Everyone who has worked with HP Proliant servers noticed at least once in their life that the iLO disconnect when you update the firmware to the last build of the server.
I mean in the situation when you are working remotely and not on location. I figured out that you can avoid this problem to do the following.
I’ve used iLO4 ( on the later models from the G7 and up. )
1. Download the latest firmware from the HP website [http://h20564.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5228286]
2. Unpack this file you have downloaded. (This in case you are not running a windows system on top of your server)
3. Login to the iLO of the server you need to update.
4. Upload the new firmware file and wait this this is finished.
5. after it’s uploaded the iLO will reset and you don’t have to reboot yet your system (unless the iLO version requires an reboot of the system
When you have don’t this steps. you are able to upload the new firmware via the latest SPP DVD (downloadable via HP or search good if you can’t login with Google).
You will notice now that the iLO keeps running when your server gets the new firmware for the other hardware parts in the server.
When finished the server reboots (if you use the automatic update) and you can continue with for example a VMware ESX update to a newer build.