Something I’ve noticed, being exposed to a variety of SCOM deployments, is that in quite a few cases Management Packs are installed and never looked at again. Generally this seems to stem from either the engineer looking after the environment doesn’t know any better or is perhaps too cautious to perform an update but there may be other specific reasons such as client restrictions.

Never the less it is good practice to check all of your management packs regularly, I’d say at least once a month, to see if any updated versions are available.

The easiest way to check MPs available through the catalog is to use the wizard in the SCOM console and search for “Updates Available for installed Management Packs” 

In my experience once you have found a new version of a particular MP has been released it is always a good idea to download the MSI from the relevant site instead of using the wizard. This is because if a new management pack has been added to the package that wasn’t there in the previous version then you will not detect it as an update for an installed Management Pack.

If you have management packs not available through the catalog then they unfortunately need to be checked against the latest version at the vendor site manually.

Remember: If possible always test before deploying a new version of a management pack, if you don’t have access to a lab then an alternative is to keep an eye on community blogs and sites like System Center Central and MP Wiki, to see if any issues crop up.

If you have a good method for keeping your management packs up to date leave a comment.