**************************************** README **************************************** Chelsio Unified Boot Version : 2.3.0.0 (Beta) Date : 03/15/2023 Overview ================================================================================ Unified Boot is a software package for Chelsio's Unified Wire family of adapters and consists of the following components: - Unified Boot Option ROM v2.0.0.44 The Option ROM image adds PXE, FCoE and iSCSI SAN boot functionalities. - PXE-WDS drivers for Windows The following Windows drivers can be used during the installation process from WDS server: a) Virtual Bus Driver (VBD) v6.16.1.1 b) NDIS Function driver (NIC) v6.16.1.0 c) iSCSI Storport Miniport v6.16.1.0 d) FCoE Storport Miniport v2.0.9.0 NOTE: Drivers are WHQL certified. - ESXi drivers The Chelsio driver component v5.3.0.23 can be added to the ESXi installation ISO image. NOTE: Drivers are not VMware certified. ** This software package is tested with firmware v1.27.3.0 provided in the package ** Supported Operating System ================================================================================ Unified Boot Option ROM ----------------------- - Disk Operating System The installation of the following Linux distributions is supported using Chelsio inbox drivers. |######################################|################################| | Linux Distribution | Driver/Software | |######################################|################################| |RHEL 9.1, 5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1.x86_64 |PXE,FCoE,iSCSI | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------| |RHEL 9.0, 5.14.0-70.13.1.el9_0.x86_64 |PXE,FCoE,iSCSI | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------| |RHEL 8.7, 4.18.0-425.3.1.el8.x86_64 |PXE,FCoE,iSCSI | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------| |RHEL 8.6, 4.18.0-372.9.1.el8.x86_64 |PXE,FCoE,iSCSI | |--------------------------------------|--------------------------------| |RHEL 7.9, 3.10.0-1160.el7.x86_64 |PXE,FCoE,iSCSI | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| NOTE: Other kernel versions have not been tested and are not guaranteed to work. PXE-WDS Driver -------------- |###################################|###################################| | Windows version | Driver/Software | |###################################|###################################| |Server 2022 |PXE,iSCSI,FCoE | |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------| |Server 2019 |PXE,iSCSI,FCoE | |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------| |11 Client |PXE,iSCSI,FCoE | |-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------| |10 Client |PXE,iSCSI,FCoE | |-----------------------------------------------------------------------| NOTE: Boot image from above mentioned operating system is supported. You can find the image (boot.wim) in \Sources directory in the installation CD/DVD. NOTE: Other versions have not been tested and are not guaranteed to work. ESXi ---- - ESXi 7.0 NOTE: Other versions have not been tested and are not guaranteed to work. Supported Hardware ================================================================================ Supported Cards --------------- Following is the list of supported Chelsio adapters. |########################|#####################################################| | Chelsio Adapter | Driver/Software | |########################|#####################################################| |T62100-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T62100-LP-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T62100-SO-CR* |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T6425-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T6225-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T6225-LL-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T6225-SO-CR* |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T580-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T580-LP-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T580-SO-CR* |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T540-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T540-LP-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T520-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T520-LL-CR |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T520-SO-CR* |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T520-BT |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------| |T540-BT |Unified Boot Option ROM,PXE-WDS,ESXi | |------------------------------------------------------------------------------| * Only PXE supported. NOTE: All 4-ports of T6425-CR adapter will be functional only if PCIe x8 -> 2x PCIe x4 slot bifurcation is supported by the system and enabled in BIOS. Otherwise, only 2-ports will be functional. Supported Hardware Platforms ---------------------------- The following hardware platforms are supported by Chelsio Unified Boot Option ROM software: - DELL PowerEdge R610 - Supermicro X10DRi - Supermicro X11SSL-CF * If system BIOS version is lower than 1.5 and both Legacy and uEFI are enabled, please upgrade to 1.5 or higher. Otherwise the system will hang during POST. Supported Switches ------------------ The following switches are supported by Chelsio Unified Boot Option ROM software: - Cisco Nexus 5010 with 5.1(3)N1(1a) firmware. - Arista DCS-7124S-F - Mellanox SX_PPC_M460EX