This section provides the following topics:
Distributing Maintenance Patches to a Production Environment
Providing Patches to Systems that Cannot Connect to My Oracle Support
This section discusses the following models for distributing patches to a production environment:
Using Smart Update Scripts to Promote a Standard Maintenance Level to a Production Environment
Creating and Distributing an Archive of the Product Installation
These models assume the following about the software maintenance that is provided for systems in the production environment:
Updates obtained from a vendor are tightly controlled and managed. For example, they might be kept in a secure repository that few individuals in MIS are authorized to access. Copying or downloading updates into the repository might be subject to rigorous approval, scheduling, auditing, and logging procedures.
Updates are promoted to production systems in specific stages during which they are thoroughly tested. For example, an update might first be installed on a single system, separated from the production environment, in which production applications are tested to ensure that the update works as expected and does not introduce regressions. Before being rolled out into the production environment, the updates may be tested in an intermediate staging area, where it is subject to loads that mimic expected usage in the production environment.
When an update is introduced into the production environment itself, all systems on which the update is installed must run the updated product software at precisely the same maintenance level. For example, the domain configuration, product version, and patch level of WebLogic Server 9.1 used in all systems is identical.
Systems in the production environment may not obtain updates from the Internet. In fact, the systems may not be connected to the Internet at all, and possibly not to the same Local Area Network shared by systems that have an Internet connection. Instead, updates are made available only from a specific location, or set of locations, in the enterprise. And the downloading of updates to the production systems are regulated by several business practices and procedures.
The WebLogic Server instances used in the production environment are started by highly customized scripts.
This section describes an example scenario of how the features in Smart Update can be leveraged to distribute maintenance updates to production systems that are subject to some or all of the conditions described in the preceding paragraphs.
My Oracle Support has provided a private patch to solve a problem that Avitek has reported with its enterprise applications that run on WebLogic Server 9.1.
Bob Jones, in the Avitek MIS department, downloads the patch into the patch download directory for his system, which is set to a network disk used by MIS to store maintenance updates provided by all of Avitek's software vendors.
Rachel Burns works in Avitek's QA department, and her job is to test the patch on her system, which also has a WebLogic Server installation identical to the one used in the production environment. The domain configuration on Rachel's system is similar to the WebLogic domains running in Avitek's production environment. Rachel created the WebLogic Server start scripts used in the production environment, which also run on her system.
Rachel runs Smart Update in offline mode. She makes sure that the patch download directory is set to the directory used by Bob, and then she applies the patch to her WebLogic Server installation.
Rachel realizes that because the production systems use customized WebLogic Server start scripts, the scripts must be modified so that the classes contained in the patch are loaded into the WebLogic system classpath on her system.
Rachel adds a definition of the PATCH_CLASSPATH variable to the start script so that it points to the default patch profile, then she adds this variable to the beginning of the SET WEBLOGIC_CLASSPATH statement.
Rachel successfully tests the patch, and is ready to replicate the patch throughout the 20 product installations that run in Avitek's production environment. Because each production system is nearly identical, Rachel knows that she can create a script that works on every system to apply the patch.
She creates the script. Its function is very simple: it applies the patch to the default patch profile for the target installation, and it copies an updated start script into the proper location of each system.
Rachel uploads the patch to a patch download directory kept on a secure disk that is used by the production systems in Avitek's DMZ. She also uploads the Smart Update script and new WebLogic Server start script onto the secure disk.
Dagmar Kohl administers the systems in Avitek's production environment. She downloads the Smart Update script onto each production system and runs it.
Because of the patch contents, Dagmar knows that each server must be restarted for the patch to take effect. When the servers are restarted, the maintenance procedure is complete.
As an alternative to the scenario described in Using Smart Update Scripts to Promote a Standard Maintenance Level to a Production Environment, you can create an archive of a fully patched product image, and replicate that image throughout all the systems in a production environment. If you take this approach, note the following caveats:
This approach is not recommended. Oracle always recommends the use of product installers for creating a product installation on a system, and of Smart Update to distribute patches.
If a product installation includes maintenance patches that have been applied using Smart Update, you must include the following directories in the archive image, which exist at the top level of the Middleware home directory:
patch_wls1001, and all subdirectories
utils, and all subdirectories
As mentioned in Maintaining Machines that are not Connected to My Oracle Support, Smart Update's offline usage mode enables you to install maintenance updates on systems from which it is not possible to connect to My Oracle Support. This section describes the following methods you can use for providing patches and patch sets to these systems:
For the purposes of describing these techniques in these sections, a system that cannot connect to My Oracle Support is called an offline system.
The following topics explain how to patch an offline system through a shared patch download directory:
Installing maintenance updates on an offline system through a shared patch download directory has the following two primary requirements:
A system that can establish a connection to My Oracle Support and that has the following:
A local installation of a product that matches the product and version of the product installed on the offline system
A My Oracle Support user account
A networked disk that can be accessed by both the system that can connect to My Oracle Support and the offline system
To patch a disconnected system remotely from the system with Internet access, complete the following steps using the system that has Internet access:
From the system that can connect to My Oracle Support:
Start Smart Update and log in to My Oracle Support.
Choose File > Preferences, and select a location for the patch download directory that is accessible by the offline system. Ensure that it is a location to which you have write permissions.
If you are downloading a publicly available patch, choose the product installation in the Target Installation panel that matches the product and version of the software installed on the offline system.
Download all required patches, as described in Chapter 3, "Downloading and Applying Patches."
From the offline system:
Start Smart Update, and select Work Offline in the Login dialog box.
Choose File > Preferences, and set the patch download directory to the location into which the patches were downloaded by the system that connected to My Oracle Support.
In the Target Installation panel, choose the target installation to which you want to apply the patches.
Select the Manage Patches tab, and ensure that the appropriate patch profile is selected.
In the Downloaded Patches panel, click Apply next to the patches you want to apply.
Complete the procedure for applying patches, as described in Applying and Managing Patches.
The following topics explain how to patch an offline system through removable media:
Installing maintenance updates on an offline system through removable media has the following two primary requirements:
A system that can establish a connection to My Oracle Support and that has the following:
A local installation of a product that matches the product and version of the product installed on the offline system
An Oracle Support user account
The ability to place patches onto a type of removable media that can be used by both the system connected to Oracle Support and the offline system. For example: a writable CD-ROM.
To apply patches to an offline system through removable media, complete the following steps.
From the system that can connect to My Oracle Support:
Start Smart Update and log in to My Oracle Support.
If you are downloading a publicly available patch, choose the product installation in the Target Installation panel that matches the product and version of the Oracle software installed on the offline system.
Download all required patches, as described in Chapter 3, "Downloading and Applying Patches."
Copy the downloaded patches onto the removable media.
From the offline system:
Mount the removable media onto the offline system.
Start Smart Update, and click Work Offline in the Login dialog box.
Choose File > Preferences and set the patch download directory as the directory the removable media containing the patches.
In the Target Installation panel, select the target installation to be patched.
Select the Manage Patches tab, and select the appropriate patch profile.
From the Downloaded Patches panel, click Apply next to each patch that you want to apply.
Complete the procedure for applying patches, as described in Applying and Managing Patches.
My Oracle Support may provide you with alternative means, as appropriate, for providing you with patches if you are unable to make an online connection to My Oracle Support.