24 Patching Oracle Clusterware

Deployment Phases

The following describes the different phases involved in this Deployment Procedure:

Table 24-2 Deployment Phases for Patching Oracle Clusterware in Online Mode

Phase	Description
	Software Updates Allows you to select the software updates (patches and patch sets) you want to apply, apply SQL script, upgrade OPatch, black out associated targets, clean up backup files, and provide advanced options for OPatch. Note: You must not combine patches and patch sets in a single selection set.
	Target List Allows you to select the database targets you want to patch.
	Library Step Properties Allows you to specify values for steps that you want to edit at runtime.
	Oracle Configuration Manager Allows you to configure Oracle Configuration Manager.
	Credentials Allows you to specify Oracle home credentials required to patch clusterware Oracle homes, and host credentials to access the hosts where the clusterware instances are present.
	Schedule Allows you to schedule the Deployment Procedure to run immediately or later.
	Review Allows you to review the details you have provided for patching the selected clusterware instances.

Prerequisites

Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites:

Prerequisites for Designers

• Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in the following sections:

  • Mandatory Infrastructure Requirements for Provisioning and Patching

  • Optional Infrastructure Requirements

  • Setting Up Infrastructure for Online Patching

• Ensure that you have the latest release of the OPatch software on the target host (where the clusterware to be patched is running).

• Ensure that operating system users such as oracle and crsuser are available on all the nodes of the cluster. These users must be a part of the relevant operating system groups such as dba and oinstall.

• Ensure that you run the Deployment Procedure in the Analyze mode.

Prerequisites for Operators

• Ensure that you use an operating system user that has the privileges to run the Deployment Procedure, and that can switch to root user and run all commands on the target hosts. For example, commands such as mkdir, ls, and so on.

  If you do not have the privileges to do so, that is, if you are using a locked account, then request your administrator (a designer) to either customize the Deployment Procedure to run it as another user or ignore the steps that require special privileges.

  For example, user account A might have the root privileges, but you might use user account B to run the Deployment Procedure. In this case, you can switch from user account B to A by customizing the Deployment Procedure.

  For information about customization, see Chapter 30, "Customizing Steps to Run as Another User".

• Ensure that you are the owner of the Oracle home of the targets being patched. If you are not the owner or if you do not have direct access to those targets, then customize the Deployment Procedure to run as another user.

  For information about customization, see Chapter 30, "Customizing Steps to Run as Another User".

Patching Procedure

To patch an Oracle Cluterware, follow these steps:

1. In Grid Control, click the Deployments tab.

2. On the Deployments page, in the Patching section, click Patching through Deployment Procedures.

3. On the Deployment Procedure Manager page, in the Procedures subtab, from the table, select Patch Oracle Clusterware - Rolling. Then click Schedule Deployment.

   Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Software Updates page of the Deployment Procedure.

4. On the Software Updates page, do the following:

   1. In the Select Stage Location section, retain the default selection, that is, Enter Stage Location that has the value %emd_root%/EMStage.

      This default value refers to a location on the target host where the clusterware to be patched is running. The software updates are downloaded from My Oracle Support to Oracle Software Library, and then staged in this location on the target hosts.

      
      

      You can modify the location if you want to, and click Save. If you save multiple custom locations, then the Select Stage Location option gets enabled and allows you to select any of the saved custom locations the next time you visit the same page.

      Instead of %emd_root%, you can also specify %oracle_home% to indicate the current home location being patched or %perlbin% to indicate the location of perl binary used by Oracle Management Agent (Management Agent).

   2. In the CRS Updates section, click Add to search and select software updates from My Oracle Support. Alternatively, if you have a text file that contains details about the patches, then click Upload From File to select and upload that text file.

      On clicking Add, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Search and Select Software Updates page. On this page, select Search My Oracle Support, specify the details of the patches you want to search, and click Go.

      Enterprise Manager Grid Control connects to My Oracle Support, searches the patches, and displays details about them on the Search and Select Software Updates page. Select the ones you want to apply using the Deployment Procedure, and click Select.

      Note:

      Selection of multiple patches is supported.

