ADPATCH options

PATCHING

Patching is a program or set of instructions to fix a particular problem/ add a particular functionality in an existing program/product/software.

Patching Utilities:-

1.       Auto Patch

2.       AD Merge Patch

3.       Patch Wizard

Patching Types:-

1.       Bug Fix:-

Fixing an existing issue

2.       New Feature:-

Adds a new functionality

3.       Interoperability:-

 To make the current version of Oracle Application compatible with the Oracle database or Technology stack.

4.       Diagnostic:-

 To Determine the Source of an issue does not fix an issue

5.       Translation:-

 Contains files that have been translated from one language to another language

6.       Upgrade:-

 Fixes the problem with an upgrade or improves the performance of an upgrade from the previous release.

7.       Documentation:-

 Updated oracle applications online help

Patch Format:-

1.       Individual Patch/One-off/Standalone:-

This Patch is created to fix one particular bug

2.       Mini-Pack:-

This Patch is a cumulative patch to fix a particular product, that fixes most or all bugs related to that product.

3.       Family Pack:-

It is a group of Mini-Packs for related products that are bundled together including some individual packs.

4.       Family Consolidated Upgrade Patch:-

Need to Applied before starting upgrade. This Patch includes Performance improvements or bug fixes for process that run the upgrade.

5.       Maintenance Pack:-

It is a consolidation of all mini-packs where it updates a system to a new point of release of oracle applications to a higher level.

 

Patch Structure:-

Patch Structure is formed by a top-level directory with several files nested under it. Top-Level directory is the Patch Number and various files in a Patch are:-

Ø  Readme Files

Readme.txt and Readme.html files describes:-

·         Software Requirements like patches to be applied before applying this patch or what Application Release we should have.

·         Disk Space Requirements

·         Manual Steps to Run.

·         Problems Fixed in this Patch

·         Post Patching Steps.

 

Ø  Patch Driver Files

Patch Driver files consist of various files:-

·         Copy Driver Files(Which Copies the product files)

·         Database Driver Files(Which changes the database objects)

·         Generate Driver Files(Which generates forms, graphics, messages and new objects)

Nowadays most Patches contains one unified driver (where all driver files are placed in a single unit)

 

Ø  Replacement Files

These files are listed in the copy driver which replaces the outdated forms, reports, html files, sql scripts, object modules with newer versions of files.

 

Ø  Metadata Files

This contains a list of files included in this patch and the relationship between this patch and other patches. The information in this patch helps you to determine the pre-requisites patches and analyze the impact of patches in this system.

 

Auto Patch Set up Tasks:-

ü  Login as applmgr, as the owner of application files system.

ü  Set up the environment.

ü  Verify the database and oracle_home are correctly set.

ü  Ensure sufficient Disk space, Temporary Disk space.

ü  Copy the Patch files in the Patch Directory.

ü  Read the Read me.txt files.

ü  Back up file system and database.

ü  Enable Maintenance Mode.

ü  Count the invalid Objects.

ü  Run auto patch (using command “adpatch”).

 

Auto Patch Prompts:-

ü  Auto Patch confirms whether our APPL_TOP is correct or not by prompting

Is this the correct APPL_TOP [YES]?

Our Default directory of APPL_TOP in file system is f:\oracle\app7appl

It Prompts us because Auto Patch log, output and restart files are located in this directory.

 

ü  Auto patch asks for the name of the log file, by default it is adpatch.log. If the log file of the same name already exists then it appends this session at the end of log file indicating the “Start of the Auto Patch Session”.

Auto Patch records your session in a text file you specify.

 Enter your Auto Patch log file name or press [return] to accept the default log file name shown in brackets [adpatch.log]

 

ü  Auto Patch Notifies you  by an email if an failure occurs in patching by asking,

Do you wish to activate this feature [Yes]?

 

ü  It prompts to enter the batch size which sets the number of rows these scripts process, i.e. some sql scripts perform row set processing.

Please enter the batchsize [1000]:

 

ü  Auto Patch asks for what type of files you currently have:-

Do you have files used for installing and upgrading the database in the APPL_TOP?

Do you have Java and HTML files for Self-Service Applications?

Do you have oracle application form files installed in this APPL_TOP?

Do you have Concurrent Program files installed in this APPL_TOP?

 

ü  Auto Patch asks us to confirm the database and database home directory:

Is this the correct Database [Yes]?

