Re: How to find out version and install security patches?

Comments embedded

On Sat, 31 May 2008 15:54:07 -0700 (PDT), "A. Farber" <Alexander.Farber_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>Hello fellow Oracle users,
>
>I have unfortunately no Oracle experience,
>but will have to maintain a server at my new job
>(this will be 1 of my 50 other tasks).

It appears this isn't true: Apparently this forum is going to administrate this server by providing you a free Oracle tutorial.

I am afraid this is not going to happen.l
>
>After lots of searching I've managed to install
>version 9i.2 at a CentOS 5 Linux machine.
9iR2 was desupported on July 31, 2007
>(And I really don't understand, why would
>Oracle use a Java installer and also compile
>lots of stuff during the "Linking" phase instead
>of providing a well-tested binary rpm-package).
Excellent choice to start criticizing Oracle right away. Oracle runs on many platforms. There is one installer for all of these platforms. Now why would they have done that?

>
>A consultant has installed their program then.
>
>Now I'd like to install security patches.
You'll need 9.2.0.8 to install Critical Patch Updates aka CPUs
>I have a Metalink account and have read their
>wordy FAQ but still don't have an idea,
>where to download their patches and how
>to install them (is there another GUI for that?)

You didn't see a tab labeled 'Patches' on Metalink? Woulodn't that be very obvious?
>
>Also I don't know which version do I actually
>have, is it 9.2.0.4? Where could I check?
>

select * from v$version;

>Can anyone please advise me?
>
>Can I do anything else to improve the security?
>(Change some default passwords etc.)
>
>Also is there maybe an easy way for me to
>create daily snapshots of the program database?
>
>For PostgreSQL I have a cronjob
>pg_dump phpbb > /mnt/backups/pg-`date +\%F`.sql
>and know that I can at least roll back to it
>if I do something stupid as a would-be-admin.
>
>Is there something as simple for Oracle?

There is RMAN. There is a backup and recovery manual online at http:/./tahiti,oracle.com

Please do not ask to abstract it, Please do not ask to provide free scripts. Please do not ask to do your work. If you can't do it, hire someone who can.
>
>Thank you very much
>Alex
>

-- 
Sybrand Bakker
Senior Oracle DBA