1. Patching with OPatch
  2. Patching Your Environment Using OPatchAuto

2 Patching Your Environment Using OPatchAuto

OPatchAuto, which is automatically installed with the OPatch utility as a part of your Fusion Middleware installation, provides several commands that you can use to automate the application and roll back of a patch for a single host or multi-host environment.

  • About Zero Downtime Patching with OPatchAuto
    If you patch a multi-host topology, one of the first steps after you download a patch is to identify whether the patch is compatible for Zero Downtime (ZDT) patching.
  • Preparing to Use OPatchAuto
    To ensure successful patching, complete the prerequisites to prepare your environment to run OPatchAuto, such as obtaining the latest version of OPatch, obtaining required patches from My Oracle Support, and backing up the environment.
  • Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware
    You can use OPatchAuto to automate the necessary steps for applying or rolling back a patch on a single host or multi-host environment.

About Zero Downtime Patching with OPatchAuto

If you patch a multi-host topology, one of the first steps after you download a patch is to identify whether the patch is compatible for Zero Downtime (ZDT) patching.

If it is compatible, you can use one of the following methods to apply the patch with OPatchAuto:

  • What is a Zero Downtime Patch?
    Zero Downtime (ZDT) patching provides a process and mechanism for rolling out a patch across a domain while allowing applications to continue to service requests.
  • Identifying a Zero Downtime Patch
    You can identify a ZDT patch by the value of the patch uptime option in the patch metadata.
  • About the Available Patch Plans
    After you identify whether a patch is suitable for ZDT patching, identify and select a patch plan. As a result, it is important that you review and understand the characteristics and limitations of the patch plans available for applying a patch.

Parent topic: Patching Your Environment Using OPatchAuto

What is a Zero Downtime Patch?

Zero Downtime (ZDT) patching provides a process and mechanism for rolling out a patch across a domain while allowing applications to continue to service requests.

You can apply a ZDT patch by using OPatchAuto, which rolls out the change to one node at a time and allows a load balancer (typically, Oracle Traffic Director (OTD)) to redirect incoming traffic to the remaining nodes until the change is complete.

The recommended way to identify whether a patch is suitable for ZDT patching is to determine the value of the patch uptime option in the metadata of the patch. To identify a ZDT patch, see Identifying a Zero Downtime Patch.

Parent topic: About Zero Downtime Patching with OPatchAuto

Identifying a Zero Downtime Patch

You can identify a ZDT patch by the value of the patch uptime option in the patch metadata.

After you download a patch, open up patchdeploy.xml in the PATCH_HOME/etc/config directory, where PATCH_HOME is the location of the patch directory that contains the patch.

If the value of patch-uptime-option is FMW_ROLLING_ORACLE_HOME, as shown in the following example: 

<patch-uptime-option>FMW_ROLLING_ORACLE_HOME<patch-uptime-option>

Or the value is FMW_ROLLING_SESSION: 

<patch-uptime-option>FMW_ROLLING_SESSION<patch-uptime-option>

Then, the patch is suitable for ZDT patching.

If FMW_ROLLING_ORACLE_HOME or FMW_ROLLING_SESSION does not appear in the patch metadata, then you know that the patch is not suitable for ZDT patching. As a result, the patch is not compatible with a ZDT patch plan. The value of the patch uptime option helps you to select the appropriate patch plan to apply the patch. For information on selecting a patch plan, see About the Available Patch Plans.

Parent topic: About Zero Downtime Patching with OPatchAuto

About the Available Patch Plans

After you identify whether a patch is suitable for ZDT patching, identify and select a patch plan. As a result, it is important that you review and understand the characteristics and limitations of the patch plans available for applying a patch.

A patch plan describes the sequence of steps to execute in order to deploy a patch. To execute a plan, you must specify the plan name on the command line using the -plan option. See Patch Plans in Oracle OPatch User’s Guide for Windows and UNIX.