NOTE: Other platforms/switches have not been tested and are not guaranteed to work. How to Use ================================================================================ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Unified Boot Option ROM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Pre-requisites ============== - A DOS bootable USB flash drive or Floppy Disk is required for updating firmware, Option ROM etc. - Secure Boot option should be disabled in the system BIOS. Secure Boot =========== Secure Boot, a high-performance computing software solution is a method to restrict which binaries can be executed to boot the system. With Secure Boot, the system BIOS will only allow the execution of boot loaders that carry the cryptographic signature of trusted entities. In other words, anything run in the BIOS must be “signed” with a key that the system knows is trustworthy. With each reboot of the server, every executed component is verified. The Chelsio Drivers are in-boxed in major Linux Distributions mentioned in the Software Requirements. These Linux in-boxed drivers and WHQL Certified Windows Drivers (provided in the package) can be used for OS installation after enabling Secure Boot in System BIOS. NOTE: Secure Boot is not supported in the current release. Flashing Firmware & Option ROM =============================== Depending on the boot mode selected, Chelsio Unified Boot provides the following methods to flash Firmware, Option ROM, and boot configuration onto Chelsio adapters: Legacy mode: - cfut4 uEFI mode: - HII - drvcfg - Firmware Manager Protocol (FMP) These methods also provide the functionality to update/erase Hardware configuration and Phy Firmware files. IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended to use the same Option ROM (type and version) on all the Chelsio adapters present in the system. Preparing USB flash Drive ------------------------- This document assumes that you are using an USB flash drive as a storage media for the necessary files. Follow the steps below to prepare the drive: a) Create a DOS bootable USB flash drive. b) Create a directory "CHELSIO" on USB flash drive. c) If you haven't done already, download Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x.zip from Chelsio Download Center, service.chelsio.com. d) Unzip the downloaded package and change your working directory to "OptionROM" directory. [root@host~]# unzip Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x.zip [root@host~]# cd Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x/OptionROM e) Copy all the files and place them in the CHELSIO directory created on the USB flash drive. f) Plug-in the USB flash drive in the system on which the Chelsio adapter is installed. g) Reboot the system. Legacy ------ a) Configure the system having Chelsio adapter to boot in Legacy mode. b) Boot the system from the plugged in USB flash drive and change your working directory to CHELSIO directory. C:\>cd CHELSIO c) Run the following command to list all Chelsio adapters present in the system. The list displays a unique index for each adapter found. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -l d) Delete any previous version of Option ROM flashed on the adapter. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -xb Here, idx is the adapter index found in step (c) e) Delete any previous firmware using the following command. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -xh -xf f) Delete any previous Option ROM settings. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -xc g) Run the following command to flash the appropriate firmware. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -uf .bin h) Flash the Unified Boot Option ROM using the following command. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -ub cubt4.bin Here, "cubt4.bin" is the Unified Boot Option ROM image file present in the CHELSIO directory. i) Flash the boot configuration setting which will enable PXE and disable iSCSI and FCoE. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -uc boot.cfg j) In case of multiple adapters in the system, please repeat steps d) to i) to update/flash the firmware, Option ROM, and boot configuration on all of them. k) To configure the base MAC address (optional), use the below command. C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d -um For example, C:\CHELSIO>cfut4 -d 0 -um 000743000123 l) Reboot the system for changes to take effect. uEFI ---- To configure Chelsio adapter using HII, drvcfg or FMP in uEFI mode, please refer User's Guide. Default Option ROM Settings --------------------------- If you wish to restore Option ROM settings to their default values, i.e., PXE enabled, iSCSI and FCoE disabled, use any of the methods mentioned below: - Using Option ROM (boot level) For Legacy PXE, boot system into Chelsio’s Unified Boot Setup utility and press F8. For uEFI PXE, boot system into uEFI mode and press F3. