8.1 About the Patching Utility Tool

Oracle WebLogic Server for OCI provides the patching utility tool to download the patches for the WebLogic Server instances. This utility can be used on UCM instances if you do not have access to the support portal to download the required patches.

The patching utility is a command-line tool provided with eligible Oracle WebLogic Server for OCI instances. It helps you manage WebLogic Server patches from the instance by connecting to the Oracle-managed patch repository in Object Storage.

You can use the patching utility to view the utility version, configure the patch download region, list available patches, view patch details, download patches, and upgrade the utility. On Linux-based Oracle WebLogic Server for OCI instances, you can also use the utility to list pending patches, apply patches, and roll back patches. On Windows instances, the utility supports viewing the version, configuring the utility, listing patches, viewing patch details, downloading patches, and upgrading the utility.

The patching utility is available only for Oracle WebLogic Server for OCI UCM offerings. It is not available for Oracle WebLogic Server for OCI BYOL offerings.

The patching utility is available only for instances provisioned after release 20.4.3, released on December 23, 2020. For instances provisioned before release 20.4.3, open a support ticket.

Before you use the utility, configure it with the region from which patches are downloaded. The instance where you run the utility must be able to connect to the Object Storage endpoints used by the patching utility. If the WebLogic compute instance cannot connect to those endpoints, then you can add a NAT gateway to the subnet used by the instance, download the patches using the Patching utility, and remove the NAT gateway if internet egress is not desired.