To discover the plans available in an Oracle home, use the opatchauto lsplans command. The following example shows a sample output of this command, which lists and describes the available plans: 

cd ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
./opatchauto lsplans

Oracle OPatchAuto Version 13.9.4.2.1
Copyright (c) 2017, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

  OPatchAuto available patch plan information:

    Product Name: OPatchAuto Core
      Patch Plan Name: rolling (Default)
        Description: Process patch targets on a per-home basis and tries to minimize downtime.
      Patch Plan Name: parallel
        Description: Process patch targets in parallel and does not attempt to minimize downtime.

    Product Name: Oracle Fusion Middleware
      Patch Plan Name: wls-zdt-rollout
        Description: Performs full WLS ZDT rollout.
      Patch Plan Name: wls-push-image
        Description: Performs only image push portion of WLS ZDT rollout.

After you identify whether the patch is a ZDT patch (see Identifying a Zero Downtime Patch), consider the following information when you choose a plan:

  • If a patch is not a ZDT patch, use the parallel patch plan to apply the patch, as shown in Applying a non-ZDT Patch on Multiple Hosts Using the Apply Command.

  • If a patch is a ZDT patch, there are two available plans, rolling and wls-zdt-rollout.

    • Use the rolling option if the patch is a FMW_ROLLING_ORACLE_HOME patch. This option uses a pure OPatchAuto approach, where OPatchAuto is used to perform all patching operations. This option is the recommended method for Fusion Middleware.

      With this approach, you can perform both image based and non-image based patching. You can also use this approach to perform what is known as configuration patching (or patching operations performed on a domain). However, this method has no session management features, such as migrating a session to another server when a server is shut down.

      For information on how to apply a ZDT patch with the rolling plan, see Applying a ZDT Patch on Multiple Hosts Using the Apply Command.

    • Use the wls-zdt-rollout option if the patch is a FMW_ROLLING_SESSION patch. You also use OPatchAuto for this option, but certain lifecycle operations are delegated to WebLogic Server components, such as WLST or the WebLogic Server Administration Console. This option is recommended for WebLogic Server only.

      This approach only supports image based patching and does not support configuration patching. But, it supports migrating a session when an instance is shut down.

      This document does not cover the steps to apply a ZDT patch using this option. See Introduction to Zero Downtime Patching in Administering Zero Downtime Patching Workflows to learn more about this option.

Parent topic: About Zero Downtime Patching with OPatchAuto

Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

To ensure successful patching, complete the prerequisites to prepare your environment to run OPatchAuto, such as obtaining the latest version of OPatch, obtaining required patches from My Oracle Support, and backing up the environment.

Parent topic: Patching Your Environment Using OPatchAuto

Locating and Obtaining the Latest Version of OPatch and OPatchAuto

Before you run OPatchAuto, find the OPatchAuto utility in the Oracle home and verify that you have the latest version. If you have the latest version of OPatchAuto, you have the latest version of OPatch.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Locating and Running OPatchAuto in the Oracle Fusion Middleware Oracle Home

You can find and run the OPatchAuto utility in the ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory after you install any Oracle Fusion Middleware product.

To run OPatchAuto, run the opatchauto command in this directory.

For example, to view the list of commands available for OPatchAuto on a Unix system, enter the following: 

./opatchauto -help
Identifying the Version of OPatchAuto Included with Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c

Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.4.0) includes OPatchAuto version 13.9.4.2.1. Use the opatchauto version command to verify that you have this version.

In general, there is a version of OPatch and OPatchAuto available for each version of the Oracle Universal Installer software.

To identify the version of OPatchAuto:

  1. Change to the following directory:
    cd ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/
  2. Run the following command:
    ./opatchauto version

    For example:

    ./opatchauto version
Oracle OPatchAuto Version 13.9.4.2.1
Copyright (c) 2017, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

1. OPatchAuto version 13.9.4.2.1

If you have the latest version of OPatchAuto, you have the latest version of OPatch. If you do not have the latest version, OPatch can be downloaded by using the patch 6880880. Always use the latest download designated for your installation. For Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c (12.2.1.4.0), select OUI NextGen 13.9.1 for the version and platform, and then click Download to download OUI NextGen OPatch 13.9.1.

