You can use the `HostUpdatePolicy` resource to enable or disable applying live updates to the firmware settings, BMC settings, or firmware settings of each bare-metal host. By default, the Operator disables live updates to already provisioned bare-metal hosts by default.
.The `HostUpdatePolicy` spec
The `spec` section of the `HostUpdatePolicy` resource provides two settings:
`firmwareSettings`:: This setting corresponds to the `HostFirmwareSettings` resource.
`firmwareUpdates`:: This setting corresponds to the `HostFirmwareComponents` resource.
When you set the value to `onPreparing`, you can only update the host during provisioning, which is the default setting. When you set the value to `onReboot`, you can update a provisioned host by applying the resource and rebooting the bare-metal host. Then, follow the procedure for editing the `HostFirmwareSettings` or `HostFirmwareComponents` resource.
.Example `HostUpdatePolicy` resource
[source,yaml]
----
apiVersion: metal3.io/v1alpha1
kind: HostUpdatePolicy
metadata:
name: <hostname> <1>
namespace: openshift-machine-api
spec:
firmwareSettings: <setting> <2>
firmwareUpdates: <setting>
----
<1> The name of the bare-metal host.
<2> The update policy setting. Specify `onPreparing` to disable live updates. Specify `onReboot` to enable live updates.
