach both FIs.
3. Initial setup. If you chose Erase and have DHCP, enter the IP details and the tool completes setup automatically. Without DHCP, connect a console cable to each Fabric Interconnect and enter the values the tool displays, the management IP, subnet, gateway, and DNS, one FI at a time.
4. Claim to Intersight. The tool claims the Fabric Interconnects, with an optional proxy if your device connectors need one.

Phase 4: Activate

With the Fabric Interconnects claimed, the tool assigns and deploys the converted domain profile, then triggers discovery so the servers appear in Intersight.

The one manual step at the end

After discovery, the tool stops. The server profiles are pre assigned to the server serial numbers, but deployment is not automated. You power on each server and deploy its server profile to finish the move. From release 5.1.3 there is also an optional step to push equipment specific items such as chassis and server labels, tags, and SPAN sessions, once the equipment is claimed and discovered.

Reading the readiness report

The report is the same engine behind every transition type, and it is where you decide whether a domain is ready. It is organized into a few sections.

• Conversion score. Score meters for hardware compatibility and fabric configuration, both for UCS Manager domains, and for server policy configuration. The rating reads as Excellent, Very Good, Good, or Poor. Cisco notes the rating reflects general cases, so read the detail for your environment.
• Overall summary. The attention points list the errors and warnings to address first. Errors are unsupported elements; warnings are elements that cannot be fully converted. Hardware compatibility shows pie charts per component, where green is compatible, orange means a firmware upgrade is needed, and red means not currently compatible. The config conversion summary maps each source object to its converted Intersight object.
• Hardware compatibility detail. Component by component tables for Fabric Interconnects, chassis, racks, adapters, and the rest, color coded the same way.
• Config conversion detail. Per object tables showing the attributes used, the source to destination mapping, and boot order, with the same warning and error coding.
• Source config reference. The pool details from the source domain, including which IP addresses are assigned to which service profiles and physical servers.

A note on timing

Report generation and the push are not instant. On a large UCS Manager configuration with many connected servers, Cisco warns that some operations can take more than an hour. Plan your maintenance window with that in mind rather than assuming a few minutes.

Which path should you take

If you are assessing, start with Generate Readiness Report. It is free of risk and it tells you where the firmware upgrades and the unsupported objects are. If you are adopting IMM gradually or building a new account, the conversion with push lets you stand everything up in Intersight while the UCSM domain keeps running. When you are ready to actually move a domain and reconfigure its hardware, the in place migration is the path that does it, with backup and validation built in. In every case, let the readiness report guide the work. It is the cheapest hour you will spend on the project.

The headline is simple. The concepts you already know in UCS Manager carry directly into Intersight Managed Mode, and the transition tool removes most of the manual conversion and a good deal of the risk. The parts that stay in your hands are the preparation gates and the final server profile deployment, and both are easy once you know they are coming.

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Source material for this walkthrough: the Cisco Intersight Managed Mode Transition Tool User Guide, 5.x, and the Release Notes for the IMM Transition Tool, current to release 5.1.3, dated January 2026. Verify exact behavior against the documentation for the specific release you deploy, since features and limits change between point releases.