Obtaining Patches Required For Your Installation

You can search for and download the latest patches for your installation from My Oracle Support.

You can check for the latest patches available for your Oracle Fusion Middleware product or component by registering and logging in to My Oracle Support at: 

http://support.oracle.com

After you sign in to My Oracle Support, click the Patches & Updates tab. This tab provides various tools that allow you to locate the patches most important to your Oracle software installation.

Note:

It is important that you review the README file that is included with each patch. The README file includes important information about the requirements and procedures to apply the patch.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Directory Variables Used in the Examples

The examples in this guide show sample commands to run OPatchAuto. These example commands use variables to reference key directories.

The following directory variables are used in this guide:

  • ORACLE_HOME, which is used to reference the location of the Oracle home directory.

  • PATCH_HOME, which is used to reference the location of the patch directory that contains the patches to be applied to the Oracle home.

  • DOMAIN_HOME, which is used to reference the location of the domain home directory.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Creating a Topology File for Patching Multiple Hosts

To apply a patch on multiple hosts, you must create a topology file that defines the elements of your topology. To create a topology file, use FMW (Fusion Middleware) Composer, which is located in ORACLE_HOME/oracle_common/bin. Composer provides a graphical user interface that describes the Fusion Middleware topology.

Use Composer to add and define each element of the topology individually. After you create your topology in Composer, you can save it to an XML or JSON file. You can then provide this file to OPatchAuto to apply the patch.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Creating a Wallet

To run OPatchAuto successfully, you must provide a wallet on the command line that contains the necessary password credentials, such as the SSH credentials for each host.

To create a wallet, you can use one of the following tools:

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Creating a Wallet Using the patchingWallet Tool

You can use the patchingWallet.sh tool in the ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/auto/core/bin directory to create a wallet file.

When you create a wallet:

  • Define the SSH credentials for each host by using the format “user:hostname:ssh”

  • Define the WebLogic administrator credentials by using the format “adminuser:adminhost:wls”. The wls credential is required if you are using the wls-zdt-rollout option to apply a ZDT patch.

The following shows an example of how to create a wallet and add the credentials to the wallet:

./patchingWallet.sh -walletDir wallet_location –create "user:adminhost:ssh" "user:host1:ssh" "user:host2:ssh" 
"adminuser:domain_name/ADMIN"  "adminuser:domain_name/NM"

For example:

./patchingWallet.sh -walletDir /tmp/samplewallet –create "oracle:adminhost:ssh" "oracle:host1:ssh" 
"oracle:host2:ssh" "weblogic:zdtDomain/ADMIN" "weblogic:zdtDomain/NM"

The tool prompts you to enter and confirm the password for each credential:

Enter Password for oracle:adminhost:ssh:
Confirm Password for oracle:adminhost:ssh:
Enter Password for oracle:host1:ssh:
Confirm Password for oracle:host1:ssh:
Enter Password for oracle:host2:ssh:
Confirm Password for oracle:host2:ssh:
Enter Password for weblogic:zdtDomain/ADMIN:
Confirm Password for weblogic:zdtDomain/ADMIN:
Enter Password for weblogic:zdtDomain/NM:
Confirm Password for weblogic:zdtDomain/NM:

Parent topic: Creating a Wallet

Configuring Node Manager to Support Start and Stop Operations

To ensure that OPatchAuto can properly stop and start your system during patching, you must configure the Node Manager to support the start and stop operations.

To do this, set the QuitEnabled and CrashRecoveryEnabled properties in the nodemanager.properties file as follows: 

QuitEnabled=true
CrashRecoveryEnabled=false

The default value for CrashRecoveryEnabled is false.

