HTTPs Boot User's Guide

Introduction to HTTPs Boot

The HTTPs Boot in Dell BIOS provides network boot capability that allows your system to download and install the operating system using a secure gateway. The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) network stack in BIOS settings must be enabled to initiate the HTTP(s) Boot Feature.

The Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) Boot uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) instead of TCP. It is designed to work only with a corporate network and does not support the secure Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol. However, the HTTPs Boot on Client BIOS supports the TLS protocol to enable secure operating system deployment.

The HTTPs Boot supports both wired and wireless network connectivity. When both networks are available, the wired network is selected by default.

The HTTP(s) Boot settings are enabled by default. The HTTP(s) Boot Feature operates in two modes:

• Auto Mode—By default, the Auto Mode is selected. The boot URL is obtained from Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) response.

  

• Manual Mode—Manual mode overrides the URL provided through the DHCP response. When the Manual Mode is selected, the option Enter Boot URL is displayed. This option allows you to manually enter the boot URL or the web page address. The manual boot web page address must point to .efi file and also support:
  • An alphanumeric string.
  • A maximum of 255 characters.
  • http:// and https://
  NOTE No error message is displayed when an unsupported URL is entered.