8.2.2.4 Operational Practices for Optimal Software Maintenance

The following operational practices enable optimal software maintenance:

• Run Exachk regularly — As a general health check tool to ensure an Exadata system continues to meet the current and constantly evolving best practices, run Exachk monthly. The Exachk report should be utilized as follows:

  • Baseline comparison - Compare the current report against an accepted baseline report using the report comparison feature (-diff option).

  • Critical issue exposure - Review the report for exposure to critical issues. Take prompt action to resolve critical issues reported by Exachk.

  • Version recommendation - Review the report for version recommendation. The MAA Scorecard section evaluates current software versions for consistency, compatibility, and whether or not it is current.

• Qualify maintenance readiness with Exachk — Prior to performing software maintenance, run Exachk to ensure the system is in a healthy state. Correct any FAIL or WARNING checks before updating any software. After software maintenance is complete, run Exachk again to confirm system health.

• Update software at regular intervals — All software should be updated regularly. Maintaining software at current or recent releases provides the following benefits: better software security, continued compatibility with newer related software, better support and faster resolution of issues, and ability to supply fixes for newly discovered issues.

• Use the latest versions of the update utilities — Use the latest version of software update utilities Exachk, patchmgr, and OPatch.

  Exachk is updated regularly to contain new features, fixes, best practice health checks, and version recommendations. Patchmgr for database servers is updated regularly to contain new features, fixes, and workarounds for known database server update issues. OPatch is updated regularly to contain new features and fixes.

• Perform storage server updates separately from RDMA Network Fabric switch updates — Do not update storage servers and RDMA Network Fabric switches concurrently. RDMA Network Fabric network connections must be stable during some critical stages of storage server updates. The RDMA Network Fabric switch firmware upgrade requires a switch reboot, which disrupts some connections on the RDMA Network Fabric.

• Avoid unsupported system changes — Oracle Exadata is an integrated system and engineered to be the best platform for running Oracle Database. Oracle Exadata storage servers and RDMA Network Fabric switches contain all software necessary to run Oracle Database and are configured to run Oracle Database optimally. Software updates to Oracle Exadata storage servers and RDMA Network Fabric switches are performed using patchmgr. Configuration or installed software may not be altered manually (without using patchmgr) in any way unless the Oracle Exadata documentation contains steps to perform the desired change. While making an unsupported manual change may have the desired immediate effect, there are many potential negative consequences, such as:

  • Failed future patchmgr software updates
  • Inability to rescue the system
  • Inability to diagnose a software defect efficiently

  Contact Oracle Support Services for further guidance if a desired Oracle Exadata storage server or RDMA Network Fabric switch change is not documented.

• Minimize database server customization — Oracle Exadata is an integrated system and engineered to be the best platform for running Oracle Database. Oracle Exadata database servers contain all software necessary to run Oracle Database and are configured to run Oracle Database optimally. Software updates to Oracle Exadata database servers are performed using patchmgr. However, it may be necessary to manually install additional, site-specific software, such as monitoring agents or backup agents.

  It is supported to manually customize database servers, but note that customizing the operating system by adding or updating packages may require additional actions when applying a future Oracle Exadata System Software update with patchmgr (for example, removing customization prior to updating Oracle Exadata servers and reapplying the customization after the update completes) because the additional software may add new dependencies which are not provided by a future Oracle Exadata System Software update. It is recommended to minimize database server customization. See the topic Updating Oracle Exadata Database Servers for additional details.

• Test supported configuration changes — Database server site-specific customization must be tested completely, including verifying database servers reboot properly after making configuration changes. Custom configuration changes that prevent successful system reboot will cause future Oracle Exadata System Software updates to fail.