Introducing Secure Boot in Apache CloudStack

Existing CloudStack supports legacy boot loader BIOS by default for Guest VM’s booting on Hypervisor(XEN, VMware, KVM etc). In Virtualization, hypervisor emulates the hardware for the Guest VM. BIOS {Basic Input-Output system} is a low-level software. The BIOS loads when a VM starts up, and the BIOS is responsible for waking up your VM’s hardware(emulated) components, ensures they are functioning properly, and then runs the boot loader that boots Windows or whatever other operating system have installed. The existing BIOS has serious limitations. It can only boot from drives of 2 TB or less. 3 TB drives are now common, and a computer with a BIOS can’t boot from them. That limitation is due to the way the BIOS’s Master Boot Record system works. BIOS can be used in devices that do not require large storage or security. UEFI { Unified Extensible Firmware Interface} can work alongside BIOS. It can sit on top of BIOS and work independently. Benefits of UEFI boot mode over Legacy BIOS boot mode include: Support for hard drive partitions larger than 2 TB, support for more than four partitions on a driven Fast booting, efficient power and system management, robust reliability and fault management