HP Virtual Connect Firmware Reference Guide
Technical white paper
UEFI and Virtual Connect
with HP ProLiant Gen9 Server Blades
Table of contents
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................... 2
Why UEFI now? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 2
UEFI Systems .................................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Role of Virtual Connect ................................................................................................................................................................ 4
How does Virtual Connect set the server profile? .................................................................................................................. 4
Role of VC in UEFI supported servers........................................................................................................................................ 6
How does VC assign boot modes?............................................................................................................................................. 7
PXE IP boot ordering ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 9
Support and other resources .................................................................................................................................................... 10
Resources ................................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Before you contact HP ........................................................................................................................................................... 10
HP contact information .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Documentation feedback .......................................................................................................................................................... 11
Version ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 11
Acronyms and abbreviations .................................................................................................................................................... 12
See the latest version at hp.com/go/vc/manuals
This document briefly describes UEFI and how Virtual Connect supports UEFI through its
server profiles.
Introduction
The use of the BIOS for PCs and servers extends over three decades. The BIOS runs on many PC and server systems today
and is based on code initially developed in 1979. The UEFI addresses the need for a new firmware interface that is designed
for the operating system and hardware architectures of today, where PCs and servers commonly have one or more multicore processors, numerous I/O ports of different types, PCI devices with their own controllers, and terabytes of memory and
storage space. This level of hardware complexity requires constant ad hoc fixes to legacy BIOS. Patching a system not
originally designed for these expansive systems makes such fixes burdensome for operations and management.
UEFI is a firmware interface with the same basic purpose of legacy BIOS, but it uses a different firmware stack. UEFI employs
a modular structure of drivers and files grouped into services that adapts well to complex and varied architectures.
UEFI’s framework of coding is designed to scale with server architectural trends, including new processors. UEFI encourages
architectural freedom, and it is agnostic to the type of processor used in a platform, such as energy-efficient Reduced
Instruction Set Computing (RISC) processors.
Advantages of UEFI over BIOS:
UEFI was introduced to HP Proliant Gen9 Server Blades (x86 based), which means Virtual Connect now supports UEFI and all
of its features.
Why UEFI now?
HP has been involved in the UEFI forum since its inception in 2005, and is currently on the board of directors with over 250
members. We implemented EFI, and then UEFI in our HP Integrity server line, and have been using UEFI in our client
desktops, notebooks, and printers. Recent trends have prompted a broad UEFI application to the enterprise server industry,
including:
• Expanded boot volume capacity
• Pre-boot security requirements
• Pre-operating system networking needs
• Pre-boot manageability needs
• UEFI-only operating system requirements
• Expanded amount of I/O ports and bootable devices
• Remote provisioning
Based on the rapid deployment of UEFI as an industry standard BIOS, HP has released different products that support UEFI.
Below are the list of products that HP has developed, or is developing, with UEFI as its core BIOS stack.
Since the transition to UEFI must be gradual, HP has created a range of servers to smoothly transition customers from
legacy BIOS to UEFI based servers. Different types of servers are available based on supported boot modes.
UEFI Systems
Now that the HP server blades are available with UEFI support, it’s the right time for the other modules which coexist with
the servers in the C7000 or C3000 enclosure to support UEFI, so that the customers are not faced with any issues in utilizing
these extended features of UEFI. Leading the support of UEFI is Virtual Connect, which plays an important role of virtualizing
the server blade’s SAN and LAN connections to the outside network.
Role of Virtual Connect
HP Virtual Connect for HP Blade System simplifies the setup of server connections to LANs and SANs, allowing server
administrators to quickly add or replace servers and move workloads without needing to involve network and storage
teams. HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 is the first interconnect technology to reduce the cost and amount of network equipment
needed compared to switches, while providing precise bandwidth control for every server Ethernet connection. Virtual
Connect Enterprise Manager provides a single intuitive console that manages server connectivity for hundreds of Virtual
Connect domains and thousands of servers.
All you need to do is have your system, LAN, and SAN administrators provision your LAN and SAN connections in Virtual
Connect. The next time you add a server, your system administrator won’t have to call the LAN or SAN administrators — the
system administrator can add the new server blade into the enclosure, assign the appropriate server profile containing your
defined network connections, and go! There is no need to coordinate with the LAN and SAN administrators.
How does Virtual Connect set the server profile?
Configuring a server profile in Virtual Connect depends on 2 modules:
1. The Enclosure Manager, commonly called Onboard Administrator or OA
2. The server blade iLO (Integrated Lights-Out)
The server profile is typically configured in the following order:
1. The server profile is configured using the VC Manager (VCM) GUI or CLI.
2. The server blade is installed.
3. VCM detects the server blade is installed, and then reads the FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) data for each interface,
like the HBA, the NIC, etc.
4. VCM writes the server profile information to the server.
5. When the server is powered up, the CPU, BIOS, and NIC/HBA option ROM software writes the server profile
information to the EFI (Extensible Firmware interface).
Loading...