By default, this file is created in the Node Manager home directory, where the Node Manager home is typically DOMAIN_HOME/nodemanager.

Note:

For ZDT patching:

  • QuitEnabled=true is only required if you use the rolling plan to apply a ZDT patch. This is not required if you use the wls-zdt-rollout plan, which is described in Introduction to Zero Downtime Patching in Administering Zero Downtime Patching Workflows.

  • If you use the wls-zdt-rollout plan, then set CrashRecoveryEnabled to true.

After you update these properties, restart one or more Node Managers.

For more information about the nodemanager.properties file, see Reviewing nodemanager.properties in Administering Node Manager for Oracle WebLogic Server.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Remote Host Patching on Windows

For patching on Windows systems, ensure that Cygwin SSH server is installed and set up. OPatchAuto does not support other SSH servers currently.

See Remote Host Execution Using SSH in the Oracle OPatch User’s Guide for Windows and UNIX.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Backup and Recovery Considerations for Patching

It is highly recommended that you back up the Oracle home before any patch operation. You can back up the Oracle home by using your preferred method.

You can use any method such as zip, cp -r, tar, and cpio to compress the Oracle home.

If the Oracle home does not appear when you execute the opatch lsinventory -detail command, the Oracle home might be missing from the Central Inventory, or the Central Inventory itself could be missing or corrupted.

If the Oracle home is listed when you execute the opatch lsinventory -detail command, but the products and components within the Oracle home are not listed, the inventory within the Oracle home (local inventory) might be missing or corrupted.

If the local inventory is corrupted or lost for some reason, you must restore the entire Oracle home if it was backed up. If a backup does not exist, you may have to reinstall the software.

Parent topic: Preparing to Use OPatchAuto

Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

You can use OPatchAuto to automate the necessary steps for applying or rolling back a patch on a single host or multi-host environment.

The following topics describe how to use OPatchAuto to patch Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Parent topic: Patching Your Environment Using OPatchAuto

Summary of the Steps For Using OPatchAuto in a Fusion Middleware Environment

Applying a patch with OPatchAuto involves a series of steps that must be performed to ensure successful patching.

The following table summarizes the typical steps required to patch your existing Fusion Middleware environment using OPatchAuto.

Table 2-1 Using OPatchAuto with Oracle Fusion Middleware

Task Description Documentation

Acquire patches required for your installation.

Log in, search for, and download the patches required for your specific installation.

You do not need to worry about checking whether OPatchAuto supports a particular patch type. If OPatchAuto does not support a particular patch type, you are notified when you run the tool.

Obtaining Patches Required For Your Installation

Review the README.txt file for the patch.

Each patch archive includes a README file that contains important information and instructions that must be followed prior to applying your patch. It is important to review the README file because it provides any unique steps or other information specific to the patch.

The README.txt file that is packaged within the patch archive

For a multi-host environment, identify whether the patch is a ZDT patch.

To identify whether the patch is a ZDT patch, determine the patch uptime option in patchdeploy.xml. Once you know the value of the patch uptime option, you can identify the patch plan to use to apply the patch.

Identifying a Zero Downtime Patch

About the Available Patch Plans

Check for patch prerequisites.

The OPatchAuto apply -analyze command will identify that the prerequisites for the patch have been met.

If you are patching a single host environment, see Verifying the Prerequisites for Applying a Patch on a Single Host.

If you are patching a multi-host environment, see Verifying the Prerequisites for Applying a Patch on Multiple Hosts.

Apply the patch.

After you determine the Oracle home to which you need to apply the patch and have read the README file, you can use the opatchauto apply command to apply the patch.

If you are patching a single-host environment, see Applying a Patch on a Single Host Using the Apply Command.

If you are patching a multi-host environment, see one of the following, depending on whether the patch is suitable for ZDT patching:

Verify that the patch was applied to the Oracle home successfully.

The OPatch lsinventory command shows the patches that have been applied to the Oracle home. The listDomainPatchInventory.sh command shows the patches applied to the domain. Use these commands together to verify the application of the patch.

