RE: CPUJAN2009 Patch Installation and Q/A

See my answers below:  

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Greenlaw, Sam (N-Apex Systems)
Sent: Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:03 AM To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: CPUJAN2009 Patch Installation and Q/A  

We are doing the Solaris 10.2.0.4 7592346 patch with RHEL to follow. README leaves issues with Best Practices:  

1. At what point should an Instance that is monitored with Grid Control be put in GC blackout ? Is this critical ?
   • Shutdown, blackout, backup, startup-and-apply-CPU procedures, post-apply work, backup, shutdown, end-blackout, startup ?
   • Guessing that an SA with some Oracle experience could be performing the patch work, can you recommend URLs that presents examples of CPU installations ?

I don't think GC alerts are critical. Everyone who would get an alert should know about the database shutdown - so getting an alert would be expected. I would not blackout GC for this.    

2. What do you like for an intuitive directory - OFA-happy - for storing the patch and its unzip ?

• $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/patch is an obvious choice. $ORACLE_BASE/admin/patch is used, too. Preferences ???

I like to keep the patchset in the Oracle Home that I patched. So I would move the zip file into the Oracle Home that is being patched. Unzip it there - it will create the 7592346 directory there. I then move the zip file to the same directory. Apply OPatch from that directory and then delete the 7592346/etc and 7592346/files directories just to clear disk space. You always have the zip file if you need it.

To me, it's just a simple confirmation that then patch has been applied to the specific Oracle Home.  

3. Finally, testing after a CPU cycle. We had a suite of RAT (Real Application Test) runs, back a bit. Is there anything recommended for a Best Practices suite, today, suitable for post-install testing ?  

I'm not sure how to test the patches that are applied. They are security related, so I guess you could see what they fixed and try them. I'd make sure your application works somehow. But I've yet to see any problems from the CPU patch set.

Good Luck!  

Tom  

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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Thu Jan 29 2009 - 10:14:50 CST