Skip Headers

Oracle Application Change Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide
Release 4.0
Part Number E18710-01		Go to Table of Contents
Contents 		Go to previous page
Previous 		Go to next page
Next

Patch Manager

Introduction

Patch Manager allows you to deploy patches across Oracle E-Business Suite instances from a single console. You can create a patch run definition and run it multiple times on multiple instances and you can copy a patch procedure and modify it to suit your business needs. Also, you can easily access details on patch runs, correct errors if necessary, and continue the patch runs.

Key Features

Patch Manager

With Patch Manager, you can

Diagnostic Tests for Patch Manager

You can run diagnostic tests on your system in preparation for running Patch Manager procedures. These tests can be accessed from the Diagnostics dashboard, available from the Pack Diagnostics link on the Oracle Applications page. For more information on running diagnostic tests, see: Running Pack Diagnostics Tests, Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite User's Guide.

The following tables list tests related to Patch Manager:

Generic Diagnostic Tests for Patch Manager
Task Step Description Notes/Expected results/Corrective Measures
EMGC Check permissions for OMS Stage directory Determine if a stage directory is defined on the OMS. Determine if the owner of has read/write permissions to that directory. Expected results are: the OMS Stage Directory Location, with the OMS user with read/write permissions.
EMGC Check Patch Manager Stage directories Verify if the amp.properties file (located in $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config on the OMS) has proper definitions for Patch Manager Stage directories Refer to Running a Patching Procedure for instructions on completing this step.
EMGC CheckMetalinkCredentials Verify if username/password credentials are entered for My Oracle Support. Refer to the Oracle Enterprise Manager documentation for instructions on completing this step.
EMGC Summary A summary of all of the diagnostic tests that have been executed, in the following groups: Successful, Failed, With Warning, Aborted, and Total.  
EBS Check for EBS CPU Count Verify that the target Oracle E-Business Suite system's CPU Count is greater than zero (0). If there is not a valid snapshot, contact Oracle Support.
EBS Summary A summary of all of the diagnostic tests that have been executed, in the following groups: Successful, Failed, With Warning, Aborted, and Total.  
User-Specific Diagnostic Tests for Patch Manager
Task Step Description Notes/Expected results/Corrective Measures
EMGC CheckPackRole Verify if the Oracle Enterprise Manager user (that is, the user executing the diagnostic test) has the required role to execute Patch Manager functionality. The role is EBS_PM_ROLE, and must be granted to the Oracle E-Business Suite user in the setup process, via Roles and Administrators. Create users as required. See: Creating Roles.
EMGC Check if approval is enabled and preferred credentials exist. Verify if the Change Approval Framework is enabled in the amp.properties file (located in $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config on the OMS). If approval is enabled, ensure preferred credentials are set for the target Oracle E-Business Suite system(s).
EMGC Summary A summary of all of the diagnostic tests that have been executed, in the following groups: Successful, Failed, With Warning, Aborted, and Total.  
EBS Check if EBS Snapshot in OMS Repository is valid Verify if the Oracle E-Business Suite snapshot in OMS Repository is valid. A snapshot shows data about a system for a point in time. If the snapshot is invalid, navigate to Targets > Oracle Applications > <target system name>. Expand "Application Nodes". For each node, click on the Report icon and click the Refresh button on the View Configuration page.
EBS Summary A summary of all of the diagnostic tests that have been executed, in the following groups: Successful, Failed, With Warning, Aborted, and Total.  

Patch Manager Home

the picture is described in the document text

The Patch Manager Home tab lists your patch runs according to their status: Completed, Scheduled, Saved, Pending Approval, Approved, and Rejected.

You can click on a Patch Run name to view its details. See: View a Patch Run.

To start a new patch run, you can select "Patch Oracle E-Business Suite" or your customized patching procedure from the "Start a Patch" list.

To copy an existing patch run, in order to change any aspect of the patch run or to run an identical run due to changes in the patch or target, select the Patch Run you wish to copy and click the Create Like button.

To view the details of an existing patch run, select the patch run in the Patch Manager Home tab and click the Review button.

Patching Procedures

the picture is described in the document text

The Procedures tab lists the available patching procedures. You cannot edit procedures created by Oracle, but you can copy them using the Create Like feature (accessed from Procedures Tab by clicking on the name of the procedure and then choosing Create Like), and then customize the copies to fit your environment.

To run a patching procedure, select the procedure from the table and click Run.

Important: During the patching Deployment Procedure the system will try to black out the targets associated with an Oracle E-Business Suite system. In order for the blackout to occur, the user submitting the patch run must have been granted the 'operator' or 'blackout target' target privilege for the Oracle E-Business Suite targets. Below is a list of Oracle E-Business Suite targets that will be blacked out if the system detects this user has the authority to black them out:

Searching for a Patch Run

the picture is described in the document text

Use the Search Patch Runs tab to search for particular patch runs.

The search criteria are:

Patch runs that meet the search criteria are shown in the search table. Click on the patch run name link to view details of the patch run.

Running a Patching Procedure

Oracle provides you with patching procedures that are best practices for patching Oracle E-Business Suite. Procedures created by Oracle cannot be edited, but they can be copied using the "Create Like" feature so that you can customize the procedure to fit your environment.

