11i Patch and Maintain Oracle Applications
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Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Course Modules
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Patching and the AutoPatch Process Patch Advisor Running AutoPatch Other Patching Topics Patch History Database
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Module 1
Patching and the AutoPatch Process
11i Patch and Maintain Oracle Applications
Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Objectives
After completing this module, you should be able to do the following: • Describe the elements of a patch. • Distinguish between a patch, mini-pack, and maintenance pack. • Describe how a patch is created. • Explain the steps AutoPatch goes through to apply a patch.
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Module Overview
This module consists of the following topics: • Patches, mini-packs, and maintenance packs • Family packs and family consolidated upgrade patches • Patch naming convention • Patch components • Patch creation • Downloading a patch • Overview of AutoPatch • AutoPatch operations • Applying a patch • Patch application in a multi-node system • Patch documentation files
1-5 Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Patches, Mini-packs, and Maintenance Packs
Patch Patch Mini-pack
+
+
...
=
Mini-pack +
Mini-pack + =
Maintenance Pack
...
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Mini-packs
•
• •
•
Mini-packs are cumulative. In other words, if the latest mini-pack for a product has been applied, there is no need to apply a prior mini-pack. Mini-packs may also contain new features and functionalities. Applying individual mini-packs will not update the maintenance release version, for example from 11.5.7 to 11.5.9. In prior releases, mini-packs were referred to as patch sets.
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Maintenance Packs
• •
•
Maintenance packs are cumulative. Applying a maintenance pack in its entirety with the consolidated driver will update the version number. In prior releases, maintenance packs were referred to as release updates.
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Family Packs and Family Consolidated Upgrade Patches
Product Mini-pack
+
Product Mini-pack
+ ... =
Family Packs
Product Product Upgrade Patches Upgrade Patches
+ + ... =
FCUP
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Patch Types
Patch type Bug fix New feature Interoperability Description Fixes an existing issue Adds new functionality Contains Oracle Applications files and database objects to make the current version of Oracle Applications compatible with a newer version of the database or a technology stack component. For example, Oracle 9i interoperability with Oracle Applications Release 11.5.8. Diagnostic Released specifically to determine the source of an issue. A diagnostic patch does not fix the issue.
1-10 Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Patch Types
Patch type Description
Translation
Contains Oracle Applications files that have
been translated from English to another language.
Upgrade
Fixes a problem with an upgrade or improves
the performance of an upgrade from a previous
major release, such as 10.7 or 11.0. Documentation Updates Oracle Applications Online Help.
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Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Patch Naming Convention
Patch
Mini-pack
11i..A, 11i..B
Maintenance Pack
11.5.1, 11.5.2, 11.5.3
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Patch Components
A patch, when downloaded, is usually in a Zip format. When you unzip these patch files, there are several components that may be included: • Readme files • Patch driver files • Replacement files • Patch Metadata files
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Patch Driver Files
c123456.drv
Copy Driver Copies replacement files
Database Driver
d123456.drv
Performs database updates
g123456.drv
Generate Driver Generates forms, reports, and so on.
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Patch Driver Files
Unified Driver
u123456.drv
• Copies replacement files • Performs database updates • Generates files
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Other Patch Components
Readme.txt file
README.txt
Contains patch application instructions (may contain manual steps)
Patch metadata files
Contains key patch information
Replacement files
Copied over existing files
SQL scripts
Run to perform updates
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Patch Creation
This is the general process of creating a patch: • Customer (or internal testers) reports a problem. • Customer or Support Analyst opens Technical Assistance Request (TAR) • Support Analyst researches problem. • Support Analyst notifies customer of existing patch, if available. • Problem is logged as a bug if patch does not exist. • Development researches issue and creates a candidate patch. • Developer checks fix into local source control system.
1-17 Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Patch Creation
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• • • •
Development registers patch in the Automated Release Updates system (ARU). Patch is automatically ported to all Oracle Applications platforms. Development tests patch in standard environments. Patch is translated to all languages if required. Patch is released to customers.
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OracleMetaLink
OracleMetaLink contains: • Technical documentation on Oracle products • Technical forums on Oracle products • Information on Oracle products availability • Technical Assistance Requests (TARs) • Access to the iTAR system that allows customers to log a TAR • Patches
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Downloading a Patch
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Downloading a Patch
i
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Downloading a Patch
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Downloading a Patch
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Downloading a Patch
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Overview of AutoPatch
Oracle Applications Database
Patch File
Oracle Applications File System
AutoPatch
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Overview of AutoPatch
AutoPatch: • Automates many tasks to make the application of patches easier. • Supports a powerful, granular patching mechanism, which allows changing the minimum set of files. • Compares version numbers before replacing a file to ensure the most recent file is used. • Does not change files if those on the file system are more recent than the ones in a patch. • Makes a backup copy before replacing any file. • Does not run database tasks that have already been performed.
