24 Patching Software Deployments

Overview of the Current Patch Management Challenges

Before you understand the new patch management solution offered by Cloud Control, take a moment to review some of the tools you might be using currently to patch your databases, and the challenges you might be facing while using them (Table 24-1).

Introduction to the New Patch Management Solution

Cloud Control addresses the challenges described in Overview of the Current Patch Management Challenges with its much-improved patch management solution that delivers maximum ease with minimum downtime. The new patch management solution offers the following benefits:

• Integrated patching workflow with My Oracle Support, therefore, you see recommendations, search patches, and roll out patches all using the same user interface.

• Complete, end-to-end orchestration of patching workflow using Patch Plans, including automated selection of deployment procedures and analysis of the patch conflicts, therefore, there is minimal manual effort required. For more information on patch plans, see Overview of Patch Plans.

• Clear division of responsibilities between designers and operators - Designers can focus on creating patch plans, testing them on a test system, and saving them as patch templates. Operators can focus on creating patch plans out of the template for rolling out the patches on a production system.

• Easy review of patches for applicability in your environment, validation of patch plans, and automatic receipt of patches to resolve validation issues.

• Saving successfully analyzed or deployable patch plans as patch templates, which contain a predetermined set of patches and deployment options saved from the source patch plan.

• Out-of-place patching for standalone (single-instance) database targets and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of Oracle Exadata.

• Flexible patching options such as rolling and parallel, both in offline and online mode.

Figure 24-1 shows you how you can access the Patches and Updates screen from within Cloud Control console.

Figure 24-1 Accessing the Patches & Updates Screen

Overview of Patch Plans

This section describes the following:

• Introduction to Patch Plans

• Types of Patch Plans

• Introduction to Create Plan Wizard

Introduction to Create Plan Wizard

Figure 24-2 shows the Create Plan Wizard that enables you to create, view, and modify patch plans.

Figure 24-2 Create Plan Wizard

The wizard has the following screens:

Screen 1: Plan Information

Enables you to provide basic information about the plan, such as a unique name for the plan, a planned deployment date, a brief description. Also enables you to add an administrator or a role that can access the patch plan.

Screen 2: Patches

Enables you to view the patches already part of the patch plan, and manually add additional patches to the plan and associate targets that need to be patched.

Screen 3: Deployment Options

Enables you to configure the patch plan with deployment options that suit your needs. Although this step is common for all target types, the deployment options offered by this step depend on the target types selected in the patch plan.

For all target types, you can select a customized deployment procedure for deploying the patches, and specify the credentials to be used. For database targets, you can specify a nondefault staging location for storing patches and skip the staging process if the patches are already staged. For standalone databases, you can choose between out-of-place patching and in-place patching. For Oracle RAC databases and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets, you can choose to apply the patches in rolling or parallel mode in order to control the downtime of the system.

Screen 4: Validation

Enables you to validate the patch plan and determine whether the patches can be rolled out without any issues. Essentially, it enables you to perform the following checks using the patch information from Oracle, the inventory of patches on your system (gathered by the configuration manager), and the information from candidate patches.

• Patch Conflict Checks

  • Conflict between the patches added to the patch plan and the patches already present in the Oracle home

  • Conflict among patches within the patch plan

• Target Sanity Checks

  • Target status and configuration checks

  • OPatch and OUI checks

  • Inventory sanity checks, such as locks, access, and so on

  • Hard disk space checks

  • Cluster verification checks (cluvfy, srvctl config)

  • SQLPlus checks (with sample SQL)

  Note:

  For Oracle WebLogic targets, instead of the OPatch and OUI check, you must perform the SmartUpdate version check.

In addition to checking for conflicts, it enables you to check for patch conflicts between the patches listed in the plan.

Screen 5: Review & Deploy

Enables you to review the details you have provided for the patch plan, and then deploy the plan. The page also enables you to review all the impacted targets so that you understand what all targets are affected by the action you are taking.

Overview of Patch Templates

This section describes the following:

• Introduction to Patch Templates

• Introduction to Edit Template Wizard

Introduction to Edit Template Wizard

Figure 24-3 shows the Edit Template Wizard that enables you to view the contents of a patch plan template and modify the description.

Figure 24-3 Create Plan Template Wizard

When you view or modify a patch plan template, the Patch Plan Template opens. The wizard has the following screens:

Screen 1: General Information

Enables you to view general information about the template, and modify the description and the deployment date.

Screen 2: Patches

Enables you to view a list of patches part of the patch plan template. The patches listed here are the patches copied from the source patch plan that you selected for creating the template.

Screen 3: Deployment Options

Enables you to view the deployment options configured in the patch plan template.

Supported Targets, Releases, and Deployment Procedures

Table 24-2 lists the targets and their releases you can patch on different platforms using the new patch management solution, and the default deployment procedures that the patch plans automatically select depending on the target type. The deployment procedures are supported only through patch plans. Although they are exposed in the deployment procedure Manager page, you cannot select and run them independently; you must always create a patch plan to run them.

^Footnote 1 Exclusively tested for Oracle Exadata Database Machine recommended bundle patches.

Supported Patching Modes

This section describes the following patching modes:

• Patching in Online and Offline Mode

• Patching in In-Place and Out-of-Place Mode

• Patching in Rolling and Parallel Mode

Patching in In-Place and Out-of-Place Mode

You have the flexibility to choose between in-place and out-of-place patching modes.

In-Place Mode

In-place mode of patching is a patching mechanism where you directly patch the database home. In this mode, before applying the patch, you actually bring down all the database instances running out of that database home, which means there will be a downtime. And after applying the patch, you restart all the database instances. All database instances will and must be patched in the same manner. Note that in this mode, recovery takes longer if there is a problem because the Oracle home that you patched is the original database home, not its copy.

Figure 24-4 illustrates how multiple database instances running from an Oracle home get patched in-place patching mode.

Figure 24-4 In-Place Mode of Patching

Out-of-Place Mode

Out-of-place mode of patching is a patching mechanism that clones the existing database home, and patches the cloned home instead of the original home. Once the cloned home is patched, you can migrate the database instances to run from the cloned home, which means there will be minimal downtime while switching over the instances, but not a significant downtime.

