This chapter describes how to apply patches to your Oracle Communications Converged Application Server system.
You can develop and maintain a strategy to handle the installation of patch releases so that your customers experience a seamless transition.
Oracle Communications distributes the following types of patch releases for Converged Application Server to resolve issues, to resolve any perceived vulnerability in the software, or to improve its overall performance:
Patch Set. A Patch Set is the most comprehensive patch release. It contains the accumulated resolutions and updates in Converged Application Server from the time of the last general release up to the current Patch Set release. Oracle recommends that you stay up-to-date by installing Patch Sets as soon as they become available.
Converged Application Server 7.0 Patch Sets use the release numbering scheme 7.0.0.x.0, where x is the Patch Set number. For example, the first Patch Set for Converged Application Server 7.0 would be Converged Application Server 7.0.0.1.0.
Debug patch. A debug patch is used to troubleshoot an ongoing issue in your Converged Application Server system. A debug patch represents a concerted attempt by you and Oracle Technical Support to fix an issue in your Converged Application Server system. Oracle Technical Support uses debug patches as a tool to extract better data from your Converged Application Server system as a way of resolving the issue. Therefore, the debug patch may not resolve the issue, and more patches may be required.
Because debug patches address a single issue, Converged Application Server numbers them as v1, v2, v3, and so on. Each subsequent version replaces the prior version of the debug patch.
Temporary fix. Temporary fixes are tailored to solve an issue in your Converged Application Server system. They are urgent, time-sensitive, or critical corrections that solve an issue you are experiencing. You may have to install more patches to make the temporary fix work.
Because each temporary fix addresses a single issue, Converged Application Server numbers the fixes as v1, v2, v3, and so on. Each subsequent version replaces the prior version of the temporary fix.
By default, every patch contains the following items:
A README file
The README file for a patch release describes how to install the patch. Additionally, in case you encounter problems while applying the patch, the README describes how you can revert to your current setup by rolling back the patch.
Software updates to Converged Application Server
These updates consist of fixes or debug changes.
At times, the patch includes a subdirectory named custom, which contains the following items:
Additional documentation resources
For example, the patch may contain the description of a specific fix detailing what configuration settings are required to utilize the fix.
Manual patching steps
The patch may target a resource you have modified, such as startup scripts.
If your Converged Application Server system operates in a clustered environment, review the README file that accompanies the patch. Ensure that you apply the patch to all of the servers. Then, perform a rolling restart unless otherwise stated in the README file.
OPatch is an Oracle-supplied Java-based utility that supports the following tasks:
Applying a patch
Rolling back a patch to a previous version
Listing the installed patches
Detecting a conflict when applying a patch after previous patches have been applied. It also suggests the best options to resolve a conflict
OPatch requires installation of the Oracle Universal Installer software. It is platform-independent and runs on all supported operating systems.
For more information, see "About OPatch" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Patching with OPatch.
Complete the following tasks before you use OPatch for the first time on your system:
For more information about the prerequisite checks for OPatch, see Oracle Universal Installer and OPatch User's Guide.
For the latest information about the OPatch utility, the JRE versions, or the Java commands for Windows, Solaris, and Linux, or to check for updates and get the latest versions, go to My Oracle Support at:
To apply patches successfully, OPatch needs access to a valid version of Oracle Universal Installer, a valid Oracle Inventory directory (oraInventory), and a valid version of oPatch. Validate the versions on your system by using the following command:
opatch lsinventory
This command displays your system's OPatch and Oracle Universal Installer versions and directories, and lists the patches currently installed in Oracle_home. This is the directory that serves as the repository for common files that are used by Oracle Communications products installed on the same machine, such as Converged Application Server and WebLogic Server. For example, the following shows a sample of the information displayed at the beginning of the output:
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 13.2.0.0.0 Copyright (c) 2014, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Oracle Home : Oracle_home Central Inventory : /export/oraInventory from : Oracle_home/oraInst.loc OPatch version : 13.2.0.0.0 OUI Version : 13.2.0.0.0 Log file location : Oracle_home/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2015-12-16_11-16-55AM_1.log
For more information, see "OPatch Utility Reference".
Caution:
If the lsinventory command errors out, do not proceed further with the patch attempt.Contact Oracle Technical Support to validate and verify the inventory setup.
Before you start any patch operation, back up the contents of the Oracle_home directory. You can back up the contents of Oracle_home by using your preferred method, such as ZIP, TAR, cp -r, or cpio.
The patch installation process uses the OPatch and ZIP software. Ensure that your system can find and use the software by setting the following environment variables:
Set your PATH environment variable to include the path to your Oracle_home/OPatch directory and to your ZIP software.
Set your ORACLE_HOME environment variable to your Oracle_home directory.
To confirm that your system can find the OPatch and ZIP software, enter the following at a command prompt:
which opatch which unzip
Note:
If your system cannot find the path to the software, double-check that your environment variables are set correctly.To install a Converged Application Server patch:
Determine whether you need to stop all servers in your Converged Application Server system by checking the patch README file.
