Major server vendors like Dell (with racadm) and HP (using ilorest) provide proprietary tools for remote BIOS management. Supermicro's approach differs as they don't bundle equivalent standalone utilities, but several cross-platform methods exist.

The most direct method utilizes Supermicro's IPMI interface through raw commands or the ipmitool utility:

# Example: Disable Hyper-Threading via IPMI
ipmitool -I lanplus -H hostname -U admin -P password raw 0x30 0x70 0x0c 0x0 0x1a 0x00

# Enable UEFI Network Stack
ipmitool -I lanplus -H hostname -U admin -P password raw 0x30 0x70 0x0c 0x0 0x1d 0x01

For pre-boot configuration management:

1. Extract BIOS image using afudos
2. Modify settings with AMIBCP tool
3. Flash back using afudos /i modified_bios.rom /p /b /n /k

The open-source UBT project supports multiple vendors including Supermicro:

# Sample UBT configuration file (bios_config.ini)
[Settings]
BootOrder = HardDisk,USB,Network
SecureBoot = Enabled
CStates = C0,C1,C2

# Apply configuration
ubt-cli --apply bios_config.ini --model X11DPH-T

This PowerShell script checks and configures multiple Supermicro BIOS parameters:

# Requires ipmitool in PATH
$params = @{
    "HyperThreading" = @{Command = "raw 0x30 0x70 0x0c 0x0 0x1a"; EnabledValue = "0x01"; DisabledValue = "0x00"},
    "VT-d" = @{Command = "raw 0x30 0x70 0x0c 0x0 0x1f"; EnabledValue = "0x01"}
}

foreach ($param in $params.GetEnumerator()) {
    $current = ipmitool -I lanplus -H $host -U $user -P $pass $param.Value.Command
    if ($current -ne $param.Value.EnabledValue) {
        ipmitool -I lanplus -H $host -U $user -P $pass $param.Value.Command $param.Value.EnabledValue
    }
}

• Always maintain BIOS backup before modification
• Test changes in staging environment first
• Document all modifications with change control
• Consider using configuration management tools (Ansible, Chef) to orchestrate at scale

When managing server fleets, manually configuring BIOS settings becomes impractical. While Dell provides racadm and HP offers ilorest, Supermicro requires a different approach combining IPMI and vendor-specific tools.

Supermicro's IPMI implementation allows direct BIOS manipulation. First ensure IPMI is configured:

ipmitool -I lanplus -H [BMC_IP] -U [username] -P [password] mc info

To modify boot order (example sets PXE first):

ipmitool -I lanplus -H 192.168.1.100 -U admin -P password raw 0x00 0x08 0x05 0xe0 0x04 0x00 0x00 0x00

Supermicro uses AMI BIOS - the AMIBCP tool can export/import settings:

1. Download current BIOS from Supermicro website
2. Modify using AMIBCP in CLI mode:

AMIBcp.exe /S bios.rom /O bios.txt
AMIBcp.exe /B bios.txt /O modified.rom

This PowerShell script toggles Secure Boot via IPMI:

$ipmiParams = @{
    Hostname = "192.168.1.100"
    Username = "admin"
    Password = "password"
    ArgumentList = "raw 0x00 0x08 0x05 0x08 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00"
}
Start-Process ipmitool -ArgumentList $ipmiParams.ArgumentList

• Always back up current settings: ipmitool -I lanplus -H $BMC_IP -U $USER -P $PASS bios save
• Test changes in staging before production deployment
• Document all modified settings for audit purposes

Common issues and solutions:

# If IPMI commands fail:
ipmitool -I lanplus -H $BMC_IP -U $USER -P $PASS mc reset cold

# When AMIBCP fails:
# Verify you're using the exact BIOS version matching your hardware