Note:

Out-of-place mode of patching is currently supported only for standalone (single-instance) databases targets and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of Oracle Exadata. For more information on how the patching is performed, see Patching Oracle Exadata.

While migrating the database instances, you can choose to migrate all of the instances or only some of them depending on the downtime you can afford to have in your data center. If you choose to migrate only a few instances in one session, then ensure that you migrate the rest in the next session. This way, you can control the downtime in your data center as you divide the migration activity. This is particularly useful when you have multiple database instances running out of an Oracle home.

Note:

You select the database instances you want to migrate, in the patch plan. The selected database instances are migrated when the patch plan is in the Deploy state. If you selected only a few instances to be migrated, then to migrate the remaining instances, create another patch plan, on the Deployment Options page, select the existing home, and then select the remaining instances that need to be migrated.

Oracle always recommends out-of-place patching because the downtime is minimal and recovery in case of a problem is easy; you can always switch back to the original database home in case of a problem with the clone home.

Note:

If you patched an Oracle Grid Infrastructure target, which is part of Oracle Exadata, in out-of-place patching mode, then you can switch back to the original home directly from the Create Plan Wizard—the wizard provides a Switchback button that enables you to perform the operation. However, this button is not available for any other target type.

Figure 24-5 illustrates how multiple database instances running from an Oracle home get patched in out-of-place patching mode.

Figure 24-5 Out-of-Place Mode of Patching

Patching in Rolling and Parallel Mode

While patching Oracle Real Application Cluster (Oracle RAC) targets, Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets (whether or not they are part of Oracle Exadata), Oracle WebLogic Server targets, Oracle Fusion Application targets, or Oracle SOA Infrastructure targets you can choose to patch the instances of the cluster either in rolling or parallel mode.

Rolling Mode

Rolling Mode refers to the patching methodology where the nodes of the cluster are patched individually, that is, one by one. For example, if you are patching a clusterware that has five nodes, then the first node is shut down, patched, and restarted, and then the process is rolled over to the next node until all the nodes are patched successfully.

Note:

The ReadMe of the patch clearly states whether or not you can use the Rolling Mode to apply your patches. Therefore, use this mode only if it is stated in the ReadMe.

Figure 24-6 illustrates how a two-node Oracle RAC gets patched when rolling mode is used.

Figure 24-6 Rolling Mode of Patching

Parallel Mode

Parallel Mode refers to the patching methodology where all the nodes are patched at a time, collectively. In this methodology, all the nodes are shut down and the patch is applied on all of them at the same time.

Figure 24-7 illustrates how a two-node Oracle RAC gets patched when parallel mode is used.

Figure 24-7 Parallel Mode of Patching

Note:

For all other database target types, the default patching mode is rolling mode.

Understanding the Patching Workflow

The following illustration describes the overall workflow of the patch management solution offered through the integrated functionality within the Cloud Control console.

Meeting Basic Infrastructure Requirements

Meet the basic infrastructure requirements as described in Chapter 2. The chapter describes both mandatory and optional requirements.

Creating Administrators with the Required Roles

Table 24-3 describes the roles and the minimum privileges required for using patch plans and patch templates. These roles are default roles available in Cloud Control. You need not create them, but you must explicitly create administrators based on these roles. For instructions, see Creating Enterprise Manager User Accounts.

Setting Up Infrastructure for Patching in Online Mode (Connected to MOS)

If you choose to patch your targets when Cloud Control is online, that is, when it is connected to My Oracle Support, then meet the following setup requirements:

• Enabling Online Mode

• Setting Up Network Proxy and Realm Configuration Settings

Setting Up Infrastructure for Patching in Offline Mode (Not Connected to MOS)

If you choose to patch your targets when Cloud Control is offline, that is, when it is not connected to My Oracle Support, then meet the following setup requirements:

• Enabling Offline Mode

• Downloading Enterprise Manager Catalog Zip File From Another Host With Internet Connectivity

• Uploading Enterprise Manager Catalog Zip File from your Host With No Internet Connectivity

• Creating "Refresh From My Oracle Support" Job

• Uploading OPatch Patches to Oracle Software Library

• Uploading Patches to Oracle Software Library

Uploading OPatch Patches to Oracle Software Library

From My Oracle Support, manually download patch 6880880 and its metadata file to a host monitored by Cloud Control (essentially, that host must have a Management Agent installed.) Ensure that you download the patch for the required platform and the version of the target you are patching. This is a platform-specific patch, so you will have to carefully select the platform while downloading this patch.

Note:

Unlike OUI installed products, Oracle WebLogic Server uses SmartUpdate tool for patching its targets. To ensure that you have the latest version of the SmartUpdate tool in your environment, you need to download patch 12426828, and its metadata file to a host monitored by Cloud Control.

Then, upload it to the Software Library as described in Uploading Patches to Oracle Software Library. While uploading the patch using the Upload Patches to Software Library page, in the Basic Information section, ensure that you select Oracle System Management Products as the Product Family and Universal Installer as the Product List.

Figure 24-8 illustrates how you can download the 11.1.0.0.0 release of patch 6880880 for Linux x86 platform, and upload it to the Software Library for patching Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1.0.0.0) that is running on Linux x86.

Figure 24-8 Downloading OPatch Patch from My Oracle Support and Uploading It to Oracle Software Library

Uploading Patches to Oracle Software Library

For patching targets in offline mode, you must have already stored the patches and their metadata files in the Software Library so that they can be searched, selected, and added to the patch plans from the Software Library.

For this purpose, you must first manually download the patches and their metadata files from My Oracle Support, and then upload them to the Software Library. While uploading the patches and their metadata files, you must enter some information related to the patches in the Upload Patches to Software Library page, so while downloading the patches from My Oracle Support, Oracle recommends you to identify and make note of all the required details.

This section describes the following:

• Downloading a Patch from My Oracle Support and Identifying the Details Required for Uploading a Patch to Software Library

• Uploading a Patch to the Software Library

Downloading a Patch from My Oracle Support and Identifying the Details Required for Uploading a Patch to Software Library

To download a patch and its metadata file from My Oracle Support, and to identify the details that you need to provide while uploading a patch to the Software Library, follow these steps:

1. Log in to My Oracle Support, and click the Patches & Updates tab.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Search section, enter the patch number you want to search for as shown in Figure 24-9, and click Search.

