You will do your work on the host system. First, you will create an

environment file

. The environment file contains information needed to automate the tool flow. The reference implementation includes a sample of an environment file.

On the host system, you will run the cache configurator.

The cache configurator runs on the target to read the current cache configuration.

The cache configurator displays the current cache configuration and provides options to change the configuration.

You can use the cache configurator command-line interface to modify the cache configuration.

On the host system, the cache configurator creates and signs a

capsule

. A capsule is a binary used to change a system’s tuning configuration by updating certain areas of the firmware, known as “subregions.” For the UEFI BIOS, the tool uses software called

subregion capsule tool

to create the capsule and

subregion sign tool

to sign the capsule payload (subregion or tuning config data). For the Slim Bootloader, the tool uses Slim Bootloader tools to create and sign the capsule payload (subregion or tuning config data). The subregion data and the capsule must always be signed when generated to ensure the integrity of the generated capsule. The signed capsule and its payload (signed subregion data) will be authenticated by the boot firmware before it is consumed. When using an Intel provided BIOS binary with Intel® CRB/RVP, the authentication can be turned off, since users may not have the ability to provision their keys. But nevertheless, the cache configurator always signs the capsule, so you need to have test keys for signing. For details about the signing mechanism, see the white paper Intel® Time Coordinated Computing (Intel® TCC) Security for UEFI BIOS. For the Slim Bootloader see Security Features section of the Slim Bootloader documentation.

On the target system, the cache configurator applies the capsule using a software called

fwupdate

.

The cache configurator reboots the target system. The cache configuration is applied to the target system.