Oracle Applications Manager provides several features to help with patch management. With OAM, you can easily determine which patches have been applied to your system, including the individual patches included in mini-packs, maintenance packs, and merged patches. You can also examine the patched files on a system and find all of the patches that altered a given files. For each patch applied, OAM can show the individual actions taken by the individual patch drivers.
The Patch Wizard recommends patches for your Oracle E-Business Suite system. The wizard takes patch data downloaded from Oracle, analyzes that data against your specific system, and recommends patches based on your preferences. The wizard can also analyze individual patches, identify any prerequisites missing on the system, and show the impact that the patches would have on the system in terms of affected applications, files, and other areas. Additionally, the wizard can download multiple patches from Oracle and merge them into a single patch.
Oracle Applications Manager can also be used to monitor current and previous executions of Applications DBA (AD) utilities.
To schedule required maintenance, you can use the Manage Downtime feature. As soon as a downtime is scheduled, users are notified of the upcoming period during which the system will not be available. During the scheduled downtime, Oracle E-Business Suite will be unavailable, but certain users will be allowed to log in to Oracle Applications Manager in order to monitor maintenance activity.
The Patch Impact Analysis page shows the impact of the patch if applied to your system.
For information for this page, see: Patch Impact Analysis (AD), Oracle E-Business Suite Maintenance Utilities.
In Restricted Mode, only valid database users are allowed to login into OAM via a special URL, and are allowed to access a limited set of features. The database role AD_MONITOR_ROLE has access to all the required database objects for Restricted Mode features. However, a valid database user who does not have the AD_MONITOR_ROLE may have further limited access to OAM functionality based on the database objects to which this user has access. Monitoring in-progress AD utilities is the only feature that is accessible.
Schedule the system downtime and notify end users of the upcoming downtime. Use OAM to schedule the downtime. See: Manage Downtime Schedules - Overview.
Complete the required one-time setup steps required to monitor patching progress. Ensure that you have enabled the monitoring user account by unlocking the ad_monitor account with the following command:
alter user ad_monitor account unlock;
Then log in to SQL*Plus as the user ad_monitor. The default password is 'lizard'. Reset the password.
Shut down Apache and all other all Oracle E-Business Suite services. Use the standard AD script:
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adstpall.sh <apps user>/<apps password>
Enable Maintenance Mode for your system.
To do this, run adadmin and select Option 5 =>Change Maintenance Mode, then Option 1 => Enable Maintenance Mode.
Run the command:
$FND_TOP/bin/txkrun.pl –script=ChangeApacheMode –contextfile=<Path and name of the context file> -mode=Restrict
Start Oracle HTTP Server and oacore OC4J:
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adapcctl.sh start
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adoacorectl.sh start
Begin applying patch(es). Run adpatch (hotpatch=n).
To monitor patching progress, launch Restricted Mode in OAM using the OAM Restricted Mode URL:
http://hostname:port/OA_HTML/weboamLocal/oam/oamServlet
Log in as ad_monitor with the new password.
You are now in OAM Restricted Mode, and can access patching utilities from the Maintenance tab of the Site Map: Navigate to Site Map > Maintenance, Patching and Utilities > Timing Reports.
Confirm the end of scheduled downtime in OAM upon patch completion.
From within OAM in Restricted Mode, navigate to Site Map > Maintenance > Patching and Utilities > Manage Downtime Schedules. Click the Mark Complete button. Confirm that you wish to change the downtime status to Complete.
Now switch the system back to normal mode. Run adadmin and select Option 5 => Change Maintenance Mode, then Option 2 => Disable Maintenance Mode.
Stop Oracle HTTP Server and oacore OC4J:
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adapcctl.sh stop
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adoacorectl.sh stop
Run the following command:
$FND_TOP/bin/txkrun.pl –script=ChangeApacheMode –contextfile=<Path and name of the context file> -mode=Normal
Restart all services:
$INST_TOP/admin/scripts/adstrtal.sh <user/password>
For more information on AutoConfig and the AD scripts, see the Maintaining Oracle E-Business Suite Documentation Set.
Navigation: Site Map > Maintenance > Manage Downtime Schedules (under Patching and Utilities)
Use these pages to manage downtime for maintenance.
This region shows downtime periods scheduled for the future.
This region shows previously scheduled downtime periods. Downtime periods that were canceled before they were scheduled to start are included here.
Use this page to set up your downtime schedule and messages.
This information appears in the Scheduled Downtime Details screen shown to users while the system is down.
Enter the following:
Name
Start Date and Time
Expected End Date and Time
Contact Information - You can enter a name, email address, etc. in this free-text field.
Downtime Status URL
Downtime Message - This message is displayed to users who try to log in while the system is down. You can use the default message provided, a message defined in Message Dictionary, or enter your own message.
Default message
Message Dictionary - you can use a Message Dictionary message by specifying its name.
Message Text - Directly enter your own message here.
Warning information is displayed to users before the downtime actually starts. Enter the following:
Warning Start Date and Time
Warning Message - Options are similar to those for the Downtime Message above.
Navigation: Site Map > Maintenance > Manage Downtime Schedules (under Patching and Utilities) > [Selected Downtime] Details
This page shows you the details for a downtime that were entered in when the downtime was scheduled. Notes can be added on an ongoing basis.
Navigation: Site Map > Maintenance > (Critical Activities) Setup and Monitor
Purge programs help reduce the amount of transient data stored in an Oracle E-Business Suite system. Periodically purging unneeded data helps to:
Reduce system downtime for upgrades
Decrease backup times
Increase storage efficiency
Improve system performance
Oracle E-Business Suite has several concurrent programs defined as purge programs. These programs can then be added to the Critical Activities by navigating to the Setup link. These features can then be run from the Critical Activities Monitor link.