Boot over san – Dell Brocade Adapters User Manual
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Brocade Adapters Installation and Reference Manual
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Boot over SAN
4
NOTE
For details on using BCU commands, refer to instructions for ethboot in the Brocade Command Utility
appendix of the Brocade Adapters Administrator’s Guide.
Boot over SAN
The “Boot Over SAN” feature allows a host to boot its operating system from a boot device directly
attached to the host system or located somewhere on the SAN instead of the host’s local disk.
Specifically, this “boot device” is a logical unit number (LUN) located on a storage device. LUNs can
be specifically targeted to boot hosts running Windows, Linux, or VMware, or Solaris. For more
information on how the Brocade Boot BIOS functions to implement this feature, refer to
BIOS support for boot over SAN”
Booting from a remote SAN location provides the obvious advantage of recovering quickly from a
host or adapter malfunction. With the adapter boot BIOS enabled for booting over SAN and
configured with boot device locations and boot sequences, replacing an old host with a new one
involves installing the adapter from the old host into the new one with the same configuration, then
booting the new host. The host’s operating system automatically boots from the remote SAN boot
device.
Although fast recovery from a malfunction is a big advantage, following are considerations for the
host and adapter, depending on the replacement situation:
•
Even though you install a similar host, the new host may require unique System BIOS options
and other settings, or internal IDE drives may need to be disconnected or disabled to boot over
SAN.
•
If replacing the Brocade adapter in a host with a similar Brocade adapter, you will need to
reconfigure the adapter and storage to boot from the appropriate remote boot device. You
must also update access on storage device ports to reflect the adapter PWWN. Finally, you
must update the single-initiator target zone created for the adapter port and storage device
port with the new adapter PWWN.
•
If replacing a host with a different model, you may be prompted to install the adapter driver for
the existing adapter.
Booting servers from SAN-attached storage can significantly streamline server administration and
facilitate server deployment. Instead of manually configuring each individual server, boot images
on SAN-attached storage can be cloned and assigned to groups of servers at the same time. This
not only simplifies initial configuration, but makes ongoing software updates and maintenance
much easier to administer. When boot images are centrally managed on the SAN, server security,
integrity, and ability to recover data are also enhanced.
Following are additional benefits of boot over SAN:
•
Eliminating the requirement for local hard drives.
•
Centralized storage management and administration of client workstations.
•
Disaster recovery.
•
More control and efficiency for software distribution.
•
Increased host reliability since operating system boots from highly available storage devices.
•
Improved security.