What can I help you with?
NVIDIA BlueField BMC Software v25.04

Boot Configuration

BMC supports boot option selection commands using the Redfish or IPMI interfaces. UEFI on NVIDIA® BlueField® can query for the boot options through an IPMI/Redfish command. The BMC IPMI command supports changing the boot device selector flag only through the following options: PXE boot, or the default boot device as selected in the boot menu on BlueField. In contrast, the Redfish interface supports all available boot options.

Retrieving Active Boot Configuration Values

  • To retrieve the active boot configuration, run:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield

    Info

    The relevant configurations would be under Boot.

  • To retrieve all boot options (active and pending):

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/

  • To retrieve detailed information on a specific boot option:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/<boot-option>

Retrieving Information on Pending Boot Configurations

  • To retrieve the pending boot settings:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings

  • The following command retrieves only BootOptions configurations with a pending value different than the active one.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings/BootOptions

  • To retrieve the details of a specific pending boot option:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings/BootOptions/<boot-id>

Applying Pending Boot Configurations

Note

Power reset of the BlueField is necessary for these changes to take effect.

  • To alter the boot configuration, applying patches to the setting attribute is required :

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings -d '{"Boot":{ ... }}'

    • To set the pending boot order. The list must contain all the Boot option, even if the boot option is disabled.

      Copy
      Copied!
                  

      curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings/ -d '{"Boot":{ "BootOrder": ["Boot0002",...,"BootXXX"] }}'

  • To alter the bootOption value, currently supporting only BootOptionEnable

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings/BootOptions/<Boot id> -d '{"BootOptionEnabled": false}'

Changing BootOrder Configuration

To set boot order using boot order schema, follow this procedure:

  1. Check the current boot order by doing GET on the ComputerSystem schema over 1GbE OOB to the BlueField BMC. Look for the BootOrder attribute under the Boot.

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -X GET -u root:<password> https://<BF-BMC-IP>/redfish/v1/Systems/<SystemID>/ | python3 -m json.tool { .... "Boot": { .... "BootOrder": [ "Boot0017", "Boot0001", "Boot0002", "Boot0003", "Boot0004", "Boot0005", "Boot0006", "Boot0007", ], .... } .... }

  2. To get the details of a particular entity in the BootOrder array, perform a GET to the respective BootOption URL over 1GbE OOB to the BlueField BMC. For example, to get details of Boot0006, run:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -X GET -u root:<password> https://<BF-BMC-IP>/redfish/v1/Systems/<SystemID>/BootOptions/Boot0006 | python3 -m json.tool   { "@odata.type": "#BootOption.v1_0_3.BootOption", "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/SystemId/BootOptions/Boot0006", "Id": "Boot0006", "BootOptionEnabled": true, "BootOptionReference": "Boot0006", "DisplayName": "UEFI HTTPv6 (MAC:B8CEF6B8A006)", "UefiDevicePath": "PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/Pci(0x0,0x0)/MAC(B8CEF6B8A006,0x1)/IPv6(0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000,0x0,Static,0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000,0x40,0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000)/Uri()" }

  3. To change the boot order, the entire BootOrder array must be PATCHed to the pending settings URI. For this example of the BootOrder array, if you intend to have Boot0006 at the beginning of the array, then the PATCH operation is as follows:

    Note

    Updating the BootOrder array results in a permanent boot order change (persistent across reboots).

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    curl -k -u root:<password> -X PATCH -d '{ "Boot": { "BootOrder": [ "Boot0006", "Boot0017", "Boot0001", "Boot0002", "Boot0003", "Boot0004", "Boot0005", "Boot0007", ] }}' https://<BF-BMC-IP>/redfish/v1/Systems/<SystemID>/Settings | python3 -m json.tool

  4. After a successful PATCH, reboot the BlueField and check if the settings have been applied by doing a GET on the ComputerSystem schema.

  5. If the BootOrder array is updated as intended then the settings have been applied and the BlueField should boot as per the order in preceding cycles.

  6. If BootSourceOverrideEnabled is set to Once , boot override is disabled and any related properties are reset to their former values to avoid repetition. If it is set to Continuous , then on every reboot, BlueField would keep performing boot override (HTTPBoot).

Example of Changing BootOrder Configuration

To get the supported boot options:

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions", "@odata.type": "#BootOptionCollection.BootOptionCollection", "Members": [ { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0000" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000A" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000B" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000C" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000D" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000E" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot000F" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0001" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0002" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0003" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0004" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0005" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0006" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0007" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0008" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0009" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0010" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0011" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0012" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0013" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0014" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0015" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0016" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0017" }, { "@odata.id": "/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/BootOptions/Boot0040" } ], "Members@odata.count": 25, "Name": "Boot Option Collection" }

To set the pending boot order settings:

Info

In this example, 25 boot options are present. Therefore, the command to establish the boot option order must encompass all 25 options in the active BootOrder list according to the desired sequence.

