HP ProLiant Support Pack - Manual (Page 6)

Introduction 6
Introduction
HP Smart Update Manager overview
HP SUM is a technology, which is included in many HP products for installing and updating firmware and
software components on HP ProLiant and HP Integrity servers, enclosures, and options.
HP SUM provides a GUI and a command-line scriptable interface for:
• Deployment of firmware for single or one-to-many HP servers and network-based targets such as
iLOs, OAs, and VC Ethernet and Fibre Channel modules.
• Deployment of software for single or one-to-many HP ProLiant servers (supported in Windows® and
Linux environments) and HP Integrity servers (supported in Windows® environments).
IMPORTANT: Throughout this document, most references to the deployment of firmware apply
only to HP SUM when used with HP ProLiant servers. Currently, HP SUM can only be used to
deploy firmware to the HP Integrity BL860c/BL870c/BL890c i2 Servers.
HP SUM has an integrated hardware and software discovery engine that discovers the installed hardware
and current versions of firmware and software in use on target servers. This capability prevents
extraneous network traffic by sending only the required components to a target host. HP SUM installs
updates in the correct order and ensures all dependencies are met before deployment of an update. HP
SUM prevents version-based dependencies from destroying an installation and ensures firmware updates
are handled in a manner that reduces any downtime required for the firmware update process.
HP SUM does not require an agent for remote installations because it copies a small, secure SOAP server
to the target server for the duration of the installation. After the installation is complete, the SOAP server
and all remote files associated with the installation, except installation log files are removed. HP SUM
copies the log files from the remote targets back to the system where HP SUM is executed.
Key features of HP SUM include:
• Dependency checking, which ensures appropriate installation order and dependency checking
between components
• Intelligent deployment deploys only required updates
• Simultaneous firmware and software deployment (ProLiant servers and options only)
• Improved deployment performance
• Local or remote (one-to-many) online deployment
• Local offline firmware deployments with the earlier HP Firmware Maintenance CD or the HP Smart
Firmware Update DVD for ProLiant servers and options
• Remote offline deployment when used with the SmartStart Scripting Toolkit or iLO Virtual Media
• GUI- or CLI-scriptable with extensive logging
• Remote command-line deployment
• Support for updating firmware on network-based targets such as the OA, iLO 2/iLO 3 through
Network Management Port, and VC Ethernet and Fibre Channel modules on HP ProLiant servers