Users Guide

6–Boot from SAN Configuration
iSCSI Boot from SAN
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iSCSI Out-of-Box and Inbox Support
Table 6-1 lists the operating systems’ inbox and out-of-box support for iSCSI boot
from SAN (BFS).
iSCSI Preboot Configuration
For both Windows and Linux operating systems, configure iSCSI boot with UEFI
iSCSI HBA (offload path with the Marvell offload iSCSI driver). Set this option
using Boot Protocol, under Port Level Configuration. To support iSCSI boot, first
enable the iSCSI HBA in the UEFI HII and then set the boot protocol accordingly.
Table 6-1. iSCSI Out-of-Box and Inbox Boot from SAN Support
Out-of-Box Inbox
OS Version
SW iSCSI BFS
Support
Hardware
Offload iSCSI
BFS Support
SW iSCSI BFS
Support
Hardware
Offload iSCSI
BFS Support
Windows 2012
a
a
Windows Server 2012 and 2012 R2 do not support the inbox iSCSI driver for SW or hardware offload.
Yes Yes No No
Windows 2012 R2
a
Yes Yes No No
Windows 2016
b
b
Windows Server 2016 does not support the inbox iSCSI driver for hardware offload.
Yes Yes Yes No
Windows 2019 Yes Yes Yes Yes
RHEL 7.5 Yes Yes Yes Yes
RHEL 7.6 Yes Yes Yes Yes
RHEL 8.0 Yes Yes Yes Yes
SLES 12 SP3 Yes Yes Yes Yes
SLES 15/15 SP1 Yes Yes Yes Yes
vSphere ESXi 6.5 U3
c
c
ESXi out-of-box and inbox do not support native hardware offload iSCSI boot. The system will perform a SW boot and
connection and then will transition to hardware offload.
Yes No Yes No
vSphere ESXi 6.7 U2
c
Yes No Yes No