What is WebLogic Stack Patch Bundle?

NOTE :

Please refer to the following KM Article for the most current and detailed information about Stack Patch Bundle :

Introducing the Stack Patch Bundle (SPB) for Oracle WebLogic Server (Doc ID 2764636.1)    

SPB -> README document contains detailed information about Prerequisites, Patch Installation steps, Post Installation Steps, RollBack, etc

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Stack Patch Bundle (SPB) for WebLogic was introduced in April 2021 PSU.

SPB is a single download patch that consists of all the PSU/CPU patches released for all the optional/built-in (Always present)components of a WLS installation.

It auto-detects if an optional component is present in a WLS installation and patches it OR skips patching missing components.

Built-in / Always present components in WLS :

  • WLS
  • Coherence
  • Opatch tool
  • JDK

Optional components in WLS :

  • Samples / Examples
  • ADR

It is more Predictable, Reliable, and Secure because it detects all the components that need patching in your environment and applies all patches in a sequence.

SPB is available for Weblogic version 12.2.1.3, 12.2.1.4, 14.1.1

April 2021 SPB contains the latest Opatch tool binaries, but this has to be applied manually.

SPB does not contain the latest JDK Build (these have to be downloaded and installed separately.), but a link to download the same is available in SPB -> README document.

SPB is not available for WLS versions 10.3.6 and 12.1.3. You can use the traditional approach of installing all PSU patches individually for these versions.

Note: You can optionally run the “opatch napply -report -oh <> -phBaseFile <>” command to check for possible issues while applying SPB and you could also analyze the logs generated for any errors.

Recommended way to rollback/remove April 2021 SPB patch is by restoring the ORACLE_HOME and CENTRAL INVENTORY directories from backup (taken before applying SPB).

Below is an example to install April 2021 SPB patch on Weblogic 12.2.1.4 running on Oracle Linux :

Steps to install April 2021 Stack Patch Bundle on Weblogic 12.2.1.4 using Opatch tool :

Step1 : (Take a Back-Up)

Identify the ORACLE_HOME that is being patched and stop all the servers.

Download the SPB patch

Create a backup of the entire ORACLE_HOME and CENTRAL INVENTORY directories.

Example :

Commands : 

tar -cf oraInventory_April21backup.tar oraInventory/*
tar -cf Oracle_Home_lite_April21backup.tar Oracle_Home_lite/*
unzip /refresh/home/Downloads/SPB/p32755791_122140_Generic.zip
unset WEBLOGIC_CLASSPATH
unset CLASSPATH
export ORACLE_HOME=/refresh/home/Oracle/Middleware12214/Oracle_Home_lite
export JAVA_HOME=/refresh/home/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_281
export DOMAIN_HOME=/refresh/home/Oracle/Middleware12214/Oracle_Home_lite/user_projects/domains/base_domain
 

Step2: (Download and install the latest JDK build)

Check the SPB -> README.html for the minimum and recommended JDK version required to install SPB.

README.html also contains a KM/link to download the latest JDK build release.

Download and install the latest JDK build available. 

Example :

Commands : 

$ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/getProperty.sh JAVA_HOME
$ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/setProperty.sh -name OLD_JAVA_HOME -value /refresh/home/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_281
$ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/setProperty.sh -name JAVA_HOME -value /refresh/home/Downloads/jdk1.8.0_291
$ORACLE_HOME/oui/bin/getProperty.sh JAVA_HOME

vi $DOMAIN_HOME/bin/setNMJavaHome.sh 
vi $DOMAIN_HOME/nodemanager/nodemanager.properties
vi $DOMAIN_HOME/bin/setDomainEnv.sh 
 

Step3: (Install the latest OPatch bundled with SPB)

Run “$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version” command to identity the Opatch tool version. 

Check the SPB -> README.html file to identify the minimum Opatch version required to apply the SPB patch.

NOTE: Latest Opatch version is bundled in the SPB zip file, but it must be applied separately.
Upgrade Opatch tool if required.

Set the JAVA_HOME and ORACLE_HOME environment variables and unset the CLASSPATH and WEBLOGIC_CLASSPATH variables

Example :

Commands :

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version

unzip /refresh/home/Downloads/SPB/WLS_SPB_12.2.1.4.210411/tools/opatch/generic/p28186730_139425_Generic.zip -d /tmp/opatch

$JAVA_HOME/bin/java -jar /tmp/opatch/6880880/opatch_generic.jar -silent oracle_home=/refresh/home/Oracle/Middleware12214/Oracle_Home_lite

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch version
 

Step4: (Install Stack Patch Bundle – SPB)

UNIX : 
cd WLS_SPB_<version>.<VERSION>/binary_patches
<ORACLE_HOME>/OPatch/opatch napply -oh <ORACLE_HOME> -phBaseFile <patch_list_file>

WINDOWS : 
cd WLS_SPB_<version>.<VERSION>\binary_patches
<ORACLE_HOME>\OPatch\opatch napply -oh <ORACLE_HOME> -phBaseFile windows64_patchlist.txt

NOTE:

ADR has native code and there are different ADR patches for different operating systems.

So it is important to specify the parameter phBaseFile and its value corresponds to your specific platform while installing SPB.

phBaseFile are bundled with SPB and are present in the binary_patches directory

Example :

Commands :

cd /refresh/home/Downloads/SPB/WLS_SPB_12.2.1.4.210411/binary_patches

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch napply -oh /refresh/home/Oracle/Middleware12214/Oracle_Home_lite -phBaseFile linux64_patchlist.txt

$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/opatch lspatches
 

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DEMONSTRATION:

A Demo Video to check if SPB will be applied successfully before installing it.

A Demo Video for installing April 2021 SPB on WebLogic 12.2.1.4.