Q-Logic 8100 SERIES manual Boot from SAN, Boot-from-SAN Requirements, Host/Server Requirements

7–Configuring FCoE in a Windows Environment Boot from SAN

Boot from SAN

For legacy servers, the most common boot method was to boot from a direct-attached disk. When booting from a direct-attached disk, the server BIOS/UEFI locates the SCSI/IDE adapter BIOS, which contains instructions that enable the server to determine which of its internal direct-attach disks is the boot device. This boot method is called local boot. Local boot is not fault tolerant, and it does not allow centralized management of operating system images for rapid deployment scenarios and disaster recovery options. While many modern servers provide high-availability local disk configurations through server-based RAID controllers, other issues with local boot are paving the way for alternative boot methods.

The boot-from-SAN method places the boot device on the SAN—not locally on the server, as with direct-attached disks. This boot device is a LUN that resides on a Fibre Channel storage array device. The server communicates with the storage array on the SAN through a Fibre Channel Adapter or a Converged Network Adapter. The adapter boot code (BIOS or UEFI) contains the instructions that enable the server to find the boot disk on the SAN.

Because the boot device resides on the SAN, it simplifies server management. Separating the boot image from each server allows administrators to leverage the advanced capabilities of storage arrays to achieve high availability, improved data integrity, rapid provisioning, and more efficient storage management. Replacing a failed server is as easy as moving the Converged Network Adapter to a new server, pointing it to the SAN boot device, and booting up the new host.

All QLogic 8100 Series Adapters enable a host to boot from any of the supported versions of Microsoft Windows operating on the SAN.

Boot-from-SAN Requirements

Host/Server Requirements

Server requirements depend on the type of server, the SAN installation, and the network environment. Consider the following recommendations:

If you plan to configure boot-from-SAN on production servers, back up all disks before proceeding.

Set the boot order in the system BIOS configuration menu: first, the optical drive, then the disk, and then the SAN-boot device. Placing the optical drive at the top of the boot order enables the server to boot from Microsoft Windows installation media and then install the operating system on the SAN boot device. If the boot media is a PXE server (for LAN boot), place the QLogic 8100 Series Adapter at the top of the boot order. For more information about PXE boot, refer to “PXE Boot” on page 6-25.

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