HP Smart Update Best Practices Implementer Guide

1 Introduction
Updating firmware is crucial for maintaining servers, enclosures, and other infrastructure systems
within an enterprise. Because updating existing firmware is less expensive than replacing hardware
pieces, firmware updates are as important to hardware health as software and driver updates.
This document describes the best practices for using HP SUM, HP SIM, and other tools to update
HP ProLiant and HP Integrity product firmware, including:
• Information to help identify a firmware maintenance strategy
• Determining which firmware to update
• Selecting the appropriate tools to perform firmware updates
• Considering the process dependencies
• Guidance for performing firmware updates
NOTE: Not all update tools and procedures work for all servers.
The update strategies in this guide are intended to minimize downtime and provide the least
intrusive method of updating the OA, VC Ethernet, servers, and other components in your
environment.
HP firmware overview
When updating HP servers, you might need to update the following:
• OA firmware
• VC firmware
• Blade server, Integrity BL8xxc i2/i4, rx28xx i2/i4, Superdome 2, and ProLiant ML/DL/SL
server system ROM
• Blade server, Integrity BL8xxc i2/i4, rx28xx i2/i4, Superdome 2, and ProLiant ML/DL/SL
server iLO firmware
• Broadcom, Intel, Mellanox and QLogic NIC firmware
• Smart Array Controller firmware
• SAS and SATA hard drive firmware
• Emulex, QLogic, and Brocade Fibre Channel HBA and CNA firmware
• Tape blade firmware
• HP 3Gb and 6Gb SAS BL Switch firmware
NOTE: BladeSystem interconnect switches are not discussed in this document. To update the
firmware for these devices, see the specific product documentation.
Explanation of guides
These guides are written to help you create strategies for using the HP update packages.
• HP Smart Update Best Practices Overview–Provides information for keeping your system
environment updated and running at its best.
• HP Smart Update Best Practices Planning Guide–Provides an outline for creating a firmware
update plan to follow before updating your server environment.
• HP Smart Update Best Practices Implementer Guide–Provides examples for implementing an
update.
HP firmware overview 5