OSIM displaying the MAC for UEFI

[Michael Treichler]

For OSIM need to know the MAC address of the asset you are imaging.

 

With PXE boot that is very easy,  PXE boot displays the MAC during boot.  

 

With UEFI network boot obtaining the MAC can be a challenge.   On Dell assets imaging with UEFI network boot process doesn't display the MAC and unable to find where the MAC in Dell's BIOS.  No labels on assets showing MAC either.   Add to this some models like Dell Latitude 7285 do not have built in Ethernet so have to use a USB-C to Ethernet adapter to image.  

One route that does work is to take out of UEFI mode, switch into legacy BIOS mode, PXE boot, obtain MAC, then restore back to UEFI mode.  However that solution is cumbersome.   

 

Anyone have any solutions to obtain the MAC via UEFI?   Since OSIM's Unknown/Unmanaged Boot Loader seems to be customizable via configuration policy curious if would be possible to write something to unknown & unmanaged boot loader for UEFI that displays the MAC for a few seconds.

 

Thanks,

[Matt_Godfrey]

Very Good question...let's see if the guys from Services have any ideas on this one

Thanks for bringing this to us

[Gordon Lamothe]

Did you try the ipconfig/all   ??

[mccst05]

Hi Mike/Gordon,

 

I don't know about Dell's BIOS but the ones I have looked at had the MAC Address listed in the Boot Order dialog, as does the emulated VMWare EFI mode BIOS, albeit it is not shown in the usual format so may not be as easily recognized. Listed below as MAC(000C2977FF62,0x0)

Also, when the computer first registers with the SS, it does register the MAC Address and if you change the view to 'Advanced' you also see the registration date/time which might help to determine which MAC Address belongs to which machine.

If nothing else, remove (or rename) all existing entries for the SS which are listed only as MAC addresses, and boot the device so it registers.

 

Regards,

Steve

[mccst05]

Also, just rebooted my Dell Latitude E7470 just to take a look at the firmware and I was able to see the MAC Address clearly in the System Information tab (had to scroll down). Of course this is just one model but I imagine most of Dell's BIOS's look similar. I had 2 MAC addresses listed, LOM MAC Address and Passthrough MAC Address. The LOM address matches the actual ethernet adapter installed. The Passthrough address would be the address used if you had an external (USB) Ethernet dongle attached.

[Michael Treichler]

>>System Information tab (had to scroll down)

Whoops...   It's there for me too.   That should work and easier than switching into Legacy mode for PXE.

 

The UEFI dialog doesn't show much info.  On a small environment using OSIM advanced view is fine.  1 tech will know which MAC they just booted.  But on larger environment where may have 4 or 5 techs booting new machines at the same time which MAC goes to which asset can be confusing.   Obtaining MAC from system info will work.

 

Thanks,