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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
12 Dell EMC PowerEdge Updates Best Practices Guide (BPG)
A Terminology
Updates can be classified into three general categories. Device Drivers, Device Firmware and BIOS.
List of terminologies used in this BPG
Update Types
Device Driver
Device Drivers allow a specific device to be utilized on a system, such as a
Networking adapter. Device Drivers are Operating system specific, and must be
deployed through the operating system. It is important to choose the correct
device driver for the operating system that is running on the system.
Device Firmware
Firmware is the programmable portions of systems or devices. Firmware
updates may provide performance improvements, increase functionality, or fix a
defect for the devices that they are designed for. Firmware is typically
operating system agnostic, in that it is not dependent on the operating system
deployed on server. However, many devices, such as networking adapters
have programmable features that are updated through the firmware.
BIOS
BIOS is built into the system, and is the first set of instructions run when the
system is run. The BIOS initializes the hardware components and starts the
host operating systems.