Using the OPatch lsinventory Command to Verify the Patches Applied to an Oracle Home

Using the listDomainPatchInventory.sh Command to Verify the Patches Applied to a Domain

Verify that your software runs properly after you apply the patch.

After patching is complete and your servers are restarted, check your product software to verify that the issue has been resolved.

Verifying the Installation after Applying a Patch

Troubleshoot the application of a patch.

If there are problems applying a patch, your first troubleshooting task is to review the log file for the OPatchAuto session.

Troubleshooting a Patch by Viewing the OPatchAuto Log File

Roll back the application of a patch.

If for some reason the result is not satisfactory, you can use the opatchauto rollback command to remove the patch from the Oracle home.

If more assistance is required, go to My Oracle Support (formerly OracleMetaLink).

For a single host environment, see Rolling Back a Patch You Have Applied on a Single Host.

For a multi-host environment, see Rolling Back a Patch You Have Applied on Multiple Hosts.

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Applying a Patch on a Single Host Using OPatchAuto

After you obtain the patches required for your installation, use the opatchauto apply —analyze command to verify prerequisites, and then use opatchauto apply to apply a patch on a single host. If needed, you can use opatchauto rollback to roll back a patch.

Patching a single host environment with OPatchAuto involves the following tasks:

  • Verifying the Prerequisites for Applying a Patch on a Single Host
    To verify that a patch can be applied on a single host, use the —analyze argument to the OPatchAuto apply command. For single host patching, you must also provide the domain location using the —instance argument.
  • Applying a Patch on a Single Host Using the Apply Command
    To apply a patch on a single host, use the opatchauto apply command. This is the same command as opatchauto apply —analyze, except you remove the —analyze argument when you are ready to apply the patch.
  • Rolling Back a Patch You Have Applied on a Single Host
    If you apply a patch and the results are not satisfactory, use the opatchauto rollback command to roll back the application of the patch. This is the same command as opatchauto rollback –analyze, except you remove the -analyze argument when you are ready to roll back the patch.

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Verifying the Prerequisites for Applying a Patch on a Single Host

To verify that a patch can be applied on a single host, use the —analyze argument to the OPatchAuto apply command. For single host patching, you must also provide the domain location using the —instance argument.

The following command shows how to verify the prerequisites for applying a patch on a single host:

opatchauto apply PATCH_HOME -analyze -instance DOMAIN_HOME -wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded 
-wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

For example:

opatchauto apply /home/oracle/patches/15941858 -analyze -instance /home/oracle/config/domains/exampledomain -wallet /tmp/samplewallet 
-wls-admin-host examplehost.exampledomain.com:7001

If you want to apply multiple patches in one session, use the –phBaseDir option.

This command analyzes and displays the actions that are taken by the patch, but does not actually apply the patch. As a result, it allows you to verify that the prerequisites for the patch have been met.

If any prerequisite checks fail, refer to the output and log file to fix the issues before you continue. For example, a common failure is the detection of patch conflicts. If any patch conflicts occur, follow the instructions in the log file for how to obtain a merge patch from Oracle Support.

Applying a Patch on a Single Host Using the Apply Command

To apply a patch on a single host, use the opatchauto apply command. This is the same command as opatchauto apply —analyze, except you remove the —analyze argument when you are ready to apply the patch.

The following example shows how to use the opatchauto apply command to apply a patch to an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment on a single host.

This example assumes that:

  • The patch you have downloaded has been saved to a directory that is named for the patch number in My Oracle Support. In this case, the patch number is 15941858.

  • Run the OPatchAuto command from the ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory and include the location of the patch (PATCH_HOME) as an argument to the command.

