I update firmware in two key instances.
- When staging up a server.
- When I just get the server, I’ll check the the HP web-site for the date of their latest “Firmware Update CD”. If it’s new enough, I’ll run it against the server before bringing it up to production.
- When I repurpose a server. Typically, this server is 2-5 years old and probably hasn’t had a firmware update in that entire time. Since I’m reformatting it anyway, I’ll update all the various firmware on the server.
- When there is a vendor identified need to do so.
- Sometimes there are major stability problems identified, like an inability to rebuild a RAID5 array after the wrong kind of failure, or a major performance bug in the TCP-offload engine on the NIC.
- Sometimes when calling in for support, the support tech will request I update the firmware. I will do so then.
There is a third instance that I didn’t list above, because it hasn’t happened yet:
- When putting a much newer component into an older server. Sometimes the system BIOS will need updating to handle it.