   Figure 24-9 Searching Patch

   
   

3. On the Patch Search Results page, click the patch number. Cloud Control displays details of the patch in a collapsible frame as shown in Figure 24-10.

   Also click Download and select Desktop. In the File Download dialog, click Download Patch Metadata, and then in the Download Patch Metadata dialog, click Download to download the patch metadata file as shown in Figure 24-10.

   Note:

   Oracle recommends that you transfer the patch ZIP file and the metadata XML file to the Management Agent host, where the Management Agent could be an agent on an OMS machine, or on the target host. Upload these files from the Management Agent host to the Software Library.

   Make a note of the details highlighted in Figure 24-10. You will need to enter these details on the Upload Patch page while uploading the patch.

   Figure 24-10 Identifying Patch Details

   
   

Uploading a Patch to the Software Library

To upload a patch to the Software Library, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Saved Patches.

2. On the Patching page, click Upload.

3. On the Upload Patches to Software Library page, in the Basic Information section, do the following:

   1. From the Product Family list, select the product family for which you are uploading the patch as shown in Figure 24-11.

      For example, if you want to patch an Oracle WebLogic Domain, then select the product family it belongs to, that is, Oracle Fusion Middleware. You must have made a note of this information according to Step (3) of Downloading a Patch from My Oracle Support and Identifying the Details Required for Uploading a Patch to Software Library.

   2. From the Product list, select the product for which you are uploading the patch. For example, select Oracle WebLogic Server.

   3. From the Select Type of Patch, select either Patch or Patch Set depending on the type of patch you are uploading.

      Patch Sets are not supported on Oracle WebLogic Server targets.

4. In the Source Information section, do the following:

   • Select Upload from Agent Host.

   • Click Select Target and select the name of the agent host where the patches are temporarily stored.

   • In the Select Credential subsection, select Named, and from the Credential Name list, select the named credential you want to use to access the agent host.

5. In the Patch Information section, enter the absolute path to the patch metadata XML file and the patch ZIP file, and provide details of the patch in the other columns—part number, release, patch number, creation date, description, platform, and language—as shown in Figure 24-11.

   Note:

   Part number identifies multiple files of the same patch. For example, Patch 6890831 has two zip files, p6890831_111070_AIX5L_1of2.zip (Part number is 1) and p6890831_111070_AIX5L_2of2.zip (Part number is 2).

6. Click Upload.

Figure 24-11 graphically explains the steps outlined in this section, and describes how you can enter the patch details you noted in Downloading a Patch from My Oracle Support and Identifying the Details Required for Uploading a Patch to Software Library (Figure 24-10). Map the numbered items in this illustration with the numbered items in Figure 24-10.

Figure 24-11 Entering Patch Details and Uploading Patch to Software Library

Analyzing the Environment and Identifying Whether Your Targets Can Be Patched

Before you create a patch plan and patch your targets, Oracle recommends you to run the Patchability Report to analyze the environment and identify whether the targets you want to patch are suitable for a patching operation.

If they are not suitable, then you can diagnose and find out whether they are not suitable due to missing properties or unsupported configuration, and also resolve them based on the recommendations provided for those issues.

To run the patchability report, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Reports, then select Information Publisher Reports.

2. On the Information Publisher Reports page, in the table, expand Deployment and Configuration, then expand Patching Automation Reports, and then select EM Target Patchability Report.

(Online) Using Patch Recommendations

Patch recommendations are proactive notifications of potential system issues and recommendations that help you improve system performance and avert outages.

The Patch Recommendations region provides a portal to all recommended patches. From the bar graph, you can drill down to a list of recommended patch, view details about those patches, download the patches, or add them to a Patch Plan. A bar graph summarizes the number of issues found (one issue = one recommendation for one target).

Patches mentioned in the Patch Recommendation section are a collection of patches offered within MOS which can be applied as a group to one or more targets. To keep the Patch Recommendation section updated with the latest patches for your environment, there is a step called the Config Collection step that runs as a part of the patch plan when a patching job is submitted. Essentially, Config collection enables to collect the changes that happen due to application of a patch or a rollback. These updates are communicated to the OMS through the Management Agents, which ultimately help in updating the patch recommendation region.

The Recommended Patches region appears by default on the Patch & Updates page. You can edit this region to filter its contents.

To view details of a recommended patch, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Recommendations region, click on the bar graph pertaining to the desired patches.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Patch Recommendations region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Patch Recommendations region to the page.

   Alternatively, click All Recommendations to display all recommendations in the Patch Recommendation page. The Patch Recommendation page displays all the recommendations currently available for the Cloud Control targets.

3. On the Patch Recommendations page, select a recommended patch to view the context menu appears. From the context menu, click Full Screen.

(Online) Using Knowledge Articles

Knowledge articles are documents published on My Oracle Support. These articles can either be announcements or workarounds to known issues.

Some of the knowledge articles that describe workarounds to known issues have patch numbers mentioned. You can choose to make a note of this patch number and search it on My Oracle Support or Oracle Software Library as described in (Online) Searching Patches on My Oracle Support or (Offline) Searching Patches in Oracle Software Library, respectively.

Alternatively, you can click the patch number in the knowledge article. This takes you to the Patch Search page. On the Patch Search page, from the context menu of the patch, click Add to Plan, and select either Add to New if you want to add the patch to a new patch plan, or Add to Existing if you want to add the patch to an existing patch plan.

(Online) Using Service Requests

Service requests are support requests raised on My Oracle Support to report and track issues, and receive online assistance from Oracle in resolving those issues.

Some of the service requests that describe workarounds to known issues have patch numbers mentioned. You can choose to make a note of this patch number and search it on My Oracle Support or Oracle Software Library as described in (Online) Searching Patches on My Oracle Support or (Offline) Searching Patches in Oracle Software Library, respectively.

Alternatively, you can click the patch number in the knowledge article. This takes you to the Patch Search page. On the Patch Search page, from the context menu of the patch, click Add to Plan, and select either Add to New if you want to add the patch to a new patch plan, or Add to Existing if you want to add the patch to an existing patch plan.