Note:

When you run the opatchauto apply command, make a note of the session id (for example, EKZR) in the command output. This simplifies the rollback process if you decide to roll back the patch later. 

opatchauto apply PATCH_HOME -instance DOMAIN_HOME -wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded -wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

For example:

opatchauto apply /home/oracle/patches/15941858 -instance /home/oracle/config/domains/exampledomain -wallet /tmp/samplewallet 
-walletPassword password -wls-admin-host examplehost.exampledomain.com:7001
Rolling Back a Patch You Have Applied on a Single Host

If you apply a patch and the results are not satisfactory, use the opatchauto rollback command to roll back the application of the patch. This is the same command as opatchauto rollback –analyze, except you remove the -analyze argument when you are ready to roll back the patch.

The following example shows how to use the opatchauto rollback command to roll back a patch that was applied to an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment on a single host.

To do a rollback, you follow the same process that you used to apply the patch. That is, you first do a test run of the opatchauto rollback command:

Note:

You can simplify the command if you provide the session id (for example, EKZR) that was used to apply the patch. Then, OPatchAuto can derive all the necessary command-line parameters. 
opatchauto rollback –session session_id -analyze –wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded -wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

For example:

opatchauto rollback –session EKZR -analyze –wallet /tmp/samplewallet -walletPassword password -wls-admin-host examplehost.exampledomain.com:7001

When the test run successfully passes, perform the actual rollback of the patch:

opatchauto rollback –session session_id –wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded -wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

For example:

opatchauto rollback –session EKZR –wallet /tmp/samplewallet -walletPassword password -wls-admin-host examplehost.exampledomain.com:7001

Alternatively, you can roll back the patch by pointing OPatchAuto to a copy of the unzipped patch as follows: 

opatchauto rollback unzipped_patch_location -instance DOMAIN_HOME –wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded 
-wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

Or, you can specify the patch id using the -id option without specifying the location of the patch directory.

For example:

opatchauto rollback -id 12345 –wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded -wls-admin-host weblogic_adminserver_host:port

Applying a Patch on Multiple Hosts Using OPatchAuto

After you obtain the necessary patches, use the opatchauto apply —analyze command to verify prerequisites, and then use opatchauto apply to apply a patch on multiple hosts. If needed, you can use opatchauto rollback to roll back a patch.

Note:

Before you apply a patch on multiple hosts, ensure that you have created a topology file by using FMW Composer. You must supply this file, which can be either an XML or JSON file, on the command line using the -topology option when you run OPatchAuto. OPatchAuto uses this file to obtain information about the environment that you want to patch.

Patching a multi-host environment with OPatchAuto involves the following tasks:

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Verifying the Prerequisites for Applying a Patch on Multiple Hosts

To ensure successful patching, use the opatchauto apply —analyze command to check for any prerequisites before you apply a patch.

To verify that a patch can be applied to a specific Oracle home (ORACLE_HOME) and domain location (DOMAIN_HOME) on multiple hosts, use the —analyze argument to the OPatchAuto apply command. 

opatchauto apply PATCH_HOME -analyze -plan patch_plan -topology path_to_topology_file -wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded

For example:

opatchauto apply /home/oracle/patches/15941858 -analyze -plan rolling -topology /home/oracle/topologies/topology-1.0.xml -wallet /tmp/samplewallet -walletPassword password

If you want to apply multiple patches in one session, use the –phBaseDir option.

Note that rolling is the default patch plan if no plan is specified on the command line. For information on identifying the available plans, see About the Available Patch Plans.

This command displays the actions that are taken by the patch, but does not actually apply the patch. As a result, it allows you to verify that the prerequisites for the patch have been met.

If any prerequisite checks fail, refer to the command output and log file to fix any issues before you continue. For example, a common failure is the detection of patch conflicts. If any patch conflicts occur, follow the instructions in the log file for how to obtain a merge patch from Oracle Support.

Applying a non-ZDT Patch on Multiple Hosts Using the Apply Command

To apply a non-ZDT patch, use the opatchauto apply command with the parallel patch plan. This command is the same command as opatchauto apply -analyze, except you remove the -analyze argument when you are ready to apply the patch.