      On clicking Upload From File, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Upload File page. On this page, select Upload from Local Machine or Upload from Software Library depending on where the text file is available, click Browse to search and select that file, and then click Upload.

   3. (Optional) In the Upgrade OPatch section, retain the default selection so that the OPatch software on the target hosts are upgraded before the patches are applied on the database targets.

      Enterprise Manager Grid Control uses OPatch software to apply the one-off patches. It is assumed that this software is already available on the target hosts managed by Oracle Management Agents (Management Agent), but Oracle recommends you to retain the selection so that the existing software is upgraded to the latest release.

   4. (Optional) In the Black Out Associated Targets section, retain the default selection so that all targets associated with the clusterware to be patched are blacked out while the patching is in progress.

      
      

   5. (Optional) In the Clean Up Backup Files section, select the option if you want to clean up all patching backup files after the patches are applied. The backup files are cleaned up by running OPatch utility cleanup command. Select this option depending on the space available on the target Oracle home.

   6. (Optional) In the Advanced OPatch Options section, specify any opatch-related options you want to pass while running this Deployment Procedure. Typically, you can use this section when you have patch conflicts or when inventory location is not default for the target Oracle home being patched. For example, after running the Deployment Procedure in Analyze Mode, if you identified any patch conflicts, then you can pass options to rectify the patch conflicts.

      
      

      The following are the options you can specify:

      -skip_duplicate, skips duplicate patches

      -skip_conflict, skips conflicting patches

      -skip_missing_component, skips patches whose components are missing

      -invPtrLoc, the location of oraInst.loc file

      Note:

      If you want to specify multiple options, then separate the list with a white space. For example, -skip_duplicate -skip_conflict

   7. Click Next.

5. On the Target List page, in the Clusterware Targets to be Patched section, click Add to add the clusterware target you want to patch. Then click Next.

   Note:

   You can patch only one cluster at a time.

   When you click Add, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Select Target page. On this page, search and select the clusterware you want to patch, and click Continue.

   
   

   Note:

   Do not deselect any of the hosts from the Select Hosts column of the Target List table.

6. On the Library Step Properties page (appears only if you had customized the Deployment Procedure and marked some steps to be prompted at runtime), specify values for the library steps.

7. (Optional) On the Oracle Configuration Manager page, specify an e-mail address to configure Oracle Configuration Manager. If you had already set up My Oracle Support credentials for the Enterprise Manager user account being used, then the fields are pre- filled with those details. If you have a proxy server, then provide details about the proxy server, and click Next.

   If you do not want to configure Oracle Configuration Manager, then delete the details appearing on this screen, and click Next.

8. On the Credentials page, do the following:

   • In the Clusterware Credentials section, specify the Oracle home credentials required to patch the clusterware Oracle homes.

   • In the RAC Credentials section, specify the Oracle home credentials required to patch the RAC databases associated withthe clusterware.

   
   

   Note:

   When there are Oracle home active steps, the Home Credentials section appears. When there are host-level active steps, the Host Credentials section appears. When Oracle home active steps and host-level active steps are present, both the sections appear.

   For both sections, choose to use the preferred credentials so that the credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.

   Of course, you can always override the preferred credentials with a new set of credentials. If you choose to do so, you can specify either a common set of credentials to be used across Oracle homes and hosts, or a unique set of credentials for each Oracle home and host. After specifying a new set of credentials to override the preferred credentials, click Save OH Credential if you want to store the new credentials in the Management Repository.

   If you are the owner of the clusteware and RAC Oracle homes or if you have the owner credentials, then for RAC Credentials section, you can choose to use the same clusterware credentials you specified in the Clusterware Credentials section. To do so, in the RAC Credentials section, select Use Clusterware Credentials.

   
   

9. On the Schedule page, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.

   For Instance Name, specify a unique name for this Deployment Procedure instance so that it can be tracked later and reused with the same settings.

10. On the Review page, review the details and do one of the following:

    • If you want to check for prerequisites, then click Analyze.

    • If you have already checked for prerequisites or if you do not want to check for prerequisites, then click Deploy to patch the selected cluster.