(Online) Searching Patches on My Oracle Support

If you already know about the existence of a patch from external sources such as blogs, Oracle technology forums, or from colleagues, then use the search functionality to search for those patches. The search functionality enables you to perform more flexible and advanced searches, and offers capabilities such as saving a search that is used routinely, and searching based on existing saved searches. All of this lets you perform searches more quickly and efficiently.

To search a patch on My Oracle Support, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Search region, enter the search parameters you want to use and click Search.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Patch Search region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Patch Search region to the page.

   Alternatively, you can use the Saved tab to search any previously save searches. You can also use the Recent tab to access any recently performed identical (or similar) search.

   Once the patch search is complete, the results appear in the Patch Search Results page. On this page, you can select a patch and download it either to the local host (desktop) or to the Software Library.

(Offline) Searching Patches in Oracle Software Library

By default, when you search a patch on the Patches & Updates screen, the Cloud Control connects to My Oracle Support using the Internet connectivity available on that host, and searches the requested patch in My Oracle Support. This is because the search functionality is set to perform in online mode by default.

However, if your host does not have Internet connectivity, then you must switch over to offline mode so that the search can be performed in Oracle Software Library (Software Library).

To switch over to offline mode, follow these steps:

1. From the Setup menu, select Proxy Settings.

2. On the Proxy Settings page, click the Online and Offline Settings tab.

3. In the Online and Offline Settings tab, in the Settings section, select Offline.

To search a patch in the Software Library, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Search region, enter the search parameters you want to use and click Search.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Patch Search region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Patch Search region to the page.

   Once the patch search is complete, the results appear in the Patch Search Results page.

Creating a Patch Plan

This section is mainly for Patch Designers who want to create patch plans.

To create a patch plan, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, identify the patches you want to apply as described in Identifying Patches to Be Applied.

3. On the Patch Recommendations page or on the Patch Search page (depending on how you identified the patch), select a patch you want to add to the Patch Plan.

4. From the context menu, click Add to Plan, and select Add to New.

   Note:

   If you have already created a patch plan, and if you want to add patches to that patch plan, then you can select Add to Existing.

5. In the Create a New Plan window, enter a unique name for your Patch Plan, and click Create Plan.

   The patch you select and the target it is associated with get added to the plan.

   Note:

   • If the patch you selected impacts other targets, then you are prompted to add the impacted targets as well.

   • When you create a Patch Plan, you can add a target that is a member of any system target in Cloud Control. When doing so, the other member targets of that system are automatically added to the Patch Plan. A system is a set of infrastructure components (hosts, databases, application servers, and so on) that work together to host your applications. In Cloud Control, a system and each of the components within it are modeled as individual target types that can be monitored.

   • For Oracle WebLogic Server, using a single patch plan, you can patch only one domain. However, if it is a shared domain, then the Administration Servers and Managed Servers running on different domains, which are shared with the domain being patched, are automatically added into the same plan.

   • For Oracle SOA Infrastructure targets, all the SOA WebLogic domains that must be shutdown to patch the SOA targets are added to the patch plan as impacted targets. Therefore, the Administration Server and the Managed Servers running in each of these domains also are affected, and form the Other impacted targets when creating a patch plan.

Accessing the Patch Plan

This section is mainly for Patch Designers who want to access the patch plans they have created.

To access the patch plan you created in Creating a Patch Plan, use one of the following approaches.

Approach 1: Accessing Patch Plan from Plans Region

To access the patch plan from the Plans region, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, click the Patch Plan you want to view. Alternatively, select the Patch Plan, and in the context menu, click View. The Create Plan Wizard appears.

   To filter the plans table, select All Plan Types or Patch depending on your preference. To search for a plan, enter a plan name or partial plan name in the search box, then click the search button.

   Note:

   • If you do not see the Plans region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Plans region to the page.

   • To view only the plans that you created, click the icon of a person in the Plans region.

Approach 2: Accessing a Patch Plan from the Patch Recommendations Region

To access the patch plan from the Patch Recommendations region, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Recommendations region, click All Recommendations.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Patch Recommendations region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Patch Recommendations region to the page.

3. On the Patch Recommendations page, in the table, a patch that is already part of a plan is shown with the plan icon in the In Plan column. Click the icon to display all plans with which the patch is associated, and then click a plan to open the Create Plan Wizard.

Analyzing, Preparing, and Deploying Patch Plans

This section is mainly for Patch Designers who want to analyze the patch plans and deploy them to roll out the patches.

To analyze the patch plan you created in Creating a Patch Plan and deploy it (or save it as a patch template), follow these steps:

1. Access the patch plan using one of the approaches described in Accessing the Patch Plan.

   Cloud Control displays the Create Plan Wizard.

2. On the Plan Information page, do the following:

   1. In the Overview section, validate the Patch Plan name. You can choose to edit it if you want.

   2. (Optional) Select a date and time when you want to deploy the Patch Plan, and enter a short description to describe the Patch Plan.

   3. (Optional) Add administrators or roles who should have access to the Patch Plan by clicking Add.

      In the Add Privileges to Administrators window, select an administrator or role, the permission you want to grant, and then, click Add Permission.

      Note:

      • You can only add administrators or roles that you previously created in Cloud Control. You cannot create them from within a Patch Plan. For information on roles and privileges required for patch plan and patch templates, see Creating Administrators with the Required Roles.

      • To remove an administrator or role, select the administrator or role, and from the context menu, click Remove.

   4. Click Next.

3. On the Patches page, do the following:

   1. Review the patches added to the Patch Plan. Any recommended patches for your configuration are automatically added to the Patch Plan. In addition, any patches that you added manually are listed.

      To associate additional targets to a patch that is already in your Patch Plan, follow the instructions outlined in Associating Additional Targets to a Patch in a Patch Plan.

      To view details of a patch, select the patch, and from its context menu, click View. To temporarily remove the patch from analysis and deployment, click Suppress. This leaves the patch in the Patch Plan, but does not consider it for analysis and deployment.

   2. Click Next.

4. On the Deployment Options page, do the following:

   1. In the Where to Stage section, select one of the following options:

      Yes, if you want the wizard to stage the patches from the Software Library to a temporary location accessible to the target host, before the patch is applied on the target. By default, the wizard stages the patches to a default location on the target host, but if you want to change the location, you can enter a location where the patch can be staged.

