I now have a new(to me) R720XD. It is my understanding that the two SSD's connected to the rear flexbay are not bootable. If I am correct, this leaves me to boot from the internal usb port on the mother board. I don't want to boot from one of the 12 drives in the front. My question is what usb key is best to run the os from. If it helps I intend to run Windows server 2019.
Booting a Dell R720XD
- Thread starter rdsii64
- Start date
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If the boot loader can see the disks, all you'd need is to setup a system partition (ESP) on a USB stick and put the boot loader on that. BCD should then point to the correct OS drive and it'll all be kept up to date automatically.
I would recommend installing a hypervisor first (any hypervisor, Proxmox would be fine), even if you only intend to run a single instance of windows. It has practically no performance impact and enables so many features and quality of life improvements, once you get used to it, not having it will seem like going back to the 80's.
I would recommend installing a hypervisor first (any hypervisor, Proxmox would be fine), even if you only intend to run a single instance of windows. It has practically no performance impact and enables so many features and quality of life improvements, once you get used to it, not having it will seem like going back to the 80's.
If R720XD has
a RAID controller then you need to setup an Array to access those 2x drives and make it bootable
a HBA then you need to add (if in IT mode) a BIOS (UEFI all needed for a modern OS) to the controller to make it bootable
a RAID controller then you need to setup an Array to access those 2x drives and make it bootable
a HBA then you need to add (if in IT mode) a BIOS (UEFI all needed for a modern OS) to the controller to make it bootable
No BIOS on card = no boot from it, can you flash the relevant UEFI BIOS to the H710 (in SAS2308 mode)
LSI 9207 and 9217 (I assume the H710 is crossflashed to either of these) both have a UEFI P20 BIOS downloads
Support Documents and Downloads
This allows booting from any drive attached in UEFI mode but won't load the BIOS you normally see at boot and dread at its slow loading
Your HBA is still in IT mode but bootable
Here is the ReadMe for more info
Support Documents and Downloads
This allows booting from any drive attached in UEFI mode but won't load the BIOS you normally see at boot and dread at its slow loading
Your HBA is still in IT mode but bootable
Here is the ReadMe for more info
Code:
*****************************************************
LSI Corporation SAS2 MPT UEFI BSD HII Driver Release
*****************************************************
======================
Supported Controllers:
======================
SAS2004
SAS2008
SAS2108
SAS2116
SAS2208
SAS2308
Component:
=========
Binary image name: ebcsas2.rom (for Flashing on EBC Compatible supported Platforms)
Binary image name: ebcsas2.efi (for Shell load test on EBC Compatible supported platforms)
Binary image name: x64sas2.rom (for Flashing on X64 platforms)
Binary image name: x64sas2.efi (for Shell load test on X64 platforms)
For all practical purposes use x64sas2.rom file.
Installation:
=============
Use SAS2Flash.efi to install the SAS2 BSD HII Driver binary.
The SAS2Flash utility is included in the package zip file.
UEFI version of SAS2Flash can be downloaded from the Support & Downloads section of www.lsi.com.
The command line installation instruction to flash the UEFI SAS2 BSD HII Driver is:
1. Run 'drivers' command under uefi shell
2. Locate the driver handles for existing SAS2 MPT Drivers
3. unload <dh>
where <dh> is the driver handle for already loaded driver.
4.sas2flash -c <n> -b ebcsas2.rom (for EBC compatible supported platforms)
or
sas2flash -c <n> -b x64sas2.rom (for X64 platforms)
where <n> is the controller number (starting with zero (0)).
If you need further help, please contact the LSI FAE associated with your Organization.
Notes:
1) UEFI BSD with or without HII does not require Legacy BIOS to be loaded on to the controller.
2) A latest Firmware either IR or IT version with proper NVData is required.
3) To load the images for testing under shell only:
a. load ebcsas2.efi
or
loadpcirom ebcsas2.rom
or
load pcirom x64sas2.rom
Dont' think that will boot as once you remove the bootble USB the Drives on the HBA without a BIOS won't boot.
Unless this changed on the R720
The R510 when I had a HBA I had to flash the UEFI BIOS to card and could then boot to any drive
Server 2k19 wouldn't even install off USB to the HBA without the BIOS it coud then boot from once installed
I don't understand why you would install Windows on bare metal like that. It's bad at storage, the server is bad at storage too, why not put something in between that makes it both better? You load the boot loader and kernel via USB, and everything else from the disks, problem solved.
It really depends on the boot method, firmware, HBA or RAID controller and OS.
If you have GRUB somewhere in between or UEFI with direct loading, you can practically boot off of any block device. If you are stuck int he NT 3.51 days, you can only boot if the UEFI system can pretend we're still in drive-letter days and the firmware needs to present the logical volume to the boot loader, which in turn needs to have the boot drivers and kernel readable ahead of time.
If your flex bay is connected to an HBA or HBA mode card that is also readable as a block device, practically anything can boot. In any other scenario, especially with windows, you're in F6 Floppy land and system volumes and ESPs on secondary media.