 

ü  Auto Patch needs password for your oracle System Schema in order to determine your installation Configuration.

Enter the Password for your ‘SYSTEM’ Oracle Schema: Manager

 

ü  Auto Patch validates the usernames and passwords for application products

Enter the Oracle Password of Application Object Library [APPS]: APPS

 

ü  Auto Patch asks for the directory that holds the Patch files, enter the directory where your oracle applications patch has been unloaded, or default from where we started Auto Patch.

The Default directory is [do1/appl/110/patch123]:

 

 

ü  Auto Patch asks for the name of your patch driver file

Please enter the name of your Auto Patch driver File [patch.drv]:

 

ü  Auto Patch tells you what patches you are about to apply, what products are going to be changed and asks if you want to continue:

 

ü  If the patch is not required to run serially you are prompted to enter the number of workers you want to use:

 

ü  ‘Compatible Parallel NO’ disables the parallel feature and runs jobs sequentially         ‘Compatible Parallel Yes’ is  the default for all Patches and Auto Patch runs exec and sql commands in parallel mode and asks for the number of workers to use :Default[6]

 

ü  Auto Patch writes the informational message files(contains messages on actions auto patch did not perform) do1/appl/110/admin/V1103/log/adpatch.lgi

 

ü  Auto Patch writes the log message files in                 do1/appl/110/admin/V1103/log/adpatch.log

   APPL_TOP         DATABASE NAME

 

ü  After the Patch has been applied successfully, take the invalid objects count and if new invalid objects found, compile them so that no new invalids found.

Auto Patch Modes: -

Ø  Normal Mode (adpatch)

This mode is normal way of applying patches.

 

Ø  Test Mode (adpatch apply=no)

It doesn’t apply the patch; it shows exactly what action is performed if it has been done.

Performs version verification and documents which files to be copied.

Determines which exec and sql commands to run

 

Ø  Pre-Install Mode(adpatch preinstall=y)

This mode is generally used during the upgrade process to update the AD utilities

It performs file version checking, file copy actions, and relink fnd and ad executables, save patch history information to file system

 

Ø  Non-Interactive Mode (adpatch defaultsfile=APPL_TOP/ADMIN/<SID>/def.txt)

This mode is used to apply patches without user intervention. Before we run Auto Patch in Non-Interactive Mode we need to create a Default file and verify whether default file is created.

 

Auto Patch Command Line Arguments:-

ü  apply= to run auto patch in test mode.

ü  preinstall= to run auto patch in pre-install mode

ü  patchtop= tell auto patch the top level directory for the current patch

ü  driver= tell auto patch the name of the driver file

Auto Patch Options:-

·         noautoconfig = tells auto patch to run autoconfig automatically.

·         nocompiledb = prevents ADPATCH from compiling the database objects.

·         nocompilejsp = prevents ADPATCH from compiling the JSP files.

·         nocopyportion = tells auto patch whether to run commands normally found in copy driver.

·         nodatabaseportion = tells auto patch whether to run commands normally found in database      driver.

·         nogenerateportion = tells auto patch whether to run commands normally found in generate driver.

·         hotpatch = tells auto patch to apply patch regardless of whether the oracle applications is in maintenance mode.

·         integrity = tells auto patch to perform patch integrity version checking, which checks the versions of files.

·         nomaintainmrc = tells auto patch whether to maintain the MRC (multiple Reporting currencies) schema after running actions that update the database.

·         noparallel = tells auto patch whether to run actions that update the database and actions that generates files in parallel.

·         noprereq = tells auto patch whether to perform pre-requisite patch checking.

·         novalidate= prevents ADPATCH from validating all schema connections.

 

AD Merge Patch:- (admrgpch)

It merges multiple patches into a single patch reducing the patch application time. If all the source patches have split driver files the merged patch is a split driver file, if anyone of the source patch is a unified driver the merged patch is a unified driver

Syntax: - admrgpch –s <source directory> -d <destination directory>

Applied Patch Information:-

After applying patches use Oracle Applications Manager (OAM) to view the applied patch information. Patch History Files are Javaupdates <timestamp>.txt & Adpsv <timestamp>.txt                                AD_BUGS & AD_APPLIED_PATCHES tables are used to check whether the patches are applied. FND_INSTALL_PROCESS & AD_UTIL_PARAM tables are used to monitor the patches.