Perform Other Lifecycle Tasks
An Oracle Fusion Middleware (FMW) stretched cluster operates as a standard WebLogic cluster. Its fundamental architecture and behavior are consistent with those of typical WebLogic environments. As a result, most of the maintenance and operational procedures followed for regular WebLogic systems are equally relevant and applicable to stretched clusters. This includes, but is not limited to, approaches for applying patches, performing rolling upgrades, monitoring system health, managing resources, and troubleshooting. While there may be additional considerations due to the geographic distribution inherent in a stretched cluster, the core maintenance paradigms remain the same as those used in conventional WebLogic deployments.
Maintain the WebLogic Configuration
Most of this configuration usually resides under the Administration Server’s domain directory. This configuration is propagated automatically to the other nodes in the same domain when the managed servers start or when a change is implemented.
Other artifacts residing in the shared configuration, which is local to each region, are not automatically synchronized because they are not managed by WebLogic. These artifacts are:
- Java Keystores files that reside in the
KEYSTORE_HOME - Deployment plans that reside in
DEPLOY_PLAN_HOME Tnsnames.orafile, if it is not managed using DBClientData Modules in WebLogic.- Any other custom file that is stored on shared storage.
If you perform changes on these files in one region, copy them to the other region to keep the configuration consistent.
Perform Patching
Whenever possible, use rolling patching to reduce downtime.
For database patching, follow Data Guard best practices by applying the patch to the standby database first, if supported. The required downtime and patching procedure for the database will vary depending on the specific type of patch.