7 Updating Oracle Database Appliance Software

To keep Oracle Database Appliance running with the latest software, check for and apply Oracle Database Appliance patch bundles when they are released.

Performing a Bare Metal Restore

Reimage Oracle Database Appliance to perform a bare metal restore of Oracle Database Appliance.

About Performing a Bare Metal Restore

Bare metal operating system (OS) re-imaging installs Oracle Database Appliance operating system software on the local (boot) drive.

Bare Metal is a non-virtualized Oracle Database Appliance configuration. Oracle Database Appliance ships from the factory with a bare metal configuration, default ISO image and Appliance Manager installed.

Use the OS ISO Image to restore the OS to the "shipped from factory" state. Use only when necessary. Reimaging does not patch the firmware or update the component versions, it only re-images the local system disk from an OS perspective. After imaging is completed, redeploy the End User image, then restore from backup, as needed.

The following are some of the reasons that you might want to reimage to perform a bare metal restore:

  • Deploy Bare Metal with latest Oracle Database Appliance software.

    In some cases, the Oracle Database Appliance machine is shipped from the factory with an earlier release of Oracle Database Appliance software. To deploy the machine with the latest software, you can perform an update or you can reimage the machine.

  • Roll back to an earlier version of Oracle Database Appliance software.

    Re-imaging with older release of Oracle Database Appliance software does not rollback the firmware version.

Use the Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) interface to reimage the Oracle Database Appliance node.

Re-imaging Oracle Database Appliance

Re-image Oracle Database Appliance to perform a bare metal restore of Oracle Database Appliance.

Bare metal restore uses Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) to re-image the Oracle Database Appliance node. The ILOM must be configured before performing a bare metal restore or re-image. Generally, the ILOM is configured as part of readying for deploying Oracle Database Appliance.

Download the Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal ISO image to your local machine before you launch the ILOM console.

  1. Open a browser and connect to Oracle Integrated Lights Out Manager (ILOM) on Node 0 as root. The default password is changeme.
    https://ilom-ip-address
  2. Launch the Remote Console.
    1. Expand Remote Control in the left navigation.
    2. Click the Redirection tab.
    3. Click Launch for the Remote Console in the Actions menu.
      The state of the system determines what appears on the Console page.
  3. Add the image.
    1. Click the KVMS tab, then select Storage.
    2. Click Add.
    3. Browse to the Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal ISO Image, highlight the image, then click Select.
    4. Click Connect.
      The mounting of the ISO image is successful when the Connect button changes to a Disconnect button.
    5. Click OK
      The CD-ROM icon in the top right corner is highlighted.
  4. Configure the CD-ROM as the next boot device.
    1. Expand Host Management in the left menu of the ILOM Remote Console tab.
    2. Click Host Control.
    3. Select CDROM from the Next Boot Device menu, then click Save.
  5. Power cycle the node.
    1. Click Power Control in the Host Management menu.
    2. Select Power Cycle , then click Save.

    When the node comes back after the power cycle, re-imaging starts automatically. The Oracle Linux page appears, followed by the Running Post-Install scripts page.

    The Running Post-Install scripts page is a static page and might give the impression that the re-imaging process is not progressing. The post-install process during re-imaging will wait until the synchronization between the partitions of the two mirrored local hard disks is complete, which can take 15 to 20 minutes to complete.

    To check the progress of re-synchronization, press the ALT-F2 key combination to open a second console and enter the following command:

    # cat /proc/mdstat

    When the re-synchronization is complete, re-imaging is completed and the machine restarts.

After the machine restarts, the system is ready for you to deploy the Oracle software on the appliance to create an Oracle Database Appliance bare metal platform.