Brocade Bios Support For Boot Over San - Dell Brocade Adapters Installation And Reference Manual

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Boot over SAN

Brocade BIOS support for boot over SAN

The Brocade adapter boot BIOS provides boot support for the Brocade adapters in x86 and x64
host platforms. The BIOS can discover up to 256 storage targets, such as RAID units, and the
logical unit numbers (LUNs) on those units when the LUNs are bound to adapter ports.
When adapter BIOS is enabled, the boot code loads from adapter option ROM into system random
access memory (RAM) and integrates with the host system (server) BIOS during system boot to
facilitate booting from LUNs, which are also referred to as "virtual drives" and "boot devices." LUNs
targeted as boot devices must contain the boot image for the host's operating system and adapter
driver. The process for booting from these locations is referred to as "booting over SAN." Boot over
SAN can be supported on a maximum of 16 ports (for example, 8 dual-port adapters). For more
information and configuration procedures for booting over SAN, refer to
SAN"
NOTE
You can enable or disable BIOS for boot over SAN, set port speed (HBAs and Fabric Adapter port
configured in HBA mode only), and display adapter BIOS settings using BCU commands. By default,
BIOS is enabled on all adapter ports.
The Brocade BIOS Configuration Utility (embedded with the boot code), BCU commands, and the
HCM allow you to perform the following tasks:
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on page 131.
Enable or disable BIOS.
When enabled, the system BIOS can execute the Brocade BIOS code to boot over SAN.
Set port speed (HBAs and Fabric Adapter ports configured in HBA mode only):
Review adapter properties, such as the following:
-
Port speed
-
PWWN
-
NWWN
-
BIOS version
Select a boot device from discovered targets.
Enable one of the following boot LUN options.
NOTE
To boot from direct-attached Fibre Channel targets, you must use the First LUN or Flash Values
options.
-
Fabric Discovered. When enabled, boot information, such as the location of the boot LUN,
is provided by the fabric (refer to
information).
"Fabric-based boot LUN discovery"
Brocade Adapters Installation and Reference Manual
"Configuring boot over
on page 163 for more
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