      No, if you have already manually staged the patches to a temporary location accessible to the target host. This can even be a shared, NFS-mounted location. In this case, ensure that you download the patch you want to apply. Go to the location (parent directory) where you want to stage the patch, create a subdirectory with the same name as the patch ZIP file, extract the contents of the patch ZIP file in this subdirectory. Then, enter the absolute path to the parent directory where you have manually staged the patches.

      For example, if downloaded patch 699099.zip, and if the stage location, which is the parent directory, is /u01/app/oracle/em/stagepatch, then in this parent directory, create a subdirectory titled 699099 and extract the contents in it. Then, enter /u01/app/oracle/em/stagepatch as the stage path.

      For tips for entering a stage location, click the question mark icon against the Stage Location list.

   2. In the How to Patch section, select one of the following:

      For standalone databases targets and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of Oracle Exadata, you have a choice between in-place patching and out-of-place patching, so select the one that suits your requirement:

      In Place, if you want to directly patch the existing original Oracle home of the target without cloning the original Oracle home.

      Out of Place, if you want to clone the existing Oracle home of the database and patch the cloned Oracle home instead of the original Oracle home.

      For Oracle RAC database, Oracle Clusterware, Oracle Grid Infrastructure, Oracle WebLogic Server, Oracle Fusion Application, and Oracle SOA Infrastructure targets the default and the only patching mechanism offered is in-place patching.

      If you select in-place patching, then select one of the following modes:

      Rolling, if you want to patch one node at a time. This option is applicable only to Oracle RAC databases. It is the default option and it involves very little downtime.

      Parallel, if you want to patch all nodes simultaneously. This option is applicable only to Oracle RAC databases. It involves downtime because your entire system is shut down for a specified period.

   3. (Appears only for standalone database targets and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of Oracle Exadata) In the What to Patch section, do the following:

      If you have selected in-place patching, then review the details of the Oracle homes that will be patched. By default, all of the database instances are migrated.

      If you have selected out-of-place patching, then click Create New Location against the Oracle home you want to clone, and enter the path to a location that is empty and has write permission. You can clone the Oracle home to any directory on the host where the target is being patched. After providing a location, if you want to change it, click Edit.

      For standalone database targets, you have the option of migrating either all or only some of the database instances created from the specified Oracle home, so select the ones you want to migrate. However, for Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of Oracle Exadata, by default, all of the database instances are migrated.

      Note:

      After the cloned Oracle home is patched, and after the database instances are migrated to the cloned Oracle home, you can choose to retain the original Oracle home or delete it if there are no other targets running from that Oracle home.

   4. (Optional) In the Customization section, to customize the default deployment procedure used by the Patch Plan, click Create Like and Edit. To use a customized deployment procedure, select the customized procedure from the list.

      Note:

      After you save a customized deployment procedure, you will be taken to the deployment procedure Manager page. To use the customized deployment procedure, you must return to the Deployment Options page of the Create Plan Wizard.

      (Appears only for Oracle WebLogic and Oracle SOA Infrastructure targets) If you are patching an Oracle WebLogic Server target or Oracle SOA Infrastructure targets, you can set a timeout value after which the server is forcefully shut down if it was not shut down by default. By default, the shutdown time is 30 minutes, but if you want to change the value, you can enter a value in the Timeout for Shutdown (in minutes) field.

      Oracle recommends that you set a timeout value, and ensure that it is based on monitoring of real time systems.

      (Appears only for SOA Infrastructure targets) If the SOA Infrastructure patch you are applying involves SQL application functionality, then you must provide the absolute path to the SQL scripts in the Post-Install SQL Script Metadata field. For information about the SQL script location, refer to the readme document for the respective patch.

      Note:

      To patch SOA Infrastructure targets running on a Windows host, you must ensure that you use the environmental variable %FMW_ORACLE_HOME% as displayed in the following graphic to provide a relative path to the SQL files in the SOA patch. Providing an absolute path or using the environmental variable %ORACLE_HOME% will result in an error.
      
      

      Note:

      Ensure that the SQL scripts that you may need to provide as a part of patching SOA Infrastructure targets are JDBC-compliant, if not, the patch plan will fail during the analysis phase.

      To perform SOA Infrastructure patching on a Windows operating system, you must ensure that you shutdown all the servers running from the SOA instance home being patched. Stopping just the SOA servers running out of the SOA instance home will result in an error.

   5. Roll back functionality is supported on the following targets: Management Agent, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle SOA Infrastrcuture.

      In the Rollback section, select Plan deployment rolls back the patches in the plan to rollback the patches listed in the plan rather than deploy them. For instructions on rolling back a patch, see Rolling Back Patches.

      
      

      Note:

      For Oracle WebLogic Server targets, patching and rollback happens at domain level. When Oracle WebLogic Server targets are selected for rollback, the domain along with the Administration Server and the Managed Servers are rolled back. You cannot select the instances you want to rollback, and deselect the ones you do not want to rollback from the domain.

      Note:

      For SOA Infrastructure targets, patching and rollback happens at instance home level, which means, you can select the SOA Oracle home instances that you want to patch or from where you want to rollback the existing patches. If there are other servers running from the SOA home being rolled back, then all of these servers and their corresponding domains will also be rolled back along with the SQL metadata scripts that can be rolled back. Some of the SQL metadata scripts cannot be rolled back, in which case, Cloud Control will rollback the patch (bits in the Oracle Home) but the SQL remains unchanged.

      While patching a SOA setup, if the patch application fails on one of the Managed Servers, and succeeds on other Managed Servers, there will not be an automatic rollback operation to remove the patch from all Managed Servers where the patch was successfully applied. However, you will be notified about the failure, so you can manually rollback the patch.

      Typically, you will rollback a patch for the following reasons:

      - If you had forcefully applied an incoming patch that conflicted with a patch in the Oracle home, and now you want to uninstall that applied patch.

      - If the applied patch does not meet your requirements satisfactorily; the patch might have fixed a bug, but at the same time, introduced other bugs in the process.

   6. In the Credentials section, select the credentials.

      For patching Oracle WebLogic Server targets and Oracle SOA Insfrastructure targets, you need the following sets of credentials:

      - Oracle WebLogic Domain Administrator Credentials: These credentials are required to connect to the admin server of the domain which monitors all the Managed Servers present in that domain.

