Administrator Guide

Supported Server Operating Systems
● Windows Server 2012 R2
Mac Operating Systems Supported to Access Encrypted Media (64-bit kernels)
● macOS High Sierra 10.13.5 - 10.13.6
● macOS Mojave 10.14.0 - 10.14.4
● macOS Catalina 10.15.1 - 10.15.4
SED Manager
● The computer must have a wired network connection to successfully install SED Manager.
● The computer must have a wired network connection for a smart card user to log in through pre-boot authentication for the
first time.
● Third-party credential providers will not function with SED Manager installed and all third-party credential providers will be
disabled when the PBA is enabled.
● IPv6 is not supported.
● SED Manager is not currently supported within virtualized host computers.
● Dell Encryption utilizes Intel's encryption instruction sets, Integrated Performance Primitives (IPP). For more information,
see KB article 126015.
● Be prepared to shut down and restart the computer after you apply policies and are ready to begin enforcing them.
● Computers equipped with self-encrypting drives cannot be used with HCA cards. Incompatibilities exist that prevent the
provisioning of the HCA. Dell does not sell computers with self-encrypting drives that support the HCA module. This
unsupported configuration would be an after-market configuration.
● If the computer targeted for encryption is equipped with a self-encrypting drive, ensure that the Active Directory option,
User Must Change Password at Next Logon, is disabled. Pre-boot authentication does not support this Active Directory
option.
● Dell recommends that you do not change the authentication method after the PBA has been activated. If you must switch to
a different authentication method, you must either:
○ Remove all the users from the PBA.
or
○ Deactivate the PBA, change the authentication method, and then re-activate the PBA.
NOTE:
Due to the nature of RAID and SEDs, SED Manager does not support RAID. The issue with RAID=On with SEDs is that
RAID requires access to the disk to read and write RAID-related data at a high sector not available on a locked SED from
start and cannot wait to read this data until after the user is logged on. Change the SATA operation in the BIOS from
RAID=On to AHCI to resolve the issue. If the operating system does not have the AHCI controller drivers pre-installed,
the operating system will crash when switched from RAID=On to AHCI.
● Configuration of self-encrypting drives for SED Manager differ between NVMe and non-NVMe (SATA) drives, as follows.
○ Any NVMe drive that is being leveraged for SED:
￭ The BIOS’ SATA operation must be set to RAID ON, as SED Manager does not support AHCI on NVMe drives.
￭ The BIOS's boot mode must be UEFI and Legacy option ROMs must be disabled.
○ Any non-NVMe drive that is being leveraged for SED:
￭ The BIOS’ SATA operation must be set to AHCI, as SED Manager does not support RAID with non-NVMe drives.
￭ RAID ON is not supported because access to read and write RAID-related data (at a sector that is not available on a
locked non-NVMe drive) is not accessible at start-up, and cannot wait to read this data until after the user is logged
on.
￭ The operating system will crash when switched from RAID ON > AHCI if the AHCI controller drivers are not pre-
installed. For instructions on how to switch from RAID > AHCI (or vice versa), see KB article 124714.
Supported OPAL compliant SEDs require updated Intel Rapid Storage Technology Drivers, located at www.dell.com/support.
Dell recommends Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver version 15.2.0.0 or later, with NVMe drives.
Requirements
15