How to Configure the BIOS CMOS Using a Golden CMOS Image

The BIOS configuration consists of the contents of the CMOS and the boot tables in the NVRAM. The command biosconfig -get_CMOS_dump captures the 256 bytes of CMOS, but it does not gather the boot table information from NVRAM. So this command might not capture the boot-order information, unless the bootable I/O configurations for the source and destination machines are the same. To generate a golden (known reliable) CMOS image, use BIOS setup to configure the host as desired.

1. Use the biosconfig -get_CMOS_dump to capture the 256 bytes of CMOS holding the configuration information:

   # biosconfig -get_CMOS_dump golden.xml
   Copyright (C) SUN Microsystems 2009.
   BIOSconfig Utility Version 2.1
   Build Date: Jul 16 2009
   Build Time: 15:55:12
   BIOSconfig Specification Version 2.4
   Success

2. To view the XML file, type:

   ---

   Note - The data between the <CMOS_DUMP> element tags contains raw CMOS data.

   ---

   <BIOSCONFIG>
      <BIOSCONFIG_VERSION>2.1</BIOSCONFIG_VERSION>
      <SPEC_VERSION>2.4</SPEC_VERSION>
      <SP_NETWORK_CONFIG>
         <DISCOVERY></DISCOVERY>
         <IP></IP>
         <NETMASK></NETMASK>
         <GATEWAY></GATEWAY>
      </SP_NETWORK_CONFIG>
      <PASSWORD_CONFIG>
         <PASSWORD></PASSWORD>
      </PASSWORD_CONFIG>
      <BOOT_ORDER_OVERRIDE>
         <HELP_STRING>FIRST=Choose one of: pxe, cdrom, disk, floppy, bios, none</HELP_STRING>
         <FIRST></FIRST>
         <HELP_STRING>CLEAR_CMOS=Choose Yes, No or leave it empty, ......</HELP_STRING> 
         <CLEAR_CMOS></CLEAR_CMOS>
      </BOOT_ORDER_OVERRIDE>
      <BOOT_DEVICE_PRIORITY>
         <B0>
             <DEVICE_NAME></DEVICE_NAME>
            <PCI-B-D-F></PCI-B-D-F>
         </B0>
      </BOOT_DEVICE_PRIORITY>
      <CMOS_DUMP>
         <OFFSET_00>00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.</OFFSET_00>
         <OFFSET_10>00.30.00.30.0E.80.02.FF.FF.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.</OFFSET_10>
         <OFFSET_20>00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.30.47.47.47.47.04.3A.</OFFSET_20>
         <OFFSET_30>FF.FF.20.85.90.F7.07.00.00.03.00.17.00.00.1F.3A.</OFFSET_30>
         <OFFSET_40>00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.00.</OFFSET_40>
         <OFFSET_50>00.00.FF.00.13.00.00.01.80.30.30.30.30.30.00.00.</OFFSET_50>
         <OFFSET_60>EF.40.41.42.43.44.45.46.47.08.09.0A.18.00.00.0B.</OFFSET_60>
         <OFFSET_70>00.03.0C.0D.0E.0F.10.11.00.00.00.00.12.13.14.15.</OFFSET_70>
         <OFFSET_80>11.24.26.06.46.14.00.16.02.00.F8.23.C8.17.20.07.</OFFSET_80>
         <OFFSET_90>18.20.19.1A.1B.1C.1D.9E.DF.9E.DE.21.02.03.04.05.</OFFSET_90>
         <OFFSET_A0>06.07.08.09.EA.2B.0B.0B.0B.4B.00.01.0F.00.0C.00.</OFFSET_A0>
         <OFFSET_B0>00.00.00.00.10.32.54.76.10.32.54.76.14.00.00.00.</OFFSET_B0>
         <OFFSET_C0>00.46.BC.00.00.00.00.00.00.80.C0.10.42.F9.FF.FF.</OFFSET_C0>
         <OFFSET_D0>83.00.80.9C.DE.1F.40.02.FA.52.55.E0.F1.F3.E7.FF.</OFFSET_D0>
         <OFFSET_E0>7C.00.01.04.00.00.05.04.03.04.00.02.07.02.17.00.</OFFSET_E0>
         <OFFSET_F0>17.03.01.05.08.01.03.04.00.03.00.09.01.00.05.00.</OFFSET_F0>
      </CMOS_DUMP>
   </BIOSCONFIG>

See Also

How to Apply the Golden Image