No more hiding in the server room

Keeping up with the jones'

I'm facing an issue at the moment managing my IT Hardware and the various platforms we run, the problem is keeping abreast of the various firmware and driver updates available for our servers.

Do you guys keep an eye on such things and actively update system firmwares and drivers or do you only update when an external force prompts an upgrade.

Our policy is to attempt to apply these updates within 2 months of them being released.

Any advice on how it might be best to achieve this?

Dan

Tags: Firmware, Management, Patch

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Graycat on November 24, 2010 at 8:39pm

Our general policy is - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

That said if we're doing a rebuild for whatever reason (migrated roles is a usual one) then we'll apply the latest drivers for sure. Firmware we'll look at but unless there's a good reason or we've got a lot of time (when does that ever happen in IT?) then we most often leave it. See previous point about not broken etc.

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Permalink Reply by Wesley "Nonapeptide" on November 26, 2010 at 5:49am

I tend to update firmware for most devices that I get as soon as I open the box. I then forget entirely that such a thing as firmware exists until something catches on fire and the support line tells me that the firmware is the culprit.

Works for me. =)

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Permalink Reply by Chris Muncy on November 27, 2010 at 11:56pm

Servers I check once a month.
If I have to touch a field laptop it gets all sw and fw updates I can download from Dell.
Desktop pc's usually during a working holiday.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Goodman on November 29, 2010 at 10:55pm

Hiya,

First post here, so hello everyone :-)

I manage a fairly diverse set of Dell, HP, Sun & EMC kit, some of which is new, some of which is old. I don't believe it's right to patch just for the sake of it, in general I think it can cause more problems than it solves.

I'd say only patch if it's a critical issue (like a RAID firmware update that needs applying to prevent data loss, for example), or if you're hitting a particular bug and the vendor recommends patching.

And, if it gets rebuilt then it will get a firmware update - but usually by that stage it's heading for the test/dev setup.

So I'd agree with Wesley and Graycat - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Steve