Introduction
Patching your Oracle Database Appliance (ODA) is highly recommended: once a year being the minimum you could do. It prevents security risks, fixes some bugs and eventually provides new features. And it also keeps your appliance supported: according to MOS note 2757884.1, your ODA should be running version 19.16 for X7-2 series, X8-2 series and X9-2 series, and version 19.20.0.1 for X10 series.
Regular patching also allows one step patching: you can jump to the latest release without intermediate versions. But patching all the components to the very latest release is not always possible. In my example for today, patching the database to 19.20 was not possible because of a bug that would have a big impact on customer’s application. The ODA was running on 19.17, and the plan was to apply 19.20, the latest one available at this time. What is the alternate plan for keeping the databases to previous 19.19?
Keep everything aligned, yes but…
The first option would be patching all the components to 19.19. So everything would have been aligned in the describe-component command. The problem is that 19.19 is rather old, from May 2023. For a patching done in December, my ODA wouldn’t have been so up-to-date staying in 19.19.
The second option would be patching the system and storage components to 19.20 and patching the database to 19.19. This is a supported configuration, and I could eventually upgrade my databases later from 19.19 to 19.20 if needed.
Here is how you can achieve this hybrid configuration.
Patching the system and storage components to 19.20
First steps of patching won’t be different compared to a full 19.20 patch. You will need to download the 19.20 patch, the 19.20 GI home, register these files in the ODA registry, patch the DCS components, do the precheck for the system patch, apply the system patch, do the precheck for the storage patch and apply the storage patch. Here are the commands I used in this case:
odacli update-repository -f /backup/ODA_patch/oda-sm-19.20.0.0.0-230802.1-server.zip,/backup/ODA_patch/odacli-dcs-19.20.0.0.0-230720-GI-19.20.0.0.zip
odacli update-dcsadmin -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli update-dcscomponents -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli update-dcsagent -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli create-prepatchreport -s -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli update-server -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli create-prepatchreport -st -v 19.20.0.0.0
odacli update-storage -v 19.20.0.0.0Don’t forget to check the versions with odacli describe-component after each update.
Once done, your system and storage are updated to 19.20, and your databases are still running on 19.17 DB homes.
Updating your DB homes to 19.19
I will patch the DB homes, meaning it will also patch all the databases using these DB homes. First, list your DB homes:
odacli list-dbhomes
ID Name DB Version DB Edition Home Location Status
---------------------------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------- --------------------------------------------- ----------
896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150 OraDB19000_home6 19.17.0.0.221018 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED
.0/dbhome_6
2caf70b0-8af1-4b17-8410-00de77f0949d OraDB19000_home7 19.17.0.0.221018 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED
.0/dbhome_7 Now, you will need to register the 19.19 patch. When applying a patch, the target version should be in the ODA registry, only registering the DB clone is not enough:
odacli update-repository -f /backup/ODA_patch/oda-sm-19.19.0.0.0-230510-server.zip
odacli describe-job -i "b7f966c0-4996-44a2-a2ac-11e2175c2404"
Job details
----------------------------------------------------------------
ID: b7f966c0-4996-44a2-a2ac-11e2175c2404
Description: Repository Update
Status: Success
Created: December 2, 2023 10:12:35 AM CET
Message: /backup/ODA_patch/oda-sm-19.19.0.0.0-230510-server.zip
Task Name Start Time End Time Status
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------
Unzip bundle December 2, 2023 10:12:36 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:13:05 AM CET Success
odacli update-repository -f /backup/ODA_patch/odacli-dcs-19.19.0.0.0-230510-DB-19.19.0.0.zip
odacli describe-job -i "70c965dc-1b13-4c55-80bf-a028fcc9b5ef"
Job details
----------------------------------------------------------------
ID: 70c965dc-1b13-4c55-80bf-a028fcc9b5ef
Description: Repository Update
Status: Success
Created: December 2, 2023 10:17:53 AM CET
Message: /backup/ODA_patch/odacli-dcs-19.19.0.0.0-230510-DB-19.19.0.0.zip
Task Name Start Time End Time Status
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------
Unzip bundle December 2, 2023 10:17:53 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:18:32 AM CET SuccessI will need to do a precheck on both DB homes, let’s start with the first one:
odacli create-prepatchreport -d -i 896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150 -v 19.19.0.0.0
odacli describe-prepatchreport -i 1ff22fc8-9613-483f-bb83-3f245452a6eb
Patch pre-check report
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Job ID: 1ff22fc8-9613-483f-bb83-3f245452a6eb
Description: Patch pre-checks for [DB, ORACHKDB]: DbHome is OraDB19000_home6
Status: FAILED
Created: December 2, 2023 10:36:21 AM CET
Result: One or more pre-checks failed for [ORACHK]
Node Name
---------------
uns-oda1
Pre-Check Status Comments
------------------------------ -------- --------------------------------------
__DB__
Validate DB Home ID Success Validated DB Home ID:
896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150
Validate patching tag Success Validated patching tag: 19.19.0.0.0.