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings -d '{"Boot":{ "BootOrder": ["Boot0040", "Boot0017", "Boot0000", "Boot0001", "Boot0002", "Boot0003", "Boot0004", "Boot0005", "Boot0006", "Boot0007", "Boot0008", "Boot0009", "Boot000A", "Boot000B", "Boot000C", "Boot000D", "Boot000E", "Boot000F", "Boot0010", "Boot0011", "Boot0012", "Boot0013", "Boot0014", "Boot0015", "Boot0016"] }}'

Boot Source Override

To set boot configuration, it is necessary to post to settings. For example:

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings -d '{   "Boot":{ "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Once", "BootSourceOverrideMode": "UEFI", "BootSourceOverrideTarget": "UefiHttp", "UefiTargetBootSourceOverride": "None", "BootNext": "", "AutomaticRetryConfig": "Disabled" } }'

  • BootSourceOverrideEnabled – should be set according to the values under redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield > Boot/BootSourceOverrideEnabled@Redfish.AllowableValues

  • BootSourceOverrideMode – should be set according to the values under redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield > Boot/BootSourceOverrideMode@Redfish.AllowableValues

  • BootSourceOverrideTarget – should be set according to the values under redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield > Boot/BootSourceOverrideTarget@Redfish.AllowableValues

    Note

    When UefiTarget is selected, make sure that:

    • BootSourceOverrideMode is set to UEFI

    • UefiTargetBootSourceOverride is set to one of the UEFI supported BootOptions (e.g., Boot0007)

  • UefiTargetBootSourceOverride – this option would be available in the RF JSON if BootSourceOverrideTarget is set to UefiTarget

  • BootNext – this option would be in the RF JSON if BootSourceOverrideTarget is set to UefiBootnext

  • AutomaticRetryConfig – only Disabled is supported

The Boot Source Override feature provides administrators with remote control over a system's boot sequence, eliminating the need for physical access to configure boot order settings. This capability allows for one-time or persistent boot source overrides, enabling seamless OS deployment, system recovery, and remote diagnostics. Administrators can dynamically set the boot target (for example, PXE) , ensuring flexibility for various operational needs. Boot Source Override is particularly useful for automated provisioning, disaster recovery, firmware updates, and security hardening by enforcing specific boot policies.

Boot Source Override Config Using RedFish

Get Boot Source Override Configuration

To retrieve boot source override configuration, run:

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X GET https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield

Example for Redfish Boot Source Override Get result:

Copy
Copied!
            

"Boot": { ... "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Disabled", "BootSourceOverrideMode": "UEFI", "BootSourceOverrideTarget": "None", ... }

The following parameters can be set when configuring the boot source via the Redfish command:

  • BootSourceOverrideEnabled – should be set according to the following values:

    • Disabled – Boot Source Override will be disabled

    • Once – host will use the Boot Source Override settings only during the next host boot

    • Continuous – host will always use the Boot Source Override settings

  • BootSourceOverrideMode – should be set according to the values under redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield > Boot/BootSourceOverrideMode@Redfish.AllowableValues

  • BootSourceOverrideTarget – should be set according to the values under redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield > Boot/BootSourceOverrideTarget@Redfish.AllowableValues

Note

When UefiTarget is selected, make sure that:

  • BootSourceOverrideMode is set to UEFI, and

  • UefiTargetBootSourceOverride is set to one of the UEFI supported BootOptions (e.g., Boot0007).

  • UefiTargetBootSourceOverride – this option will be available in the RF JSON if BootSourceOverrideTarget is set to UefiTarget

  • AutomaticRetryConfig – only Disabled is supported

  • BootNext – this option will be in the RF JSON if BootSourceOverrideTarget is set to UefiBootnext

Set Boot Source Override Configuration

To set the Boot Source Override command, use the following redfish command:

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings -d '{   "Boot":{ "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "<OverrideEnabled>", "BootSourceOverrideMode": "<Mode>", "BootSourceOverrideTarget": "<Target>" } }'

Note

Boot Override Setting will be utilized by the BIOS/UEFI on the next boot and will be reflected in the redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield boot schema.

Example for Redfish Boot Source Override command, setting next boot non-persistent to PXE boot:

Copy
Copied!
            

curl -k -u root:'<password>' -X PATCH https://<bmc_ip>/redfish/v1/Systems/Bluefield/Settings -d '{   "Boot":{ "BootSourceOverrideEnabled": "Once", "BootSourceOverrideMode": "UEFI", "BootSourceOverrideTarget": "Pxe" } }'

Boot Source Override Config Using IPMI

ipmitool provides the ability to manage the Boot Source Override option and to configure the system to boot from a PXE server.

  • Get current setting:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    ipmitool chassis bootparam get 5

  • Change the boot override settings to enforce PXE boot:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    ipmitool chassis bootdev pxe options=efiboot

  • Change the boot override settings to Default boot device:

    Copy
    Copied!
                

    ipmitool chassis bootparam set bootflag none

  • Set the host to always use the boot override settings:

  • Copy
    Copied!
                

    ipmitool chassis bootdev pxe options=persistent

  • Info

    Whenever the user modifies the bootdev or bootparm settings, the persistent option will be disabled unless the persistent option is specifically enabled.

Info

The BlueField Boot Source Override setting from BMC is persistent until it is set to none or until the BFB image is updated again.


© Copyright 2025, NVIDIA. Last updated on May 5, 2025.