Re: Doc.ID 756671.1 Oracle Recommended Patches

From: <Laimutis.Nedzinskas_at_seb.lt>
Date: Wed, 22 Apr 2009 09:54:17 +0300
Message-ID: <OFBB640591.564D2F3F-ONC22575A0.00253455-C22575A0.0025F2EA_at_seb.lt>



>Jack van Zanen <jack_at_vanzanen.com>
>It's quite funny really....

>Our OS get patched regualarly  (Windows every other month or so and UNIX
once a year or so) but for the database there is no active patching policy.

Do you get a downtime for that?

In fact I suspect that OS patching is mainly for security reasons. The same reasons may drive Oracle patching in production.

However I am in position when application is still beeing tested which means it is not that late for Oracle patching.

The real question is how Oracle tests patch bundles:

My understanding is that Oracle possibly tests each one of one-off patches but there is no way nor need to test combinations of them.

But each patch bundle can be tested in principle. It may even be possible to test pairs as there are not so many bundles. It may even be that bundles do not interfere much.

Does Oracle say how this testing of bundles is really done?


Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

                                                                           
             Jack van Zanen                                                
             <jack_at_vanzanen.co                                             
             m>                                                         To 
             Sent by:                  "oracle-l_at_freelists.org"            
             oracle-l-bounce_at_f         <oracle-l_at_freelists.org>            
             reelists.org                                               cc 
                                                                           
                                                                   Subject 
             2009.04.22 01:23          Re: Doc.ID 756671.1 Oracle          
                                       Recommended Patches                 
                                                                           
             Please respond to                                             
             jack_at_vanzanen.com                                             
                                                                           
                                                                           
                                                                           




It's quite funny really....

Our OS get patched regualarly  (Windows every other month or so and UNIX once a year or so) but for the database there is no active patching policy.

The often heard excuse is that it requires a lot of testing, I agree. But the operating systems running these databases get routinely patched and no application testing gets done prior to it.

Just the other week we had a UNIX patch and after the patch we had some issues with oracle that required us to run an oracle patch.

I believe that the CPU patch is definately worth looking at and should be taken serious.

New database servers go to the latest and greatest version available within our policy and will have the latest CPU patch applied to it. We do not go actively looking for one-of patches that might become an issue.

Jack

2009/4/22 Matthew Zito <mzito_at_gridapp.com>

      So, we have one customer that is aggressively applying these
      recommended patch bundles, and have not reported any issues.





      Most of our other customers would not apply any patches at all,
      except for the fact that their security and/or compliance people have
      come down on them that “Thou must apply X critical patch updates per
      year”.





      I’m in favor of the, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school of
      thought, but it seems like it’s just not going to be viable forever.





      Thanks,


      Matt





      --


      Matthew Zito


      Chief Scientist


      GridApp Systems


      P: 646-452-4090


      mzito_at_gridapp.com


      http://www.gridapp.com








      From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org [mailto:
      oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org] On Behalf Of Carol Dacko
      Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2009 1:19 PM

      To: Laimutis.Nedzinskas_at_seb.lt


      Cc: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
      Subject: Re: Doc.ID 756671.1 Oracle Recommended Patches






      Laimutis,





      Patch bundles should be the way to go.  Thanks for pointing this out
      to us!





      When we go up a 10.2.0.x release, we always apply any one-off patches
      that we believe we will encounter.  This helps to prevent doing the
      one patch at a time dance.





      This is definitely a path that I will recommend we do here in our
      department at the University of Michigan.





      Thanks again!


      Carol


      2009/4/21 <Laimutis.Nedzinskas_at_seb.lt>



      Is anyone patching database according to this:
      "
      Subject: Oracle Recommended Patches -- Oracle Database   Doc ID:
      756671.1
      Type: ANNOUNCEMENT   Modified Date : 15-APR-2009 Status: PUBLISHED

      Beginning with release 10.2.0.3, Oracle releases Recommended Patches
      for
      Oracle Database. For an introduction to Recommended Patches, see Note
      756388.1.
      "

      Any positive experiences ?

      Because I am working on a new project (some projects are still not
      canceled
      in these  times) I am wondering about apply-all-recommended-patches
      approach.

      It looks tempting to get rid of most of nasty bugs that manage to
      surface
      anyway.
      Especially that we are beeing forced to use Oracle Streams which are
      somewhat outstanding with regard to Oracle recommended minimal patch
      list.
      Oracle Physical Standby (aka Data Guard)  is on the list too.

      Normally we go the way "wait until problem happens"(aka if it ain't
      broke
      don't fix it) and then try find workarround or patch but we have
      already
      encountered some bugs that could have been fixed by applying
      recommended
      patch bundles. Since it is a new project it looks to be an option.

      What the others say about all those recommended patch bundles?


      Thank you in advance,

      Laimis N.







      ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------


      Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

      --
      http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l









--
Jack van Zanen

-------------------------
This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential material for the
sole use of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient,
please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of this
e-mail or any attachment is prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in
error, please contact the sender and delete all copies.
Thank you for your cooperation

--
http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l
Received on Wed Apr 22 2009 - 01:54:17 CDT

Original text of this message