      - Oracle WebLogic Server Home Credentials: These credentials are required to connect to all the Oracle homes present on different hosts.

      You can also choose to override the existinf credentials by selecting Override Preferred WebLogic Domain Administrator Credentials and Override Preferred WebLogic Home Credentials. However, if you choose to override the preferred credentials, then you must validate the credentials. For Oracle WebLogic Server targets, you can validate only the Oracle WebLogic Server Home credentials, and not the administrator credentials.

      Note:

      The validation of credentials fails when the Management Agent is down, or when the credentials are incorrect.

   7. Click Next.

5. On the Validation page, click Analyze to check for conflicts. For information about what checks are performed in the validation screen, see Introduction to Create Plan Wizard.

   Upon validation, if there are conflicts between the two patches, then you might be recommended to request for replacement patches. In this case, click Request Replacement Patches.

   If there is a Merge Patch already available, you can directly opt to replace the conflicting patches with the Merge Patch. In this case, click Replace Conflicting Patches.

   Click Next.

6. On the Review & Deploy page, review the details and do one of the following:

   • If you are patching standalone databases in out-of-place patching mode [that is, if you have selected Out of Place in Step (4 b)], then click Prepare. This essentially clones the source Oracle home and patches it. While this happens, the source Oracle home and their database instances are up and running.

     After the prepare operation ends successfully, click Deploy. This essentially switches the database instances from the source Oracle home to the cloned and patched Oracle home. The prepare and deploy operation enable you to minimize the downtime.

   • If you are patching any other target in any other mode, click Deploy.

Switching Back to the Original Oracle Home After Deploying a Patch Plan

If you had patched an Oracle Grid Infrastructure target, which was part of Oracle Exadata, in out-of-place patching mode, and if you now want to switch back to the original home for some reason, then you can use the Switchback option available in the Create Plan Wizard. The advantage of using this option is, you do not actually roll back the patches from the cloned and patched Oracle home; you only switch back to the old, original Oracle home that exists without the patches.

To switch back to the original Oracle home after a patch plan is deployed, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, click the successfully analyzed and deployed patch plan you used for patching Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets. Alternatively, select the patch plan, and in the context menu, click View. The Create Plan Wizard appears

3. In the Create Plan Wizard, on the Review & Deploy page, click Switchback.

Saving Successfully Analyzed or Deployed Patch Plan As a Patch Template

This section is mainly for Patch Designers who want to save the successfully analyzed or deployed patch plans as patch templates so that operators can consume them to create fresh patch plans with the approved patches and predefined deployment options.

To save a patch plan as a patch template, follow Step (1) to Step (5) as outlined in Analyzing, Preparing, and Deploying Patch Plans, and then for Step (6), on the Review & Deploy page, click Save as Template. In the Create New Plan Template dialog, enter a unique name for the patch template, and click Create Template.

Oracle recommends you to follow this as a best practice if you have to roll out in a mass scale over a period of time involving more administrators. If you have a large data center, then as a Patch Designer, create a patch plan and apply the patches on a few databases, test if the patches are being applied successfully, then save the plan as a template. Later, have your Patch Operators create patch plans out of these templates so that they can roll out the same set of patches to the rest of the databases in the data center.

(Optional) Creating a Patch Plan from a Patch Template and Applying Patches

Once a successfully analyzed or deployed patch plan is saved as a patch template, you can create patch plans out of the template, associate targets you want to patch, and deploy the newly created patch plan.

This is purely an optional step. You do not have to save your patch plans as patch templates to roll out patches. You can roll out patches directly from a patch plan as described in Analyzing, Preparing, and Deploying Patch Plans.

This section is mainly for Patch Operators who want to create patch plans from patch templates for rolling out the patches.

To create patch plans out of the patch templates, use one of the following approaches:

Approach 1

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, select the patch template you want to use to create a patch plan out of it.

3. From the context menu, select Create Plan.

4. In the Create Plan from Template dialog, enter a unique name for the patch plan, select the targets on which you want to patch, and click Create Plan.

5. Return to the Patches & Updates page, and in the Plans region, click the patch plan you want to use. Alternatively, select the patch plan, and in the context menu, click View. The Create Plan Wizard appears.

6. In the Create Plan Wizard, go to the Validation page, and click Re-Analyze to analyze the patch plan with the newly associated targets.

7. After successfully analyzing the patch plan, on the Validation page, click Next.

8. On the Review & Deploy page, click Deploy.

Approach 2

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, do one of the following:

   • Select a patch template. From the context menu, select View. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

   • Click the name of a patch template. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

3. In the Edit Template Wizard, click Create Plan.

4. In the Create Plan from Template dialog, enter a unique name for the patch plan, select the targets on which you want to patch, and click Create Plan.

5. Return to the Patches & Updates page, and in the Plans region, click the patch plan you want to use. Alternatively, select the patch plan, and in the context menu, click View. The Create Plan Wizard appears.

6. In the Create Plan Wizard, go to the Validation page, and click Re-Analyze to analyze the patch plan with the newly associated targets.

7. After successfully analyzing the patch plan, on the Validation page, click Next.

8. On the Review & Deploy page, click Deploy.

Patching Oracle Exadata

Using patch plans, you can patch the Oracle RAC database targets and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets (Oracle Clusterware) running on an Exadata Database Machine.

Exadata Patching can be performed in two modes: In Place Patching, and Out-of-place Patching, though Oracle recommends you to use the Out-of-place patching mechanism as the downtime involved is much lesser. For more information about Exadata Out Of Place Patching, see Exadata Out-Of-Place Patching Of Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Targets.

For information about the supported Exadata releases, see Supported Targets, Releases, and Deployment Procedures.

However, note that patch plans do not patch the Exadata Database Machine's compute node entities such as the operating system and firmware, and also its storage cells. They patch only the associated Oracle RAC database targets and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle Clusterware) targets running on the machine.

Therefore, when you create a patch plan with an Exadata Database Machine recommended bundle patch, make sure you add the cluster or the Oracle RAC database target running on the Exadata Database machine. The patch plan automatically recognizes their association with the Exadata Database machine, and prompts you to add all the impacted targets running on that machine. For example, if you select the cluster target, it prompts you to add all the Oracle RAC database targets and the Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets that are part of that cluster running on the Exadata Databae Machine.