To run a patch procedure, or create a patch run, you can do one of the following:

Note that you can also copy an existing patch run. From the Home tab, select the patch run you wish to copy and click the Create Like button.

Note: In the Patch Run interview you can use the Back button to go back to a previous step; however, entered values on the current page will be lost.

Prerequisites

To create a Patch Run

  1. On the Patch Run Details page, enter the details below.

    the picture is described in the document text

  2. On the Target List page, enter the target system(s) to which the patch(es) will be applied.

    the picture is described in the document text

    Note: If an Oracle E-Business Suite system has a shared APPL_TOP, a dropdown list is available so you can choose the primary node for the system. The node chosen on this page will determine which node is used to run adpatch, to run any other AD utilities specified, and to stage patches. Make sure you choose the primary node in this case.

    To search for available targets, click the Add button under "Applications Systems". The List of Values (LOV) window displays the target names and their release levels. Select the desired targets from this window. Note: All targets selected must be at the same release level.

    Once selected, the system name will appear in the Target List with the following:

    You can click the Remove All button to remove all applications systems from the Target List.

  3. In the Patch Details page, select the details for the patch(es) to be applied.

    the picture is described in the document text

    The following are shown on the Patch Details page:

    If the target's stage directory location is set in the amp.properties file, that will be shown here. In the amp.properties file (in the $ORACLE_HOME/sysman/config directory), the following properties can be set to specify the target's stage directory and the target's patch directory, respectively.

    targetPatchStageDir=%appl_top%/patch_stage 
targetPatchDir=%appl_top%/patches

    Use the option "Download patches to the OMS" if you want to download the patch(es) to the OMS first.

    Important: You must have at least 'view' target privilege on the agent(s) of the target hosts. For example, say you are patching an Oracle E-Business Suite system that contains 3 middle tiers. You must have the 'view' privilege (or greater) on the agents of these 3 middle tiers.

    The OMS Stage Directory Location is another property in the same amp.properties file as above, and can be used to specify the OMS's stage directory. If specified in the amp.properties file, this directory will be the default for the OMS Stage Directory Location field.

    omsPatchStageDir=/tmp

    Note: If you want to have the "Download patches to the OMS" option checked by default, you can set the property 'downloadPatchToOMS' to 'true' in the amp.properties file. For example:

    downloadPatchToOMS=true

    Enter the Software Updates you wish to apply. Use the Add Oracle Patch to add a patch from Oracle, and use Add Custom Patch to add a custom patch created through Customization Manager.

    Important: Before you deploy a custom patch in Patch Manager, you should run the Instance Comparison Report to compare the technology stack properties of the package with those of the instance to which the package is being deployed. Patch Manager does not stop the deployment of a patch if the technology stack properties are not compatible, so you should make your best judgement based on the Instance Comparison Reports.

    To add an Oracle patch:

    1. Select Add Oracle Patch.

    2. In the Search and Select window, Patch Oracle E-Business Suite, if you are downloading a patch or patches from My Oracle Support, you can search based on the following criteria:

      • Patch Number

      • Platform - "Any" returns patches for all platforms, or Generic if patch is not port-specific.

        If you are searching for a patch for a specific platform, your search results will return a Generic-platform patch if no platform-specific patch exists.

      • Language - "All installed languages" will return the base (Generic or platform-specific) patch plus any language patches (if they exist) for every language installed on the selected targets. Choosing a specific language from the drop-down list will return its language patch if it exists plus the base patch.

      You can also select Simple Search to search simply on the Patch Number.

      The search results will include the following for each patch found:

      • Patch Number

      • Platform

      • Version

      • Language

      • Description

      • Superseded Patch

      If you plan to deploy patches from an OMS location, the Search window will provide a List of Values based on the patches located in the directory specified for the 'omsPatchStageDir' property in the amp.properties file.

      Choose the desired patches and click Select to return to main window.

    Note: You must retrieve the desired patch through the Search and Select: Add Oracle Patch window and provide the stage and patch directory location in this step, even if you have already downloaded the patch to the stage location (the process will not re-download the patch, however).

    To add a custom patch:

    1. Select Add Custom Patch.

    2. In the Search and Select window, you can search based on the following criteria:

      • Patch Number

      • Patch Name

      • Description

      • Created By

      • Version

      • Language

      The search results will include the following for each patch found:

      • Patch Number

      • Patch Name

      • Version

      • Language

      • Description

      • Created By

      Choose the desired patches and click Select to return to main window. A listing of patches is given.

    A Merge Patches check box appears at the top of the table if more than one patch has been selected.

    Note: You should merge AD patches separately from non-AD patches.

    The following appears for each patch in the table.

    Finally, you can check for prerequisites for your patches using the Check Prerequisites button.

  4. Specify Patch Options.

    the picture is described in the document text

    Specify details for how the patch should be applied.

    For more information on many of these options, see: Oracle E-Business Suite Patching Procedures and Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Utilities.