Deployment Phases

The following describes the different phases involved in this Deployment Procedure:

Table 24-3 Deployment Phases for Patching Oracle Clusterware in Offline Mode

Phase	Description
	Software Updates Allows you to select the software updates (patches and patch sets) you want to apply, apply SQL script, upgrade OPatch, black out associated targets, clean up backup files, and provide advanced options for OPatch. Note: You must not combine patches and patch sets in a single selection set.
	Target List Allows you to select the database targets you want to patch.
	Library Step Properties Allows you to specify values for steps that you want to edit at runtime.
	Oracle Configuration Manager Allows you to configure Oracle Configuration Manager.
	Credentials Allows you to specify Oracle home credentials required to patch clusterware Oracle homes, and host credentials to access the hosts where the clusterware instances are present.
	Schedule Allows you to schedule the Deployment Procedure to run immediately or later.
	Review Allows you to review the details you have provided for patching the selected clusterware instances.

Prerequisites

Before running the Deployment Procedure, meet the following prerequisites:

Prerequisites for Designers

• Ensure that you meet the prerequisites described in the following sections:

  • Mandatory Infrastructure Requirements for Provisioning and Patching

  • Optional Infrastructure Requirements

  • Setting Up Infrastructure for Offline Patching

• Ensure that you have the latest release of the OPatch software on the target host (where the clusterware to be patched is running).

• Ensure that operating system users such as oracle and crsuser are available on all the nodes of the cluster. These users must be a part of the relevant operating system groups such as dba and oinstall.

• Ensure that you run the Deployment Procedure in the Analyze mode.

Prerequisites for Operators

• Ensure that you use an operating system user that has the privileges to run the Deployment Procedure, and that can switch to root user and run all commands on the target hosts. For example, commands such as mkdir, ls, and so on.

  If you do not have the privileges to do so, that is, if you are using a locked account, then request your administrator (a designer) to either customize the Deployment Procedure to run it as another user or ignore the steps that require special privileges.

  For example, user account A might have the root privileges, but you might use user account B to run the Deployment Procedure. In this case, you can switch from user account B to A by customizing the Deployment Procedure.

  For information about customization, see Chapter 30, "Customizing Steps to Run as Another User".

• Ensure that you are the owner of the Oracle home of the targets being patched. If you are not the owner or if you do not have direct access to those targets, then customize the Deployment Procedure to run as another user.

  For information about customization, see Chapter 30, "Customizing Steps to Run as Another User".

Patching Procedure

To patch an Oracle Cluterware, follow these steps:

1. In Grid Control, click the Deployments tab.

2. On the Deployments page, in the Patching section, click Patching through Deployment Procedures.

3. On the Deployment Procedure Manager page, in the Procedures subtab, from the table, select Patch Oracle Clusterware - Rolling. Then click Schedule Deployment.

   Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Software Updates page of the Deployment Procedure.

4. On the Software Updates page, do the following:

   1. In the Select Stage Location section, retain the default selection, that is, Enter Stage Location that has the value %emd_root%/EMStage.

      This default value refers to a location on the target host where the clusterware to be patched is running. The software updates are downloaded from My Oracle Support to Oracle Software Library, and then staged in this location on the target hosts.

      
      

      You can modify the location if you want to, and click Save. If you save multiple custom locations, then the Select Stage Location option gets enabled and allows you to select any of the saved custom locations the next time you visit the same page.

      Instead of %emd_root%, you can also specify %oracle_home% to indicate the current home location being patched or %perlbin% to indicate the location of perl binary used by Oracle Management Agent (Management Agent).

   2. In the CRS Updates section, click Add to search and select software updates from My Oracle Support. Alternatively, if you have a text file that contains details about the patches, then click Upload From File to select and upload that text file.

      On clicking Add, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Search and Select Software Updates page. On this page, select Search Software Library, specify the details of the patches you want to search, and click Go.

      Enterprise Manager Grid Control searches the patches in Oracle Software Library, and displays details about them on the Search and Select Software Updates page. Select the ones you want to apply using the Deployment Procedure, and click Select.

      Note:

      Selection of multiple patches is supported.

      On clicking Upload From File, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Upload File page. On this page, select Upload from Local Machine or Upload from Software Library depending on where the text file is available, click Browse to search and select that file, and then click Upload.