The following example shows how to use the opatchauto apply command to apply a non-ZDT patch to an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment on multiple hosts.

This example assumes that:

  • The patch you have downloaded has been saved to a directory that is named for the patch number in My Oracle Support. In this case, the patch number is 15941858.

  • Run the OPatchAuto command from the ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory and include the location of the patch (PATCH_HOME) as an argument to the command.

Note:

When you run the opatchauto apply command, make a note of the session id (for example, EKZR) in the command output. The session id simplifies the rollback process if you decide to roll back the patch later. 

opatchauto apply PATCH_HOME -plan parallel -topology path_to_topology_file -wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded

For example:

opatchauto apply /home/oracle/patches/15941858 -plan parallel -topology /home/oracle/topologies/topology-1.0.xml -wallet /tmp/samplewallet -walletPassword password
Applying a ZDT Patch on Multiple Hosts Using the Apply Command

To apply a Zero Downtime (ZDT) patch, use the opatchauto apply command with the rolling patch plan. This command is the same command as opatchauto apply -analyze, except you remove the -analyze argument when you are ready to apply the patch.

The following example shows how to use the opatchauto apply command to apply a ZDT patch to an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment on multiple hosts.

This example assumes that:

  • The patch you have downloaded has been saved to a directory that is named for the patch number in My Oracle Support. In this case, the patch number is 15941858.

  • Run the OPatchAuto command from the ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory and include the location of the patch (PATCH_HOME) as an argument to the command.

Note:

  • When you run the opatchauto apply command, make a note of the session id (for example, EKZR) in the command output. The session id simplifies the rollback process if you decide to roll back the patch later.

  • rolling is the default patch plan if no plan is specified on the command line. 

opatchauto apply PATCH_HOME -plan rolling -topology path_to_topology_file -wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded

For example:

opatchauto apply /home/oracle/patches/15941858 -plan rolling -topology /home/oracle/topologies/topology-1.0.xml -wallet /tmp/samplewallet -walletPassword password
Rolling Back a Patch You Have Applied on Multiple Hosts

If you apply a patch and the results are not satisfactory, use the opatchauto rollback command to roll back the application of a patch. This is the same command as opatchauto rollback –analyze, except you remove the -analyze argument when you are ready to roll back the patch.

The following example shows how to use the opatchauto rollback command to roll back a patch that was applied to an Oracle Fusion Middleware environment on multiple hosts.

To do a rollback, you follow the same process that you used to apply the patch. That is, you first do a test run of the opatchauto rollback command:

Note:

You can simplify the command if you provide the session id (for example, EKZR) that was used to apply the patch. Then, OPatchAuto can derive all the necessary command-line parameters. 

opatchauto rollback –session session_id -analyze -walletPassword password_ifneeded

For example:

opatchauto rollback –session EKZR -analyze -walletPassword password

When the test run successfully passes, perform the actual rollback of the patch:

opatchauto rollback –session session_id -walletPassword password_ifneeded

For example:

opatchauto rollback –session EKZR -walletPassword password

Alternatively, you can roll back the patch by pointing OPatchAuto to a copy of the unzipped patch as follows: 

opatchauto rollback unzipped_patch_location -topology path_to_topology_file –wallet wallet_location -walletPassword password_ifneeded

Or, you can specify the patch id using the -id option without specifying the location of the patch directory, as shown in the following example: 

opatchauto rollback -id 12345 -wallet /tmp/samplewallet -topology /home/oracle/topologies/topology-1.0.json
Setting SSL Arguments (SSL only Environment)
In a SSL only environment, complete the following steps for patching using opatchauto:

  1. Provide the administration server details with the protocol information. For example: -wls-admin-host t3s://<HOST_NAME>.

  2. If required, set additional system properties while invoking opatchauto. For example: -Dweblogic.security.TrustKeyStore=DemoTrust.

For additional information related to properties, see WebLogic Server Command Reference.

