Patch Management Overview

Current Patching Challenges

Before you understand Enterprise Manager Fleet Maintenance patching, take a moment to review some of the tools you might be using currently to patch your databases, other Oracle software, and the challenges you face while using them.

Table 16-1 Current Patch Management Tools and Challenges

Approach	Description	Challenges
OPatch	Oracle proprietary tool that is installed with Oracle products like Oracle Database, Management Agent, SOA, and so on.	Difficult to identify the patches to be rolled out Patches only one Oracle home at a time Offers limited support to handle pre and post-patching scripts
Custom Scripts	User-created scripts developed around OPatch, SQLPlus, and so on.	Difficult to identify the patches to be rolled out Can be used only on a single server Requires significant maintenance overhead to meet the new version and configuration needs

Fleet Maintenance addresses these challenges with its patching solution that delivers maximum ease with minimum or no downtime. Fleet Maintenance offers the following benefits:

Receive automatic patch recommendations by integrating (online/offline) with MOS

Note:
Enterprise Manager does not upload data to MOS, it only uses MOS to obtain the latest updates.
Complete, end-to-end patching workflow
Easy review of patches for applicability in your environment
One stop place for insight into potential vulnerabilities
Review impacted targets, and recommended actions for affected targets as a result of new patch recommendations
No manual assessment required for patch analysis for targets
Smart and intuitive user interface that helps you to complete your entire update or upgrade cycle
Built-in library of pre-checks, improve reliability and diagnosis
Include custom pre and post scripts during the same maintenance window
Intelligent user interface assists by tracking operations at every step and provides actionable insights
Use EM CLI, REST APIs and the user interface to perform patching operations