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PXE-WDS Driver for Windows ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The Chelsio Boot driver packages should be added to Windows Boot Images using Windows Deployment Services. First add VBD, followed by NDIS and then iSCSI/FCoE drivers. a) Go to Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x/WindowsDrivers/ and add chvbdx64.inf, chnetx64.inf and cht4iscsi.inf/csiofcoe.inf files to boot image (boot.wim). The driver files need to be picked from below location: - Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x\WindowsDrivers\win19 for Server 2022, 2019 and 11 Client. - Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x\WindowsDrivers\win10 for Server 2016 and 10 Client. b) Windows OS can be installed on an iSCSI/FCoE LUN using the boot image having Chelsio drivers. IMPORTANT: Please make sure the switch is upgraded to the latest available firmware. NOTE: While Installing Windows operating system, please ensure that the USB drive having the driver is plugged into the system, only when asked to load the driver. After loading the driver, remove the USB drive from the system and then click 'Next' button to proceed with installation. For a detailed explanation on above points, please refer the User's Guide. Windows Update on iSCSI/FCoE LUN -------------------------------- The Chelsio Boot Drivers added to the WDS Server and the Boot Images in the above steps cannot be updated using Windows Update. Instead, they should be downloaded and updated to the latest version available from Chelsio Microsoft Download Center before running any Windows Update operation on the OS installed in iSCSI/FCoE LUN. IMPORTANT: Using Windows Update without updating to the latest available Chelsio Boot drivers will render your system unusable. please refer the User's Guide for detailed steps to update the drivers. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ESXi ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Pre-requisites ============== Secure Boot should be disabled in the system BIOS. Creating Customized ISO ======================= Follow the steps mentioned below to add Chelsio driver component to ESXi installation ISO image. Requirements ------------ - Install Windows 2012 R2 on the system used to create the ISO image. - Download and install the latest vCenter Server and PowerCLI from VMware website. - Download the required ESXi standard software depot from VMware website. a) If you haven't done already, download Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x.zip from Chelsio Download Center, service.chelsio.com b) Extract the package. The Chelsio driver component will be in Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x\ESXiDrivers c) Copy Chelsio driver component and the ESXi software depot to a desired location. d) Launch PowerCLI and add both the ESXi depot and driver component as software depots. PowerCLI C:\> Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl .zip,.zip, e) Verify that the drivers are now available as software packages. PowerCLI C:\> Get-EsxSoftwarePackage | findstr /I Chelsio f) List all the image profiles available and note the name of ESXi image. PowerCLI C:\> Get-EsxImageProfile|select Name g) By default, the ESXi image is read-only. Hence, using the profile name obtained in the previous step, clone the image. PowerCLI C:\> New-EsxImageProfile -CloneProfile "" -name "" -Vendor "" h) Add the Chelsio drivers to the new image profile, specifying the package names obtained in step (e). PowerCLI C:\> Add-EsxSoftwarePackage -ImageProfile "" -SoftwarePackage cxl,cheiscsi,cheiwarp i) Finally, export the new image profile as an ISO. PowerCLI C:\> Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "" -ExportToISO -filepath .iso In case the Chelsio driver is unsigned, use the above command with -NoSignatureCheck option i.e., PowerCLI C:\> Export-EsxImageProfile -ImageProfile "" -ExportToISO -filepath .iso -NoSignatureCheck PXE Server Configuration ======================== The customized ISO with Chelsio driver component can be deployed in the PXE Server. OS Installation =============== The client machine can now connect to the PXE Server over Chelsio network. ESXi 7.0 image (with Chelsio driver component) will start loading on the client machine. Select the Target LUN discovered using iSCSI Initiator on the "Select a Disk" screen and proceed with the installation. - Chelsio iSCSI Initiator, cheiscsi will be used if CBFT is configured in Option ROM. - ESXi iSCSI Initiator will be used if IBFT is configured in Option ROM. NOTE: In case the desired target LUN is not visible, press Alt+F1 to switch to shell console and execute the below command to rescan the LUNs. # esxcfg-rescan -A Press Alt+F2 to switch to "Select a Disk" screen. Support Documentation ================================================================================ The documentation for this release can be found in the Chelsio-Uboot-x.x.x.x/docs directory. It contains: - README - Release Notes - User's Guide Customer Support ================================================================================ Please contact Chelsio support at support@chelsio.com for any issues regarding the product. ******************************************************************************** Copyright (C) 2023 Chelsio Communications. All Rights Reserved. The information in this document is furnished for informational use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by Chelsio Communications. Chelsio Communications assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in this document or any software that may be provided in association with this document. Except as permitted by such license, no part of this document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the express written consent of Chelsio Communications.