Oracle Stack - Patching Madness

Need ideas and inputs/ -

In our place, we have oracle DB patches, Patches to the middle-tier, ERP, Hyperion, Weblogic and then we have the JDK security updates - so with the criticallity of the patches , It is most of the time patch now mandate for us - and as per our IT security mandate ,we need to be current
or at the most we can be behind by one PSU patch cycle.

Tracking what patch is applied on which instance etc..is a chaos, Spreadsheet is our tool .we have tried building a form in oracle apex where DBA's can update and track,but most times the data is suspect, due to folks not updating it correctly. So how do folks out there manage the patching process -
Do you use any Tools to automate the patching process - In my previous place, we had used Kintana Patch Applicator and it was a very cool tool -
How do you keep track of these various patches - spreadsheets?

Lastly -this patching madness seems to be taking off late, a lots of time of our DBA folks and they don't seem very happy about it so motivation is taking a big hit..Patching seems something we cannot ignore given the associated risks to IT

So how do folks who run/work_at_ large DBA shops or folks who offer DBA services like Pythian /remote DBA experts etc..manage this Best practises around patching practise :-)

Hope to hear back

Thank you

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Regards
Sam K
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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Thu Mar 28 2013 - 16:58:01 CET