The term SAN booting means using a SAN-attached disk, such as a storage system LUN, as a boot device for a SAN host. It also entails removing internal disks from the host so the host uses the SAN for all its storage needs.
SAN booting does not require support for special SCSI operations. It is not different from any other SCSI disk operations. The HBA has hooks into the BIOS, which enables the host to boot from a LUN on the storage system.
After the HBA has accessed the BIOS, you use the BIOS boot utility to configure the LUN as a boot device. You then configure the PC BIOS to make the LUN the first disk device in the boot order. The following must be installed on the LUN:
- Windows 2003 or 2008 operating system
- A driver for the FCP or iSCSI HBA
Note: Following a system failure, the bootable LUN might not remain the default boot device. In the event of a system failure, you might need to reconfigure the hard disk sequence in the system BIOS to set the bootable LUN as the default boot device.
See your FCP or iSCSI HBA vendor documentation for information on configuring bootable LUNs.