    Patching Procedure Options include the following:

    AutoPatch Options include the following:

    AD Administration Options are listed below. These tasks are done to manage database objects (database objects or data in the database related to Oracle E-Business Suite). For example, a patch might add new menu entries or change the setup of a flexfield.

  5. Enter Credentials.

    Note: If the change approval feature is turned on for Patch Manager, the system will skip the credentials page altogether in the interview.

    the picture is described in the document text

    Enter credentials as required on this page. Credentials may be required for the following:

    You can choose whether to use the Preferred Credentials or to enter in new credentials here. Preferred credentials can be entered by selecting the Preferences global link and selecting "Preferred Credentials". Relevant credentials are listed for "Oracle E-Business Suite".

    For each password, you are required to confirm your entry. You can test your entries on this page as well. Note that if the target is down, then the test result will appear as a failure.

    For the application node and database node credentials on the host, the following is shown:

    For the APPS schema and system schema credentials for the database, the following is shown:

  6. Specify the Schedule for the patch application.

    the picture is described in the document text

    You can choose to apply the patches immediately or at a later date.

    If you choose Immediately as the schedule type to have the patches applied immediately.

    If you choose Later, you can specify the time and date you wish to have the patches applied. Provide the Time Zone, Date and Time.

    You can specify a Grace Period as well. If you choose an Indefinite Grace Period, then if for some reason the patches cannot be applied at the immediate time, the system will try to apply them as soon as possible, and will keep trying indefinitely. If you provide a defined Grace Period by specifying the system to end the Grace Period after your given hours and minutes, the system will not try to apply the patches after that amount of time.

    The Blackout Length indicates the amount of time the target system will have a blackout status in Enterprise Manager. Set this length to a higher value for large patch runs.

  7. Review your patch run.

    the picture is described in the document text

    The Review Page lets you review your patch run details, target list, patch details, patching options, credentials, and schedule.

Copying a Patch Run

You might want to copy an existing patch run to change some aspect of it or to rerun it due to changes in the patch or target. To do this, select the patch run in the Patch Manager Home tab and click the Create Like button.

the picture is described in the document text

The system will take you through the patch run creation pages as if you were creating a new patch run, but with most values copied from the original patch run. Please note the following:

Viewing a Patch Run

To view the user-entered details of a patch run, select the patch run in the Patch Manager Home tab and click the Review button.

You can navigate to the details of the deployment of a patch run in one of several ways:

The above navigation paths take you to the Status page for the procedure. The Status page is part of the Oracle Deployment Manager. Refer to the Oracle Enterprise Manager online help for more information on Oracle Deployment Manager.

Information on this Status Page includes when the patch run was started and completed and each step in the procedure and its status. You can also drill down in each step to view logging information, errors, and so on.

Extending Patch Manager Deployment

You can extend Patch Manager procedures using the Deployment Procedure Manager using the steps below. In these steps you create a copy of an existing procedure and extend it in the Deployment Procedure Manager.

  1. From the Patch Manager Procedures tab, click on the name of a procedure.

  2. From the View Procedures page, click the Create Like button.

  3. Rename the copy of the original procedure as desired. You can make other updates here as well.

  4. Save your new procedure.

  5. Upon saving, the Deployment Procedure Manager Procedures tab appears. Your new procedure is listed first. You can select this procedure and click Edit to add steps, choose notifications, or make other changes. For example, you might want to add steps to a copy of the shipped Patch Oracle E-Business Suite procedure to automate the following steps: Pre-Patch Application Tier Backup, Post-Patch Database Tier Backup, or Post-Patch Application Tier Backup.

For more information on the Provisioning Manager and the Deployment Procedure Manager in Oracle Enterprise Manager, see the following:

Logging, Health Checks, and Troubleshooting

This section describes logging, health checks, and troubleshooting features within Patch Manager.

How to View the AD Patch Log

To view the AD Patch Log for a patch run, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate to your patch run using any method in "View a Patch Run".

  2. Click on the Patch Run Name.

  3. Click on the adpatch step (Apply Patch).

  4. Click on Job Status.

  5. Expand the bottom task.

  6. Click on Step: Execute command as normal user.

How to Skip Failed Workers

  1. Navigate to your patch run using any method in "View a Patch Run".

  2. Click on the Patch Run Name.

  3. Click on the adpatch step (Apply Patch).

  4. Select the check box for the failed target.

  5. Click Update and Retry.

  6. Change the parameter "restart_workers" to YES and click Retry.

Note: These steps are also listed in the AD Patch Log when you have a failed worker.

Troubleshooting Patch Manager Deployment Failures

  1. Navigate to your patch run using any method in "View a Patch Run".

  2. Click on the Patch Run Name.

  3. Click on the Job Details tab.

  4. Click on Job Name.

  5. Click on the Step Name that failed.

  6. The resulting page displays the output log with any errors encountered. Note that this page only lists job failures. You can also review the Oracle Management Server (OMS) and drill down into any deployment procedure step.

Health Checks

Patch Manager validates these servers shutting down and starting up: listener, Forms server, Apache web services, and Internal Concurrent Manager.

Contents   |   Previous   |   Top of Page   |   Next

Oracle Logo
Copyright © 2010, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.