Oracle E-Business Suite Technology

Hi Steven,
Thanks for all these useful/techie posts in past few months.

I think Note number is 854428.1 instead of 584428.1
Introduction to Database Patch Set Updates (Note 584428.1)

Regards
Atul Kumar
http://onlineAppsDBA.com

the two patches in conflict are required for 10.2.0.4 -

Following patches have conflicts. Please contact Oracle Support and get the merged patch of the patches :
7014646, 8576156, 6600051

Following patches are not required, as they are subset of the patches in Oracle Home or subset of the patches in the given list :
6870937

Following patches will be rolled back from Oracle Home on application of the patches in the given list :
7014646, 6870937, 6600051

Conflicts/Supersets for each patch are:

Patch : 8576156

Conflict with 7014646
Conflict details:
/u612/bmree/tech_st/10.2.0/lib/libserver10.a:/vop.o

Bug Superset of 6870937
Super set bugs are:
6870937

Conflict with 6600051
Conflict details:
/u612/bmree/tech_st/10.2.0/rdbms/admin/prvtaqds.plb
/u612/bmree/tech_st/10.2.0/lib/libserver10.a:/kwqmn.o

OPatch succeeded

Hi, Atul,

Quite right -- that was a typo. Thanks for catching that error so quickly! Article corrected.

Regards,
Steven

Hi, Tflatley,

I'm afraid that this blog isn't well-equipped to provide support for issues like this. Your best bet would be to log a formal Service Request via My Oracle Support (formerly Metalink) to get one of our specialists engaged.

Please feel free to forward your Service Request number to me if it gets stuck in the support process for some reason.

Regards,
Steven

Steven,

I think these database patch set updates are a great idea. I don't see any information in the note on Metalink regarding what DST update is bundled in the patch (if any). Don't know if I'm the only one who does these updates, but not knowing what comes with this patch reduces its value significantly... I'd hate to revert to an older version on accident-

Hi, Kevin,

Thanks for your comment. I just looked over the README (for the Linux port) of patch 8576156. Section 5 contains a comprehensive listing of all fixes included in the PSU. I don't see any references to timezones, so I would conclude that this PSU doesn't have any impact on DST at all.

Regards,
Steven

Windows users have had this for ages, good to see Unix now has it as well.

thanks for the response Steven - i had a tar on this already and noticed your post - the analyst notes the following bug

There is Bug 8781458
10.2.0.4.1 - MISSING PSE 7014646 FOR LINUX PLATFORM

thanks again

Hello,

I manage the process of database upgrades and migrations for a hosting company. Currently, I have a list of important bug fixes for 10.2.0.4 and 11.1.0.7 that I use for most of our customers. Moreover, I constantly add new bugs (patches) as our customers hit them.
After reading the notes on patch 8576156, I ran opatch in 'report' mode and It came back with fourteen conclicting patches. It is rather difficult for me create create merged-patches request on already merged patches as development will ask for an actual customer justification and the process can drive on for days. So, is there a way to have these patches merged by your team?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following warnings have occurred during OPatch execution:
1) OUI-67012:Interim Patch 8576156 has Conflict with patch(es) [ 8478284 7563669 7505440 7476591 7149863 6809093 6512622 6324944 6024730 5890312 5251842 4726401 4486516 ] in OH /tabl3i/oracle/product/102
2) OUI-67078:Interim patch 8576156 is a superset of the patch(es) [ 7552082 7552067 7123643 6327692 7196894 7039896 7033630 7008262 6994160 6972843 6954829 6926448 6870937 6679303 6645719 6455659 6392076 6374297 6145177 6084232 6051177 5895190 5879114 5868257 5756769 5747462 5348308 4695511 ] in OH /tabl3i/oracle/product/102
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OPatch Session completed with warnings.

OPatch completed with warnings.
$

Hello, Carlo,

Unfortunately, I'm part of the E-Business Suite division and do not have the ability to merge ST patches. Your best bet would be to log a formal Service Request via My Oracle Support (formerly Metalink) to get one of our database specialists engaged. They should be able to assist with this.

Please feel free to forward your Service Request number to me if it gets stuck in the support process for some reason.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steven,

When I first heard of PSUs, I thought they were a good candidate for quarterly release patching recommended by us for every ERP in our environment. However, when I read about them in Metalink note 854428.1 section 6:

Patch Set Updates and Critical Patch Updates (CPUs)

The PSU and CPU released each quarter contain the same security content. However, the patches employ different patching mechanisms, so customers need to choose wisely which patch satisfies their needs better.

