Configuring Network Boot on Fujitsu Primergy

AN!Wiki :: How To :: Configuring Network Boot on Fujitsu Primergy

Note: This mini-tutorial was written as a compendium to the Anvil! m2 Tutorial.

This tutorial will show you how to boot a Fujitsu server off of a PXE server, as is often done when using a Striker dashboard as an install target.

Enter the BIOS

Note: There may be slight variations in the appearance and layout of your BIOS, though you should have no trouble finding what you need.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - Press <F2> during initial POST.

When you first power on a Fujitsu Primergy server, it will take a minute or so for anything to show on the screen. This is normal, particularly after AC was disconnected.

When it does show the first screen, you will see a prompt to press <F2> to enter the BIOS.

Press <F2> and then wait.

The machine will continue to boot, scanning the RAID controller in the process. Once done, it will enter the BIOS scree.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - Main page

The first page you will see is the Main BIOS page.

Enabling 'PXE' (Network) Booting

Most Anvil! systems use three separate dual-port network cards. The first two ports are usually built into the server and the other two are add-in cards.

If you aren't sure which is which, you can simply enable all of them as bootable cards.

The goal of this tutorial is to make life easy, if not efficient, so we will cover how to enable all interfaces as bootable devices.

Enabling Booting from onboard NICs

Note: To navigate the BIOS pages, use your left and right arrow keys. One you are on the page you want, press the up and down keys to moved between the items. Press '<enter>' to edit an item's value.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - Advanced page

Press the 'right' arrow key to switch to the 'Advanced' page.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - Onboard Devices Configuration page

Press the 'down' key to highlight "Onboard Devices Configuration" and press '<enter>'.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - LAN Oprom settings

You will an option to enable or disable the onboard LAN (network) interfaces followed by an option to set if each is bootable and, if so, using what protocol.

Select each 'LAN X Oprom' that is not set to 'PXE', press '<enter>' and select the 'PXE' option. Press '<enter>' again to make the change.

Some trivia;

• Oprom is short for "Option ROM" (itself an acronym for "Read Only Memory) and is used by the hardware to determine where to look for bootable devices.
• iSCSI is a way to use raw storage from a device on the network as if it was a local hard drive. Setting a NIC to 'iSCSI' boot mode tells the system to reach out over the network to find its "hard drive" to boot from.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - PXE booting enabled

Now we can select either onboard interface to boot off of!

Note: It's outside the scope of this tutorial, but if you have hardware RAID and no optical drive, you can disable the onboard SATA to reduce boot times.

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS - Save and Exit page

Now to save and exit.

Press the '<esc>' key to return to the 'Advanced' page and then use the right arrow key to navigate to the 'Save and Edit' page. Select 'Save changes and Reset' and press '<enter>'.

File:Fujitsu BIOS .png

Fujitsu Primergy S8 - BIOS -

 

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