   3. (Optional) In the Upgrade OPatch section, retain the default selection so that the OPatch software on the target hosts are upgraded before the patches are applied on the database targets.

      Enterprise Manager Grid Control uses OPatch software to apply the one-off patches. It is assumed that this software is already available on the target hosts managed by Oracle Management Agents (Management Agent), but Oracle recommends you to retain the selection so that the existing software is upgraded to the latest release.

   4. (Optional) In the Black Out Associated Targets section, retain the default selection so that all targets associated with the clusterware to be patched are blacked out while the patching is in progress.

      
      

   5. (Optional) In the Clean Up Backup Files section, select the option if you want to clean up all patching backup files after the patches are applied. The backup files are cleaned up by running OPatch utility cleanup command. Select this option depending on the space available on the target Oracle home.

   6. (Optional) In the Advanced OPatch Options section, specify any opatch-related options you want to pass while running this Deployment Procedure. Typically, you can use this section when you have patch conflicts or when inventory location is not default for the target Oracle home being patched. For example, after running the Deployment Procedure in Analyze Mode, if you identified any patch conflicts, then you can pass options to rectify the patch conflicts.

      
      

      The following are the options you can specify:

      -skip_duplicate, skips duplicate patches

      -skip_conflict, skips conflicting patches

      -skip_missing_component, skips patches whose components are missing

      -invPtrLoc, the location of oraInst.loc file

      Note:

      If you want to specify multiple options, then separate the list with a white space. For example, -skip_duplicate -skip_conflict

   7. Click Next.

5. On the Target List page, in the Clusterware Targets to be Patched section, click Add to add the clusterware targets you want to patch. Then click Next.

   Note:

   You can patch only one cluster at a time.

   When you click Add, Enterprise Manager Grid Control displays the Select Target page. On this page, search and select the clusterware you want to patch, and click Continue.

   
   

   Note:

   Do not deselect any of the hosts from the Select Hosts column of the Target List table.

6. On the Library Step Properties page (appears only if you had customized the Deployment Procedure and marked some steps to be prompted at runtime), specify values for the library steps.

7. (Optional) On the Oracle Configuration Manager page, specify an e-mail address to configure Oracle Configuration Manager. If you had already set up My Oracle Support credentials for the Enterprise Manager user account being used, then the fields are pre- filled with those details. If you have a proxy server, then provide details about the proxy server, and click Next.

   If you do not want to configure Oracle Configuration Manager, then delete the details appearing on this screen, and click Next.

8. On the Credentials page, do the following:

   • In the Clusterware Credentials section, specify the Oracle home credentials required to patch the clusterware Oracle homes.

   • In the RAC Credentials section, specify the Oracle home credentials required to patch the RAC databases associated withthe clusterware.

   
   

   Note:

   When there are Oracle home active steps, the Home Credentials section appears. When there are host-level active steps, the Host Credentials section appears. When Oracle home active steps and host-level active steps are present, both the sections appear.

   For both sections, choose to use the preferred credentials so that the credentials stored in the Management Repository can be used.

   Of course, you can always override the preferred credentials with a new set of credentials. If you choose to do so, you can specify either a common set of credentials to be used across Oracle homes and hosts, or a unique set of credentials for each Oracle home and host. After specifying a new set of credentials to override the preferred credentials, click Save OH Credential if you want to store the new credentials in the Management Repository.

   If you are the owner of the clusteware and RAC Oracle homes or if you have the owner credentials, then for RAC Credentials section, you can choose to use the same clusterware credentials you specified in the Clusterware Credentials section. To do so, in the RAC Credentials section, select Use Clusterware Credentials.

   
   

9. On the Schedule page, schedule the Deployment Procedure to run either immediately or later.

   For Instance Name, specify a unique name for this Deployment Procedure instance so that it can be tracked later and reused with the same settings.

10. On the Review page, review the details and do one of the following:

    • If you want to check for prerequisites, then click Analyze.

    • If you have already checked for prerequisites or if you do not want to check for prerequisites, then click Deploy to patch the selected cluster.