The README file explicitly states whether the patch requires you to stop your servers before installing the patch.
Log in to the target system.
Download the patch from the My Oracle Support website to a temporary directory:
The patch archive (PatchName.zip) is downloaded to your temporary directory.
Create a directory for storing the unpacked patch contents. This document and the patch README file refer to this directory as the Patch_top directory.
Note:
Ensure that the PatchName.zip file is not located inside the Patch_top directory.Go to your temporary directory and unpack the patch archive (PatchName.zip) into the Patch_top directory.
The PatchName subdirectory is created.
Go to the Patch_top/PatchName directory.
Run the OPatch utility by entering the following at a command prompt:
opatch apply
OPatch validates the patch and makes sure that there are no conflicts with the software already installed in Oracle_home before applying the patch to your Converged Application Server system.
For more information, see "OPatch Utility Reference" and "Dealing with Conflicts When You Run the Apply Command".
Verify that the patch installed successfully by running the following command:
opatch lsinventory
For more information, see "OPatch Utility Reference".
Determine whether you need to restart all servers in your Converged Application Server system or perform other tasks by checking the patch README file.
The patch README file explicitly states whether the patch requires you to restart your servers or to perform other tasks after installing the patch.
If you encounter any issues in any of these steps, see "Troubleshooting".
OPatch is reliable and protects Oracle_home and the inventory. It can bring back the contents of the Oracle_home directory to a stable state from patch application failures. It can also easily detect patch conflicts.
OPatch logs information to a .log file. Here is an example entry:
Log file location : /home/oracle_ TEST/product/11.1.0/db1/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch-yyyy_month_dd_HH-MM-SS-IST_Wed.log
If you encountered errors while installing a patch and you need assistance from Oracle Technical Support, be sure to provide the associated log file together with the patch command you used to install the patch.
When you run the OPatch apply command, you may encounter the following conflicts:
Conflict with a patch already applied to the contents of the Oracle_home directory.
In this case, stop the patch installation and contact Oracle Technical Support.
Conflicts with a subset patch already applied to the contents of the Oracle_home directory.
In this case, continue the installation, because the new patch contains all of the fixes from the existing patch. The subset patch is automatically rolled back before the installation of the new patch.
If you experience any problems after installing a patch, remove the patch.
To uninstall the patch:
Stop all servers in your Converged Application Server system.
Roll back the patch with the following command:
opatch rollback -id PatchNumber
where PatchNumber is the patch number. For more information, see "OPatch Utility Reference".
If you need further assistance, contact Oracle Technical Support with the required information.
By default, the OPatch utility is located in the Oracle_home/OPatch directory. The following shows the syntax for running the OPatch utility:
opatch [-help] [-report] [command]
where:
-help lists the commands and options supported by the utility.
Use the -help parameter together with a command to view detailed information for the OPatch command. For example:
opatch apply -help
-report prints the actions without executing the command.
command is one of these OPatch commands:
apply [PatchDirectory]
This command applies the patch to the software located in Oracle_home. If you do not run the utility from the directory in which the patch content resides (PatchDirectory), include the complete path to the directory.
For the command to work properly, the ORACLE_HOME environment variable must be set to Oracle_home. See "Dealing with Conflicts When You Run the Apply Command".
lsinventory
This command displays your system's OPatch and Oracle Universal Installer versions and directories, and lists the patches currently installed in Oracle_home. The following shows sample output for the lsinventory command:
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 13.2.0.0.0 Copyright (c) 2014, Oracle Corporation. All rights reserved. Oracle Home : Oracle_home Central Inventory : /export/oraInventory from : Oracle_home/oraInst.loc OPatch version : 13.2.0.0.0 OUI Version : 13.2.0.0.0 Log file location : Oracle_home/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2015-12-16_11-16-55AM_1.log OPatch detects the Oracle Home as "Oracle_home" ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Interim patches (1): Patch 19836145 : applied on Tue Dec 16 10:51:13 CST 2015 Unique Patch ID : 1418034883552 Patch description : "[Patch Set v7.0.0.1.0] - Patch set zero" Created on 8 Dec 2014, 02:34:45 hrs PST8PDT Bugs fixed: 123412 -----------------------------------------------------------------------
rollback -id PatchNumber
This command removes the specified patch from the Oracle_home directory, where PatchNumber is the patch number.
You can find the patch number by using the lsinventory command. For example, you would use the command rollback -id 19836145 to roll back the patch shown in the following sample lsinventory output:
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Interim patches (1) :
Patch 19836145 : applied on Tue Dec 16 10:51:13 CST 2014
Unique Patch ID: 1418034883552
Patch description: "[Patch Set v7.0.0.1.0] - Patch set zero"
Created on 8 Dec 2014, 02:34:45 hrs PST8PDT
Bugs fixed:
123412
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
For a full list of the OPatch commands and their descriptions, see "Common OPatch Commands When Patching an Oracle Fusion Middleware Oracle home" in Oracle Fusion Middleware Patching with OPatch.