1-26 Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
AutoPatch Operations
AutoPatch does the following when applying patches: • Prompts for required information about the patch. • Unloads patch metadata and verifies prerequisite patches have been applied. • Uploads patch history information to the database (if needed). • Reads and validates the patch driver file. • Reads product file driver files. • Extracts object modules from the product libraries (so it can compare version numbers on the object modules it extracts).
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AutoPatch Operations
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Compares the version numbers of the existing files against the files in the patch (version checking). Backs up any existing files that will be changed. Copies files. Archives files into libraries Relinks executables. Generates Java archive (JAR) files.
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AutoPatch Operations
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Compiles JSP files. Updates database objects. Maintains the MRC schema. Compiles invalid database objects. Generates forms, reports, message, and graphics files. Saves patch history information to the database.
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AutoPatch Features
AutoPatch is: • Platform aware: For example, if you try to apply a Sun Solaris specific patch on a Windows system, AutoPatch fails. • Translation aware: If language translation patches need to be applied in addition to the patch you are applying, AutoPatch notifies you.
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AutoPatch Features Patch History Database
With the patch history database feature, you can determine: • Which patches have been applied to a system. • When patches were applied. • What bug fixes were included in a patch. • When a file was last patched.
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AutoPatch Features Patch History File System Changes
AutoPatch saves patch history information to the file system when: • You run AutoPatch in pre-install mode. • Its attempt to save patch history to the database fails. • There is a mismatch between the AutoPatch executable and the patch history tables in the database.
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AutoPatch Features Prerequisite Patch Checking
AutoPatch checks to see if all pre-requisite patches have been applied before applying a patch. • If all prerequisite patches have been applied, AutoPatch applies the patch. • If all prerequisite patches have not been applied, AutoPatch lists the missing prerequisite patches and does not apply the patch.
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AutoPatch Features Checkfile Feature
When you run a checkfile-enabled database driver file, AutoPatch: • Gets the version information from the specified file. • Checks the AD_CHECK_FILES table to determine whether this version of the file and its arguments have been run previously. • Determines whether the action is really redundant. • Performs the action if the file has not previously been run. • After running all database actions, updates the AD_CHECK_FILES table with information about the database actions it performed.
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AutoPatch Features Applying Merged Patches
• • You can merge several compatible patches using the AD Merge Patch utility. When applying a merged patch, you only need to run AutoPatch once for each driver in the merged patch, rather than once for each driver in all individual patches. Applying merged patches reduces the amount of time to apply patches.
•
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AutoPatch Features Password Hider
• Lines in the AutoPatch log file containing passwords can be automatically masked to not display the passwords. By default, each line containing masked passwords is followed by a corresponding line prefixed with HIDEPW, which contains the original line with the passwords included. When options=hidepw is specified on the AutoPatch command line, the additional HIDEPW line is omitted.
•
•
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Applying a Patch
Zipped Archived Patch File
New file c.drv README.txt New file Unzip Expanded Patch Files
c.drv
PATCH_TOP PATCH_TOP Subdirectory
Old file
README.txt
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Applying a Patch
Product Directory 2. Copy File 115.12
c.drv
PATCH_TOP
File 115.3 PATCH_TOP Subdirectory 1. Backup Backup File
README.txt
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Applying a Patch to a Multi-Node System
c123456.drv
Forms Server
d123456.drv
Web Server Admin Server
g123456.drv
Concurrent Processor Server
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Applying a Patch to a Multi-Node System
If the patch only updates: • A forms file, then the copy and generate drivers need to be applied only to the forms server node • A reports file, then the copy and generate drivers need to be applied only to the concurrent processing server node
* We recommend running the copy and generate drivers on all nodes and letting the drivers determine the proper course of action.
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Applying a Patch to a Two-Node System
c123456.drv
Admin and Concurrent Processing Servers
d123456.drv
Forms and Web Servers
g123456.drv
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Patch Application Documentation Files
$APPL_TOP admin log
adpatch.log
adpatch.lgi
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Module Summary
In this module, you should have learned how to do the following: • Describe the elements of a patch. • Distinguish between a patch, mini-pack, family pack, family consolidated upgrade patch, and maintenance pack. • Describe how a patch is created. • Explain the steps AutoPatch goes through to apply a patch.
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Copyright © Oracle Corporation, 2003. All rights reserved.
Module Discussion
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•
•
This module covered five operations performed during the application of a typical patch. What are these? A patch generally consists of several types of driver files. Name the driver files and their purpose. Describe the process of applying patches to a multi-node system.
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Module Practice
•
Downloading patches
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