Is system provisioned Success Verified system is provisioned
Validate minimum agent version Success Validated minimum agent version
Is GI upgraded Success Validated GI is upgraded
Validate available space for Success Validated free space required under
db /u01
Validate dbHomesOnACFS Success User has configured disk group for
configured Database homes on ACFS
Validate Oracle base Success Successfully validated Oracle Base
Is DB clone available Success Successfully validated clone file
exists
Evaluate DBHome patching with Success Successfully validated updating
RHP dbhome with RHP. and local patching
is possible
Validate command execution Success Validated command execution
__ORACHK__
Running orachk Failed ORAchk validation failed: .
Validate command execution Success Validated command execution
Check for parameter Failed AHF-3744: Database parameter
global_names GLOBAL_NAMES is not set to
recommended value
Check for parameter recyclebin Failed AHF-1679: RECYCLEBIN on PRIMARY
should be set to the recommended valueMost often, the precheck will fail on Orachk, but having different parameters than those recommended will not prevent your database to be patched. If everything but Orachk is OK, you can apply the patch with the force option. Note that the patching won’t upgrade your DB home but will create a new one and move the databases in this new home, then will apply the datapatch on all the databases. If your DB home runs Standby databases, they will be moved but no datapatch will be applied.
odacli update-dbhome -i 896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150 -v 19.19.0.0.0 -f
odacli describe-job -i "059d3052-9e17-4397-8551-c3a9e1df0b24"
Job details
----------------------------------------------------------------
ID: 059d3052-9e17-4397-8551-c3a9e1df0b24
Description: DB Home Patching: Home Id is 896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150
Status: Success
Created: December 2, 2023 10:49:35 AM CET
Message:
Task Name Start Time End Time Status
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------
Creating wallet for DB Client December 2, 2023 10:49:43 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:49:43 AM CET Success
Patch databases by RHP - [PCSW] December 2, 2023 10:49:43 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:55:10 AM CET Success
Updating database metadata December 2, 2023 10:55:10 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:55:10 AM CET Success
Set log_archive_dest for Database December 2, 2023 10:55:10 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:55:12 AM CET Success
Update System version December 2, 2023 10:55:12 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:55:12 AM CET Success
Generating and saving BOM December 2, 2023 10:55:12 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:56:03 AM CET Success
TDE parameter update December 2, 2023 10:56:03 AM CET December 2, 2023 10:56:03 AM CET SuccessThen I’ve done the same tasks for the second DB home. Your databases should normally use these new DB homes:
odacli list-databases
ID DB Name DB Type DB Version CDB Class Edition Shape Storage Status DB Home ID
---------------------------------------- ---------- -------- -------------------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------------ ----------------------------------------
ffdfcee3-c646-43ee-925b-2ae6f339b0e4 VCSGU SI 19.19.0.0.230418 false OLTP EE odb10 ACFS CONFIGURED 121f642f-2233-483d-9f39-57450fd9ddd9
cf99a1b1-4c9c-4431-b7b7-e906c4be0fb6 VCSW SI 19.19.0.0.230418 false OLTP EE odb6 ACFS CONFIGURED c069c4f2-4add-4670-a103-d29fd0bac832Removing old DB homes
Now you can safely remove the 19.17 DB homes:
odacli list-dbhomes
ID Name DB Version DB Edition Home Location Status
---------------------------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------- --------------------------------------------- ----------
896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150 OraDB19000_home6 19.17.0.0.221018 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED .0/dbhome_6
2caf70b0-8af1-4b17-8410-00de77f0949d OraDB19000_home7 19.17.0.0.221018 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED .0/dbhome_7
c069c4f2-4add-4670-a103-d29fd0bac832 OraDB19000_home8 19.19.0.0.230418 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED
.0/dbhome_8
121f642f-2233-483d-9f39-57450fd9ddd9 OraDB19000_home9 19.19.0.0.230418 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED
odacli delete-dbhome -i 896ce25f-c05f-4765-986b-db807a26e150
odacli delete-dbhome -i 2caf70b0-8af1-4b17-8410-00de77f0949d
odacli list-dbhomes
ID Name DB Version DB Edition Home Location Status
---------------------------------------- -------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------- --------------------------------------------- ----------
c069c4f2-4add-4670-a103-d29fd0bac832 OraDB19000_home8 19.19.0.0.230418 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED .0/dbhome_8
121f642f-2233-483d-9f39-57450fd9ddd9 OraDB19000_home9 19.19.0.0.230418 EE /u01/app/odaorahome/oracle/product/19.0.0 CONFIGURED
.0/dbhome_9 Conclusion
Is it better mixing versions or aligning system, storage and DB homes? Definitely, having a system using the highest possible version is more secure. And having databases’ patch level to something a little bit older is not a problem at all. But try keeping the gap as small as possible. I won’t recommend using 18c, 12c or 11gR2 with latest 19.20, as it’s not supported at all. If you need this kind of configuration, think about virtualizing your old databases as described here.
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![Thumbnail [90x90]](https://www.dbi-services.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/CBL_web-min-min-scaled.jpg)
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