Server Firmware Updates

Currently server firmware updates are performed via Ironic Runbooks. For an Ironic Runbook to execute against a node, it requires the node to have a trait with a matching name. These Runbooks can be executed in an Ironic clean or service step.

Node Traits

Ironic uses node trait matching to provide access control to ensure only approved (matching) runbooks are run against the node in question. To list traits for a node, you can run:

openstack baremetal node show 2a47e27e-e6cc-4e1e-98b0-2ac4778b9014 -c traits -f value
['CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R7515']

Initial traits are added during the inspection stage of a node's enrollment, though additional tratis can be added with:

openstack baremetal node add trait 2a47e27e-e6cc-4e1e-98b0-2ac4778b9014 CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_PERC H740P

Runbooks

Ironic runbooks are used to define which firmware update files are applied, and in what order. You can list existing runbooks with:

openstack baremetal runbook list
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| UUID                                 | Name                               |
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| bfd82d37-6093-4307-a504-e844c1f9a5e9 | CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R7515       |
| 8215b5d0-9607-41e0-8416-9a864841aa60 | CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R7615       |
| 44aeb02e-5ea8-4a2d-9779-242e009aef76 | CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R740XD      |
+--------------------------------------+------------------------------------+

You can view the contents of a runbook with:

openstack baremetal runbook show CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R740XD -f yaml
created_at: '2026-01-21T22:13:58+00:00'
disable_ramdisk: false
extra: {}
name: CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R740XD
owner: 4fa3dd0f57cb3bf331441ed285b27735
public: false
steps:
- args:
    firmware_images:
    - checksum: 4e1243bd22c66e76c2ba9eddc1f91394e57f9f83
      url: http://FILE_SERVER/media/DriversFirmware/Dell_Updates/iDRAC-with-Lifecycle-Controller_Firmware_RVDDR_WN64_7.00.00.181_A00.EXE
      wait: 900
    - checksum: 0e0cf101fa97b8d91b800601ec1abc2552e77227
      url: http://FILE_SERVER/media/DriversFirmware/Dell_Updates/BIOS_J6D53_WN64_2.23.0.EXE
      wait: 300
  interface: management
  order: 1
  step: update_firmware
updated_at: null
uuid: 44aeb02e-5ea8-4a2d-9779-242e009aef76

You can execute a runbook against a node, with the appropriate matching trait, with:

openstack baremetal node service --runbook CUSTOM_FIRMWARE_UPDATE_R740XD 62349474-065f-4bb8-9f29-b22c5880c03b