To patch an Exadata Database machine, follow these steps:

1. Identify the Exadata Database Machine recommended bundle patch you need to apply, as described in Identifying Patches to Be Applied.

2. Create a patch plan as described in Creating a Patch Plan.

3. Add the cluster or the Oracle RAC database target running on the Exadata Database machine, and analyze and deploy the patch plan as described in Analyzing, Preparing, and Deploying Patch Plans.

   The following illustrate how you can add an Exadata Database Machine recommended bundle patch to a new patch plan, select a cluster target, and all the other associated Oracle RAC database targets and Oracle Grid Infrastructure targets.

   Figure 24-12 Adding Exadata Database Machine Bundle Patch to a Patch Plan

   
   

Exadata Out-Of-Place Patching Of Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC Targets

Exadata Out-of-place patching mechanism allows you patch the Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC targets by making a copy of their existing Oracle homes, and patching the cloned Oracle homes. Once the cloned homes are patched, you can migrate the instances to run from the cloned home, which means there will be minimal downtime while switching over the instances, but not a significant downtime.

Figure 24-13 illustrates how Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle RAC targets running on an Exdata Database Machine get patched in Out-of-place patching mode:

Figure 24-13 Out Of Place Patching Of Clusters

The migration of these instances can be performed in the following modes:

• Full Migration: If you choose the migrate all the database instances running in your data center in one session, then it is termed as Full Migration.

• Partial Migration: If you choose to migrate only some of the instances depending on the downtime you can afford in your data center in one session, then it is termed as Partial Migration. However, you must ensure that you migrate the remaining instances in the following sessions. This approach is particularly useful when you have multiple instances runnning out of an Oracle home.

Note:

for steps on how to perform Full Migration or Partial Migration of Oracle Grid Insfrastructure Targets and Oracle RAC Targets running on Exadata Database Machine, see Analyzing, Preparing, and Deploying Patch Plans.

Switch Back is an option available exclusively for Oracle Grid Infrsatructure targets and Oracle RAC targets running on Exadata machine, that enables you to switch the instances from the newly cloned Oracle homes back to the original Oracle homes in case of any problems.

For more information on how to perform a Switch Back, see Switching Back to the Original Oracle Home After Deploying a Patch Plan.

Diagnosing Patching Issues

While analyzing or deploying patch plans, you might see errors if the following are true:

• If the OMS or the Management Agent is down

• If the Software Library is not properly configured

• If there is no connectivity to My Oracle Support (in online mode)

• If there is no Management Repository

• If there are no collections

• If there are host or Oracle home security issues

• If there are inherent OPatch or SQL errors

• If the patch plan consists of non-homogenous patches, for example, a combination of one-off patches and patch sets

• (For Oracle WebLogic Targets only) If there are inherent problems with the SmartUpdate tool.

• (For Oracle WebLogic Targets only) If there is problem discovering Oracle WebLogic targets reporting to the OMS.

You will see these errors in the following places:

• In the header section of the Validation page or the Review page in the Create Plan Wizard (Figure 24-14)

• In the Issues to Resolve section of the Validation page (Figure 24-15)

• In the Plans region of the Patches & Updates page (Figure 24-16).

Figure 24-14 Patch Plan Errors Displayed on the Validation Page

Figure 24-15 Patch Plan Errors Displayed in the Issues to Resolve Section

Figure 24-16 Patch Plan Errors Displayed in the Plans Region

Resolving Patching Issues

Table 24-6 lists the different phases that the patch plan goes through, the different states the phases can have, and how you can diagnose and resolve the errors.

Rolling Back Patches

If you want to roll back the patches, follow the rollback instructions outlined in the ReadMe that is packaged with the patch you applied.

Roll back functionality is supported on the following targets: Management Agent, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle SOA Infrastrcuture. For more information about the steps to rollback, see Rolling Back Patches. For all other targets, Cloud Control does not support automatic rollback of patches, and therefore, you must roll back the patches manually.

Viewing or Modifying Patch Template

To view or modify a patch template, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, do one of the following:

   • Select a patch template. From the context menu, select View. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

   • Click the name of a patch template. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

Saving a Deployed Patch Plan as a Patch Template

If you have already analyzed and deploy a patch plan, and if you want to save that patch plan as a patch template, then use one of the following approaches:

Approach 1

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region select a successfully analyzed deployable Patch Plan. The context menu appears.

   Note:

   You can create a patch template only from one Patch Plan at a time.

3. From the context menu, select Create Template. The Create New Plan Template dialog appears.

4. Enter a unique name for the template, then click Create Template.

   Note:

   When you select a plan, the Create Template option is not visible if you:

   • Select a nondeployable Patch Plan or a deployable Patch Plan that has either not been analyzed or resulted in errors after being analyzed.

   • Do not have the privileges to view the Patch Plan that you selected.

   • Do not have the privileges to create a template.

Approach 2

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region do one of the following:

   • Select a successfully analyzed deployable Patch Plan. From the context menu, select View. The Create Plan Wizard appears.

   • Click the name of a successfully analyzed deployable Patch Plan. The Create Plan Wizard appears.

3. In the Create Plan Wizard, in the Review & Deploy page, click Save as Template.

4. Enter a unique name for the template, then click Create Template.

Creating a Compliance Standard from a Patch Template

To create a compliance standard from a patch template, follow these steps:

1. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region select a patch plan template. The context menu appears.

2. From the context menu, select View. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

3. On the Plan Information page, click Create Patch Compliance Framework.

4. In the Create Compliance Framework dialog, enter a unique name for the compliance standard, and click Create.

5. A confirmation message appears when the compliance is successfully created. Click View to access the Compliance Library Page.

Downloading Patches from Patch Template

To download a patch from a patch template, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, select a patch template.

3. From the context menu, select View. The Edit Template Wizard appears.

4. In the Edit Template Wizard, on the Patches page, click a patch number. The patch details page appears.

5. On the patch details page, click Download.

Deleting Patch Plan

To delete a patch plan, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, click the Patch Plan you want to delete. From the context menu, click Remove.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Plans region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Plans region to the page.

