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1 overview of updating hp proliant firmware, 2 basic firmware update functionality – HP Insight Control Software for Linux User Manual

Page 129

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12 Using Insight Control for Linux to update HP ProLiant

firmware

This chapter addresses the following topics:

“Overview of updating HP ProLiant firmware” (page 129)

“Basic firmware update functionality” (page 129)

“Advanced firmware update functionality” (page 132)

12.1 Overview of updating HP ProLiant firmware

Keeping firmware up to date is a challenging but necessary task. Each ProLiant server usually has
several devices that require regular firmware updates, which can create a burden. HP offers tools
that help simplify this task. These tools are distributed on the HP Smart Update Firmware DVD,
which is available for download at

http://www.hp.com

Insight Control for Linux has additional tools that enable you to integrate the HP ProLiant Firmware
Smart Update Firmware DVD onto your Insight Control for Linux

CMS

, then use Insight Control for

Linux to update the firmware on a system, either on demand from the HP Insight Control user
interface;, or automatically, when a system is discovered using the Insight Control for Linux

bare-metal

discovery feature.

You can configure your CMS to perform basic firmware updates in just a few simple steps. Basic
firmware updates means that when a firmware update is run, all devices on the server are
automatically updated to the latest version of the firmware that was available on the Smart Update
Firmware DVD you chose to download.

For those administrators who require more control of what firmware is allowed to be installed on
which servers, Insight Control for Linux provides advanced firmware configuration features that
allow the administrator to specify exactly which firmware sets are allowed to be installed on a
per-server basis. The instructions in this section are divided into basic and advanced sections.

IMPORTANT:

Firmware updates initiated through Insight Control for Linux are done off line. A

running system is shut down for the update.

When the firmware update is complete, the system is left powered off. If you want to boot the
system afterwards, you must power on the server using the Insight Control for Linux Power On
Server tool

Firmware updates are run using the HP Smart Update Manager (

HPSUM

) tool from the HP ProLiant

Smart Update Firmware DVD. All firmware updates are run using the hpsum command's --silent
option, which means that the update is not interactive. The firmware files you provided are scanned,
and any devices that can be updated are updated.

For more information on how the hpsum command works and available command line options,
see the HP Smart Update Firmware DVD User Guide, which you can download from the following
web address:

http://www.hp.com

12.2 Basic firmware update functionality

Basic firmware update functionality is designed to provide an easy to set up and easy to use way
of updating firmware for people who simply want to keep their firmware up to date. Just download
the latest Smart Update Firmware DVD, install it into the Insight Control for Linux

repository

, and

run the update.

12.1 Overview of updating HP ProLiant firmware

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