A PSU can be applied on the CPU released at the same time or on an any earlier CPU for the base release version. A PSU can be applied on any earlier PSU or the base release version. CPUs are only created on the base release version.
Once a PSU has been installed, the recommended way to get future security content is to apply subsequent PSUs. Reverting from PSU back to CPU, while possible, would require significant effort, and so is not advised.

This means once a PSU is applied, you have to keep applying PSUs instead of CPUs. Every time we apply a CPU, a row is inserted in registry$history table and we are able to check what is the current CPU of an instance. If we apply a PSU, we'll not be able to record whether a CPU is applied on an instance.

E-Business Suite doesn't record the details of CPU patches applied to other technology components like Forms, Reports, IAS_HOME, Developer patchsets etc. As a practice, we apply all CPU patches or none of them. Because of this, when we check registry$history we know that all technology component CPU patches are applied.

This won't be possible if we start applying PSUs.

Your comments.

- Vikram

Hi, Vikram,

This is correct. Note 854428.1 is very clear about the implications of applying PSUs instead of CPUs. You need to determine which release vehicle meets your requirements better. Different customers will choose different release vehicles, depending upon their needs for tracking granular patches, downtime windows, and other customer-specific factors.

Regards,
Steven

Kevin Kempf wrote: "I don't see any information in the note on Metalink regarding what DST update is bundled in the patch (if any). "

At this time, PSUs will not contain any DST updates for two reasons:

1. DST updates are not RAC-rolling-installable, so do not meet a very important requirement to be included in a PSU.

2. Customers should ensure that all Database DST data files in their interoperating systems (ie servers and clients) are the same version. In other words if you are running with timezone file V10, it needs to be the same on ALL systems that exchange data. We would not want a customer to get a different version without knowing it, so will not include DST updates in any patch set or bundle if we can help it. For this reason we issue DST updates for the Oracle Database as standalone patches every June and December (in time to install with the next PSU if you like).

We are currently upgrading our 10203 system to 10204 and require some clarrification on what we need to apply. As the PSU is recommended by the DB team we think this may be the best way to go.

I have a SR, 21718950.6, asking for clarification on patches that need to be applied, those referenced in the metalink note are 10204 specific and I want to know what if any are needed for the PSU.
The response said applying the PSU was recommended but when I asked for details of which patches still need to be applied I was told to not follow the PSU route!

There needs to be a definitive statement of support for the PSU and e-business suite identifying which patches are required as well as these are likely to be different to those required for 10204.

Hello, Jim,

I can appreciate your frustration with what might seem to be mixed messages here.

Unfortunately, every customer's patching baseline is unique, since everyone has applied a different set of database patches on top of the ones we minimally require for the E-Business Suite. This complicates the process of making generic recommendations that apply to everyone's environments.

The best team suited for resolving conflicts between your current set of database patches, your upgrade requirements, and PSU 10.2.0.4.1 is Oracle Database Support. They should be able to do an analysis of the different patches needed and come up with recommendations. This analysis is likely to be complex and time-consuming, though, given that you're coming from 10.2.0.3 (I'm inferring that your environment is currently in some transitionary state).

If I were in your shoes, I would attempt to simplify the analysis by completing the upgrade of your EBS environment from 10.2.0.3 to 10.2.0.4 following our certified upgrade path (Note 362203.1). Once that upgrade is done, then the task of assessing the differences between 10.2.0.4 and 10.2.0.4.1 will be much easier. I know that 10.2.0.4.1 does not include specific interop patches required for EBS compatibility. The Database Support team can provide a patchset rollup that includes those patches along with the 10.2.0.4.1 fixes, too.

Please let me know if your Database Support SR gets stuck in the support process for some reason.

Regards,
Steven

Hi Steve
Can I have a 11.1.0.7 clusterware install but an RDBMS and ASM instance that is running on 11.1.0.7 PSU1.
We are having issues bringing up ASM in such a configuration. While we are working on the issue, I want to understand if the above combination will be an issue in itself.

Thank you
Kumar

Hi, Kumar,

I'm not a Clusterware specialist, but my impression is that it's best to keep the Clusterware, ASM, and RDBMS versions at the same level. That's just my impression though, and not an authoritative recommendation.

Your best bet would be to log a formal Service Request via My Oracle Support (formerly Metalink) to get one of our Clusterware specialists engaged. They should be able to give you the final word on this.

Regards,
Steven

The official answer is as long as the first 4 number match you should be ok.
plus rereading the blog one of the key points in psu is that it does not require recertification. So yes this combination should work.

Thank you Steven for your prompt response

Kumar