Deleting Patch Template

To delete a patch template, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region select one or more patch templates. The context menu appears.

3. From the context menu, select Remove.

Converting Nondeployable Patch Plan to Deployable Patch Plan

To make a nondeployable Patch Plan deployable, divide the Patch Plan into smaller deployable plans that contain only homogenous patches and targets.

Associating Additional Targets to a Patch in a Patch Plan

To associate additional targets to a patch in a patch plan, use one of the following approaches:

Approach 1

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Plans region, select a Patch Plan to which the patch belongs. From the context menu that appears, select View.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Plans region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Plans region to the page.

3. In the Create Plan Wizard, on the Patches page, Click Add Patch. The Edit Search window appears.

4. In the Edit Search window, search the patch to which you want to associate additional targets.

5. Select the patch that you want to add, then click Add to This Plan. The Add Patch To Plan window appears.

6. In Add Patch To Plan window, search and select the additional targets that you want to associate with the patch, and then, click Add Patch to Plan.

   Note:

   Ensure that you select only homogeneous targets.

   For Oracle WebLogic Server, using a single patch plan, you can patch only one domain. However, if it is a shared domain, then the admin servers and Managed Servers running on different domains, which are shared with the domain being patched, are automatically added into the same plan.

Approach 2

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Patch Recommendations region, click the graph.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Patch Recommendations region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Patch Recommendations region to the page.

3. On the Patch Recommendations page, select a patch.

4. From the context menu, select Add to Plan, then Add to Existing, and select the plan you want to add the patch to.

   The patch you selected and the target it is associated with get added to the existing plan.

Approach 3

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, then select Patches & Updates.

2. On the Patches & Updates page, in the Search region, search a patch you want to add to the patch plan.

   Note:

   If you do not see the Search region, click Customize Page from the top-right corner, and then drag the Search region to the page.

3. On the Patch Search page, click the patch to view its details.

4. On the patch details page, click Add to Plan, then Add to Existing, and select the plan you want to add the patch to.

   The patch you selected and the target it is associated with get added to the existing plan.

Resolving Patch Conflicts

If the patches in the patch plan conflict among themselves or with patches in the Oracle home, then you can do one of the following to resolve the conflict:

• Request for a merge patch of the conflicting patches. To do so, click Request Patch on the Validation page.

• Roll back the conflicting patches in the Oracle home and forcefully apply the incoming patches. To do so, on the Deployment Options page, in the Advanced Patching Options section, from the Conflict Resolution list, select Forcefully apply incoming patches.

• Skip the conflicting patches. To do so, on the Deployment Options page, in the Advanced Patching Options section, from the Conflict Resolution list, select Skip conflicting patches.

Analyzing the Results of Patching Operations

If you want to analyze the results of the patching operations you have done over a period of time, then run the EM Deployable Patch Plan Execution Summary. The report shows the number of deployable and nondeployable plans you have had in the past, and provides a breakdown of the deployable plans indicating how many succeeded and failed, how many were analyzed and deployed, and so on.

To run the EM Deployable Patch Plan Execution Summary report, follow these steps:

1. From the Enterprise menu, select Reports, then select Information Publisher Reports.

2. On the Information Publisher Reports page, in the table, expand Deployment and Configuration, then expand Patching Automation Reports, and then select EM Deployable Patch Plan Execution Summary.

Customizing Patching Deployment Procedure

When you submit a patch plan, the patch plan automatically selects an appropriate patching deployment procedure based on the targets you have added to the plan, and runs it internally to patch the targets. For information about the patching deployment procedures offered by Cloud Control, see Supported Targets, Releases, and Deployment Procedures. These deployment procedures are default procedures created considering the best practices in the industry to ensure that they meet all your patching requirements. However, although the default procedures are self-sufficient and can meet most of your requirements, there might be occasions when you might want to customize the procedures to include additional custom steps, disable unwanted steps, run some additional scripts before or after shutting down the instances or applying the patch, and so on to suit your requirements.

Cloud Control allows you to customize these deployment procedures - you cannot directly modify a default procedure, but you can create a copy of the default procedure and modify that to suit your requirements. Unlike other deployment procedures, you can create a copy of a default patching deployment procedure directly from the patch plan. Once you have customized a deployment procedure, you can choose to use that to patch your targets.

To customize a default patching deployment procedure:

1. Go to the Deployment Options page.

2. In the Customization section, click Create Like and Edit.

3. Edit the deployment procedure and save it with a unique, custom name. For information about editing a deployment procedure, see Customizing a Deployment Procedure.

   Note:

   After you save a customized deployment procedure, you will be taken to the deployment procedure Manager page. To use the customized deployment procedure, you must return to the Deployment Options page of the Create Plan Wizard.

To use a customized deployment procedure:

1. Go to the Deployment Options page.

2. In the Customization section, select the customized deployment procedure that you want to use from the list of deployment procedures.

To further customize a customized deployment procedure:

1. Go to the Deployment Options page.

2. In the Customization section, select the customized deployment procedure you want to update, then click Customize.

Patching Primary and Standby Databases Configured with Oracle Data Guard

This section covers the following:

• Overview of Patching Primary and Standby Databases

• Patching Primary and Standby Databases

• Customizing Patching deployment procedure

Rolling Back Patches

Roll back functionality is supported on the following targets: Management Agent, Oracle WebLogic Server, and Oracle SOA Infrastrcuture. To rollback patches, you must create a new patch plan, select the relevant patches to rollback, and then select the rollback check box. To do so, perform the following steps:

1. In Cloud Control, from the Enterprise menu, select Provisioning and Patching, and then click Patches and Updates.

2. On the Patches and Updates page, in the Patch Search region, enter the patch number that you want to rollback.

3. In the Add Patch to Plan dialog box, enter a unique name for the plan, and select all the targets from where you want to rollback the patches.

4. Click Create Plan.

5. In the Create Plan Wizard, select Deployment Options.

6. On the Deployment options page, in the Rollback section, select Specify if you want to rollback the patches in this plan, and click Next.

7. On the Validation page, click Analyze to validate the plan. After a successful analysis, click Next.

8. On the Review and Deploy page, review the details you have provided for the patch plan, and then click Deploy to rollback the selected patch from the corresponding targets mentioned in the plan.