Oracle APPS R12 Patching Concepts

                                                            Oracle Apps Patching

Patch is a program to fix a particular problem or enhance/add a particular feature in existing program/product/software

Here is the basics steps for patching

STEP 1 :Before applying a patch you must check whether the patch is already there or not. For this we query the database:

sqlplus apps/<apps password>@<tnsalias>   then
select * from AD_BUGS where bug_number=’<patch number>’;

STEP 2 : Download the patch.

Login to oracle metalink.(www.metalink.oracle.com)
Select  the patches option then select the search type.
Query for patch by writing the patch no. & platform on which you want to download the patch.
Click download .

If you have downloaded the patch at desktop then move it to directory where you want it to unzip.

mv  <patch.zip>  <destination patch directory>
eg:  mv p4003579_linux.zip /u1/apps/patch

STEP 3 :Unzip the patch. For this
Log in as application tier user.
Go to the directory where you have your patch directory & type command-
unzip patch.zip

This will unzip the patch in current directory & will make the required patch directories & sub directories.

STEP 4 :Enable the Maintenance Mode. For This:

Set the environment file located in APPL_TOP.
Run the ad administration utility by typing adadmin on unix/linux console. It will ask questions related to admin utility with default answers in brackets.Then it shows following options & ask for the choice:

$adadmin

1.Generate applications file menu.
2.Maintain applications file menu.
3.Compile/Reload Applications Database Entities Menu.
4.Maintain Applications Database Entities Menu.
5.Change Maintenance Mode.
6.Exit ad Administration.

Select option 5. The status of maintenance mode is displayed at the top of change maintenance mode menu.Again it will show following options & ask for choice:

1.Enable Maintenance mode.
2.Disable Maintenance mode.
3.Return to Main Menu.

Select option 1. Then return to console.

Note : To check maintenance mode status

            sql > select apps.fnd_profile.value('APPS_MAINTENANCE_MODE') from dual;

This should say MAINT for enabled

For disabled it say like NORMAL

STEP 5: Run autopatch from the patch directory by entering the following command:

$ adpatch

This is adpatch without options ie default options . We will discuss the options later

After this answer the questions of autopatch. As autopatch finishes its tasks, it writes timing information to the AD timing report for jobs running in parallel (if any ) and reminds you to run the log files for any errors.

If you don’t see the “autopatch is complete” message at the end of the Autopatch log file, Autopatch did not complete successfully.

Patching Techniques

When patch is running we can check the worker status by using adctrl AD tool.

While patching some jobs failed and we need to fix it then only the patch will continue . At that time we can use adctrl for monitoring the workers

Run the ad administration utility by typing adctrl on unix/linux console. It will ask questions related to admin utility with default answers in brackets.Then it shows following options & ask for the choice:

  

AD Controller Menu
     ---------------------------------------------------

     1.    Show worker status

     2.    Tell worker to restart a failed job

     3.    Tell worker to quit

     4.    Tell manager that a worker failed its job

     5.    Tell manager that a worker acknowledges quit

     6.    Restart a worker on the current machine

     7.    Exit

Option 1 to show the worker status

Option 2 to restart the failed worker

Option 3 to quit the worker

Option 8 is not documented

Enter 8 to skip the worker and continue the patch process

Once the patch completes we need to check the patch logs for verifying the patch is successfully completed or not

Patch log location: $APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log/adpatch.log

Worker log location: $APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log/adwork001.log  --- for 1st worker

                                                $APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log/adwork002.log --- for 2nd worker .....

In patch log check for the word failed and execute the job manually for completing the patch

AD Patching options

We can check all the patching options by using

$ adpatch help=y

Now we will see the most commonly used options

preinstall – To run adpatch in Pre-Install Mode.
Default – No.

logfile – Adpatch log file name.
Default – none. Adpatch prompts for this value.

workers – Specifies the number of workers to run.
Default – none. Adpatch prompts for this value.
patchtop – Top-level directory for the current patch.
Default – none. Adpatch prompts for this value.
driver – Name of the patch driver file.
Default – none. Adpatch prompts for this value.
compiledb – To compile invalid objects in the database
after running actions in the database driver.
Default – compiledb.
compilejsp – To compile out-of-date JSP files, if the patch
has copy actions for at least one JSP file.
Default – compilejsp.
autoconfig – To run AutoConfig.
Default – autoconfig.

The options= argument is used to pass generic options to AutoPatch. It takes the form
of a comma-separated list. Enter one option or a comma-separated list of options. For
example, options=nocompiledb,nocompilejsp. Do not include a space after the

AD Merge Patch

 When you apply patches individually, you must perform patching tasks multiple times. For example, for every individual patch there may be duplicate link and generate processes. AD Merge Patch merges multiple patches into a single patch so that the required patching tasks and processes are performed only once.

i.e. admrgpch -s ./source -d ./target -merge_name merged001

For eg we are going to merge 662540 patch and 777537 patch

Assume we extracted both the patches in /u1/app/oracle/appl location

admrgpch -s /u1/app/oracle/appl/662540 -d ./ u1/app/oracle/appl/777537 -merge_name merged01

This command will create a merged driver merged01.drv file in the current folder. Then we use this driver file to apply this patches

Types of patches:

There are several different types of patches following are more common patches

One-Off Patch
This is simplest Patch to resolve a specific bug
Minipack Patch
Collection of One of Patches and enhancements related to a particular module. Alphabetic character denotes the Minipack version for the module.
Family Pack Patch
Collection of Minipack patches for a particular family group of application modules
Maintenance pack patch
This is collection of family packs that serves as point level release upgrade
Consolidated patch
Collection of one-off fixes for a family pack or maintenance pack Oracle Application 11.5.10 Consolidated Update 2 (CU2) is an example of consolidated patch.
Interoperability patch
Patch that is required for application to function with a newer version of technology stack
NLS patch
Patch that updates language specific information for multi language installation
Rollup patch
This is a collection of one off patches that update code levels for particular product
Legislative patch
Special patch for HR payroll customers it contains legislative data for multiple countries