HP ProLiant SL250s HP ProLiant firmware management architecture - Page 9

HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) HP SIM lets you control software and firmware versions on multiple target servers. It lets you determine whether a server is operating correctly in your environment. With HP SIM built-in report capabilities, you can quickly generate reports that show which servers are out of date. HP SIM 6.0 lets you update network-based targets such as the OA and iLO by building on top of HP SUM. Future updates to HP SIM and HP SUM will let you do the following things:  Pull updates dynamically from the web  Set baselines for non-server based targets such as OAs, iLOs, and VC modules  Set maintenance windows  Activate mass deployments of updates in enterprise environments HP BladeSystem enclosure-level firmware For HP BladeSystems, no single tool provides all firmware-version information for an enclosure. But by scripting in HP SUM and using available tools, you can generate a report to identify the firmware version for the following devices:  HP Onboard Administrator  Virtual Connect  HP 3Gb/s SAS BL switches  HP Integrated Lights-Out  System ROM  Power Manager Controller  Smart Array Controllers  SAS and SATA hard drives  Broadcom and QLogic NICs  Emulex, Brocade, and QLogic Fibre Channel HBAs and Converged Network Adapters (CNAs)  Tape drives If you need to gather firmware information from a large IT environment and have the HP SNMP agents or WBEM providers installed on the servers, HP SIM will allow you to collect this information. Using HP SIM you can create both standard and customized reports to view the various firmware revisions. HP SIM 6.0 and greater supports HP SUM in collecting firmware information from most system components. If you do not have the HP SNMP agents or WBEM providers installed or have a smaller environment, you can use HP SUM reporting capability to gather this information. Managing firmware deployment You must manage the firmware interdependencies between components. Even though HP SUM can determine firmware dependencies and needs, you must determine which firmware DVD you should use and which content on the DVD you need to deploy. For example, firmware for HP BladeSystem enclosures cannot be older than the previous two versions within the support window. Developing a firmware management strategy is an important part of hardware maintenance and helps you keep your hardware running at optimal levels, saving you time and money. We recommend that you develop a strategy that includes how often you update your established baseline, the procedures for performing the updates, and periodic audits to ensure all servers are up to date. For HP BladeSystem, we recommend that you install a BladeSystem Release Set instead of individual firmware components. For other ProLiant servers, we recommend that you install a firmware bundle. See the HP website at http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/bladesystemupdate.html to download these firmware packages. 9