Oracle Patching

• Oracle Patching :
• Patching Oracle software with Opatch
• ·          OPatch is an Oracle-supplied utility that assists you with the process of applying interim patches to Oracle's software and rolling back interim patches from Oracle's software.
• ·          OPATCH: Opatch is a java based utility that requires the installation of Oracle Universal installer. It is platform-independent and runs on all supported operating systems. Another version of OPatch, called standalone OPatch, is also available. It runs on Oracle homes without Oracle Universal Installer
• ·          Patches are a small collection of files copied over to an existing installation. They are associated with particular versions of Oracle products. When applied to the correct version of an installed product, patches result in an upgraded version of the product.
• ·          Interim patches are bug fixes available to customers in response to specific bugs. They require a particular base release or patchset to be installed before you can apply them. They generally address specific bugs for a particular customer. These patches are not versioned and are generally available in a future patchset as well as the next product release.
•  OPatch supports the following tasks:
• ·          Applying an interim patch.
• ·          Rolling back the application of an interim patch.
• ·          Detecting a conflict when applying an interim patch after previous interim patches have been applied. It also suggests the best options to resolve a conflict.
• ·          Reporting on installed products and interim patches.
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• Getting Interim Patches
• ·          Oracle releases interim patches frequently to fix a bug or a set of bugs. You can get the interim patches by specifying the patch ID in My Oracle Support (formerly MetaLink) from the following location:
• ·          http://www.oracle.com/support/metalink/index.html
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•  Environment Variables OPatch Uses
• ·          OPatch uses the following environment variables:
• ·          ORACLE_HOME — Oracle home location.
• ·          PATH — Path information.
• ·          OPATCH_DEBUG — Log level that specifies the amount of logging OPatch should perform.
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• Backup and Recovery Considerations for Patching
• Note:
• ·          It is highly recommended that you back up the ORACLE_HOME before any patch operation. You can back up the ORACLE_HOME using your preferred method. You can use any method such as zip, cp -r, tar, and cpio to compress the ORACLE_HOME.
• ·          If the ORACLE_HOME does not appear when you execute the opatch lsinventory -detail command, the ORACLE_HOME might be missing from the Central Inventory, or the Central Inventory itself could be missing or corrupted.
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• ·          If the ORACLE_HOME is listed when you execute the opatch lsinventory -detail command, but the products and components within the ORACLE_HOME are not listed; the inventory within the ORACLE_HOME (local inventory) might be missing or corrupted.
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• ·          If the local inventory is corrupted or lost for some reason, you can simply restore the ORACLE_HOME/inventory if it was backed up. If a backup does not exist, you may have to reinstall the software.
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•  apply: Installs an interim patch.
•  napply:
• ·          Syntax : Use the following syntax for this command:
• o opatch napply [patch_location] [-id comma-separated list of patch IDs]  
• o    The following example applies all patches under the <patch_location> directory:
• o    opatch napply <patch_location>
• o    The following example applies patches 1, 2, and 3 that are under the <patch_location> directory:
• o    opatch napply <patch_location> -id 1,2,3