HP Unified Extensible Firmware Interface - Manual (Page 7)

1 Introduction
Overview
HP ProLiant DL580 Gen8 servers include the HP UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) System
Utilities, which is embedded in the system ROM. The UEFI System Utilities lets you perform a wide
range of configuration activities including:
•
Configuring system devices and installed options.
•
Enabling and disabling system features.
•
Displaying system information.
•
Selecting the primary boot controller or partition.
•
Configuring memory options.
•
Launching other pre-boot environments such as the Embedded UEFI Shell and Intelligent
Provisioning.
The following are some of the features that UEFI enables and that the HP ProLiant DL580 Gen8
can support when configured for UEFI boot operation:
•
Support for boot partitions larger than 2.2TB. Such configurations could previously only be
used for boot drives when using RAID solutions such as HP Smart Array.
•
PXE boot support for IPv6 networks.
•
PXE Multicast Boot allowing for faster PXE deployments for large numbers of servers.
•
Secure Boot that allows the system firmware, option card firmware, operating systems, and
software collaborate to enhance platform security.
•
UEFI Shell that provides a pre-boot environment for running scripts and tools.
•
Operating system specific functionality, such as Microsoft Windows 2012, which supports
several features only when installed in UEFI mode.
•
Boot support for option cards that only support a UEFI option ROM.
The interface is available as the Embedded UEFI Shell, which is an embedded pre-boot environment
that is separate from System Utilities. For more information, see the HP UEFI Shell User Guide for
details on using the Shell environment.
NOTE: Throughout the menus, the interface attempts to display the proper marketing name for
installed PCI devices. If the interface does not recognize a device, it assigns a generic label to the
device, such as a non-HP name. This generic labeling does not affect the functionality or operation
of the device.
What is UEFI?
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is a specification that defines the model for the interface
between the operating system and platform firmware during the boot, or start-up process. Compared
to Legacy BIOS, UEFI provides a pre-boot graphical user interface that provides control of the
system to an operating system (for example, as Windows or Linux). UEFI also provides enterprise
management, pre-OS and network security, Secure Boot, and expanded storage. The HP ROM-Based
Setup Utility (RBSU) functionality is available from the UEFI interface along with additional
configuration options.
Overview 7