Troubleshooting a Patch by Viewing the OPatchAuto Log File

To understand how a patch is applied and to troubleshoot any problems with the application of a patch, review the log file for the OPatchAuto session.

The log file location is usually saved to the following directory or a subdirectory within this location:

ORACLE_HOME/cfgtoollogs/opatchauto/

The file name for each log file identifies the date and time it was executed. For example:

opatchauto2015-09-28_11-47-13AM.log

You can also locate the log file by viewing the output of the opatchauto command. The log file name and location is included in the output of the command. For example: 

Session log file is /home/Oracle/products/fmw12c/cfgtoollogs/opatchauto/opatchauto2015-09-28_11-47-13AM.log

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Using the OPatch lsinventory Command to Verify the Patches Applied to an Oracle Home

To verify what patches have been applied to an Oracle home, or to find out additional information about the Oracle home, use the opatch lsinventory command.

The following example shows sample output of the lsinventory command, which indicates that a specific interim patch has been applied.

Example 2-1 Running the opatch lsinventory Command to Obtain the Oracle Home Information

> opatch lsinventory
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 13.9.4.2.1
Copyright (c) 2019, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.

Oracle Home       : /opt/Oracle/products/fmw12c
Central Inventory : /opt/Oracle/oraInventory
   from           : /var/opt/Oracle/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 13.9.4.2.1
OUI version       : 13.9.4.0.0
Log file location : /opt/Oracle/products/fmw12c/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2019-10-13_23-11-47PM.log

OPatch detects the Middleware Home as "/opt/Oracle/products/fmw12c"

Lsinventory Output file location :
/opt/Oracle/products/fmw12c/cfgtoollogs/opatch/lsinv/lsinventory2019-10-13_23-11-47PM.txt

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Local Machine Information::
Hostname:
ARU platform id: 226
ARU platform description:: Linux x86-64

Interim patches (1) :

Patch  100006     : applied on Mon Jun 10 12:39:07 PDT 2019
Unique Patch ID:  150220
Patch description:  "TEST PATCH FOR WLS 12.2.1.4.0 - JAVA CLASSES PATCH"
   Created on 17 May 2019, 11:54:20 hrs PST8PDT
   Bugs fixed:
     783169, 15941850

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OPatch succeeded.

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Using the listDomainPatchInventory.sh Command to Verify the Patches Applied to a Domain

To verify the patches that have been applied to a domain, use the listDomainPatchInventory.sh command. Use this command with the OPatch lsinventory command to verify that the patch has been applied successfully.

For example:

cd ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/bin
./listDomainPatchInventory.sh DOMAIN_HOME

This command indicates that a specific interim patch has been applied.

If you do not see same list of patches in both the domain inventory and in the inventory for each Oracle home, reapply the patch. When you reapply the patch, only the missing steps are executed. The tasks that have already been performed are skipped.

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware

Verifying the Installation after Applying a Patch

After you apply one or more patches, use the WebLogic Administration Console, Fusion Middleware Control, and your organization’s application testing to verify that your system is running successfully.

To verify your installations in an Oracle Fusion Middleware 12c environment:

  1. Ensure that all the servers in all the domains associated with the Oracle home you patched are up and running.

    Note:

    If the servers were up and running before patching, it is not necessary to manually restart the servers. OPatchAuto restarts the servers for you once patching is complete.

  2. Open the WebLogic Server Administration Console for each domain to verify the Administration Server and to view the status of the components in the domain.

    Also, in any Oracle Fusion Middleware domain (where the Oracle Fusion Middleware Infrastructure is installed), open the Oracle Enterprise Manager Fusion Middleware Control console to view the status of the components in the domain.

    From either console, you can verify that the servers and applications are up and running correctly. For more information, see the following topics in Administering Oracle Fusion Middleware:

If the software does not work as expected, follow the rollback instructions to roll back the application of the patch.

Parent topic: Using OPatchAuto to Patch Oracle Fusion Middleware