Administrator Guide

4 : BIOS vs. UEFI | Doc ID 20444677 | June 2018
Executive Summary
Dell EMC servers provide the option of using the traditional BIOS boot mode or UEFI boot mode. The boot
mode determines how the system BIOS interacts with adapter card firmware and operating system software.
Specific security features and boot mechanisms are available only when the system is configured for UEFI
boot mode.
This Dell EMC Deployment and Configuration Guide has two goals. First, it informs readers of the benefits
and shortcomings of the two boot modes, so they can choose the boot mode that is best for their
environment. Second, this paper provides an overview of the configuration needed to use UEFI boot mode. It
is assumed that the reader is familiar with the traditional BIOS boot mode, and likely has existing
infrastructure that uses BIOS boot mode. This paper outlines changes needed to support UEFI boot mode in
an existing datacenter infrastructure.