6–Boot from SAN Configuration
iSCSI Boot from SAN
65
AH0054602-00 J
iSCSI Out-of-Box and Inbox Support
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 QLogic 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
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 6.9
c
c
RHEL 6.9 out-of-box requires SW to hardware offload migration.
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
RHEL 6.10
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
RHEL 7.5
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
RHEL 7.6
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
SLES 12 SP3
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
SLES 15
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
vSphere ESXi 6.5 U2
d
d
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
Yes
No
Yes
No
vSphere ESXi 6.7 U1
Yes
No
Yes
No