UEFI BIOS
The Sun Server X4-8 is equipped with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface-compatible
BIOS (UEFI BIOS), which avoids many of the limitations of legacy BIOS. However some
operating systems cannot boot in UEFI boot mode, so UEFI BIOS provides the ability to
select between UEFI and legacy boot modes. The default is legacy boot mode.
If you change boot modes, the boot candidates from the previous mode disappear. The
boot candidates from the new mode appear after you issue the BIOS Save Changes and Reset
command. Use the Oracle ILOM BIOS Backup and Restore function to preserve the
configuration in case you want to switch back. For information about Oracle ILOM, refer
to your Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) documentation at: http://www.oracle.com/goto/ILOM/docs.
The table below describes the BIOS boot modes.
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Legacy Boot Mode
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Choose legacy boot mode to allow host bus adapters (HBAs) to use
option ROMs, when software or adapters do not have UEFI drivers, or
the system is using option ROM.
Legacy boot mode is the default boot mode. In legacy boot mode,
only boot candidates that support legacy boot mode appear in the
BIOS Setup Utility screens in the Boot Options Priority list.
Note -
Once you choose a boot mode and install an operating system,
if you reboot the server and select a different boot mode, the
installed image is not accessible and cannot be used.
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UEFI Boot Mode
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Choose UEFI boot mode to use UEFI drivers when software and
adapters have UEFI drivers. UEFI boot mode is manually selected
during setup. For instructions for making the selection, refer to
the Oracle x86 Administration Guide for X4 Series
Servers at http://www.oracle.com/goto/x86AdminDiag/docs.
In UEFI boot mode, only boot candidates that support UEFI boot
mode appear on the BIOS Setup Utility screens in the Boot Options
Priority list.
The following list shows the minimum operating system versions
required to support UEFI boot mode:
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Oracle Solaris 11.1
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Oracle Linux 6.x
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.x
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SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3
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Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 and Microsoft Windows
Server 2012
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VMware ESXi 5.x
All other operating systems must use legacy boot mode. For an
up-to-date list, refer to Sun Server X4-8 Product
Notes.
Note -
Once you choose a boot mode and install an operating system,
if you reboot the server and select a different boot mode, the
installed image is not accessible and cannot be used.
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For more details on UEFI BIOS, see the Oracle x86
Administration Guide for X4 Series Servers at: http://www.oracle.com/goto/x86AdminDiag/docs