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fester:prelim_bios [2016/06/10 17:14] – created dan | fester:prelim_bios [2016/06/10 17:25] – [AES-NI Encryption] dan | ||
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====== Configuring the BIOS ====== | ====== Configuring the BIOS ====== | ||
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+ | We now need to configure the BIOS of the server motherboard. | ||
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+ | You can do this via a keyboard and monitor attached to the server or through IPMI as outlined in a previous section. | ||
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+ | The settings and screen shots are all taken from a Supermicro X10SRH-CLN4F, | ||
===== Getting Into Your BIOS ===== | ===== Getting Into Your BIOS ===== | ||
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+ | In order to gain access to the motherboard’s BIOS the user is required to press a certain key at a certain point in time (usually as the POST messages are displayed). | ||
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+ | Consult your motherboard documentation to find out how to gain access to your motherboard’s BIOS. | ||
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+ | On Fester’s motherboard it is done by pressing the “DEL” key at a specific point. | ||
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+ | Incidentally, | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | When you have access to the BIOS it’s time to configure it. | ||
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+ | Most BIOS settings are navigated using the “←→↑↓” keys. | ||
===== BIOS Settings ===== | ===== BIOS Settings ===== | ||
- | ===== Quiet Boot ===== | + | ==== Quiet Boot ==== |
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+ | This setting is entirely optional. | ||
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+ | It determines if POST messages are displayed on screen or a graphic logo (so the POST messages are hidden from view) when you first turn on the server. Fester likes to see the POST messages so I disabled this function. | ||
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+ | Navigate to the “Advanced” page. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | Select the submenu “Boot Feature”. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | Now go to “Quiet Boot” and select “Disabled”. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | ==== Watch Dog Function ==== | ||
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+ | Remain in the “Advanced → Boot Feature” page and select “Watch Dog Function”. | ||
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+ | The watch dog function serves to reboot the server if it experiences an error it cannot recover from (and so hangs) for more than 5 minutes. It works by starting a 5 minute count-down timer when the server hangs. When this timer reaches zero the system is forced to reboot. | ||
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+ | When I first tried this in FreeNAS it caused my system to spontaneously reboot every 5 minutes even though the system was not hanging, so I disabled it. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | ==== AES-NI Encryption | ||
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+ | If you intend to encrypt the information on your storage drives then you need to enable this in the BIOS. | ||
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+ | This can be useful as it allows a failing HDD in a vdev to be discarded without worrying about wiping the information before disposal. | ||
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+ | Go to the “Advanced” page. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
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+ | Now navigate to “CPU Configurtion”. | ||
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+ | {{: | ||
- | ===== Watch Dog Function ===== | + | Then scroll down (it is towards the bottom) to “AES-NI” and select “Enable”. |
- | ===== AES-NI Encryption ===== | + | {{: |
===== AHCI SATA Configuration ===== | ===== AHCI SATA Configuration ===== |