Updating systems

Use the IBM® Flex System Manager update manager to complete advanced updates to managed resources. Update manager enables you to acquire, install, and manage updates, as well as to monitor your systems to ensure that they remain current.

About this task

Update manager enables you to keep your systems at desired software or firmware update levels by automatically checking for available updates and identifying which systems need attention. It also provides you with the ability to monitor your systems for needed updates and schedule the installation of updates at times that are convenient for your network and users.

For a detailed summary of update procedures for all IBM Flex System® components, see the IBM Flex System Firmware Update Guides.

Note: If you are setting up your IBM Flex System environment for the first time, or if you need only to complete basic update operations for managed resources, use the management software update wizards. For more information about each update wizard, see the documentation in Initial Setup.

Update manager compares update information that is loaded into it with the inventories of specified systems to determine whether updates are needed. To load current information about available updates into update manager, you can use the update manager Acquire updates task. Within that task, you can use either of the following functions, both of which supply the same exact source for update manager:

Acquire updates: If an Internet connection is available, the acquire updates task automatically contacts the update repository and downloads information about the latest available updates into update manager.
Note: To acquire updates, the IBM Flex System Manager must have Internet access. If a connection is unavailable, you can instead import the updates manually. See Acquiring and installing updates for more information.
Import updates from the file system: If no Internet connection is available, you can manually download supported updates and then import them into update manager.

Update manager then enables you to examine recently acquired updates and install any that are needed.

Note: Because update manager determines needed updates by comparing information about available updates with system inventories, the update information must be current. To help keep update manager up to date, schedule a recurring Acquire updates task that will regularly download update information since the last acquire updates was run. Alternatively, you can regularly monitor www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/ and import updates that your systems might need into update manager.

If your systems need updates, you can use update manager to manage the installation.

Important:

For update manager to determine which updates are needed, you must ensure that the software inventory for monitored systems is collected and current. Most update manager methods cannot determine the applicability of updates to a system unless inventory was previously collected on the system.
The LAN over USB interface must be enabled on an X-Architecture compute node before you can update the firmware on that compute node. For more information, see Update considerations for X-Architecture compute nodes.

To view a table of the updates needed by your systems, you can use the update manager Show and install updates task. From this table, you can select which updates to install.

Notes:

Before update manager installs updates, it displays information about whether system restarts are required. You can allow or disable automatic restarts. If automatic restarts are allowed, update manager calculates the installation sequence that minimizes the number of restarts. Alternatively, you can manually control the restarts.
During installation, update manager automatically downloads the update installation files and distributes them across your network to complete the installation. As with restarts, you can also manually control these steps to minimize disruption.

To receive an automatic notification when updates are required to keep your systems current or at a specified update level, you can use update manager to set up compliance policies. These policies specify which systems are monitored and which updates you must install to keep the systems in compliance. Update manager uses these policies to check the status of your systems and notifies you when systems need updates, and which updates are needed. To set up compliance policies, you can use the update manager Create and configure compliance policies task. After a compliance policy is set up, the compliance pie chart then appears on the Update Manager summary page and you can use that to monitor compliance status and take any necessary corrective action.

Note: As a best practice, plan to update to the latest update or patch for your release of IBM Flex System Manager at least twice a year. Maintaining this schedule will help to eliminate unnecessary exposure to problems that are already resolved in more current updates and patches. Staying farther back on maintenance can also inhibit the ability of your service representative to provide a formal fix without first requiring the application of a more current update or patch.