Transcript Slide 1
Oracle Patching and Maintenance A practical guide for System Administrators
October 2009
Introduction
• Eleanor Meritt • Balaji Bashyam • Richard Miller • Russell Green Sustaining Engineering Customer Support EM Development Development Infrastructure THE FOLLOWING IS INTENDED TO OUTLINE OUR GENERAL PRODUCT DIRECTION. IT IS INTENDED FOR INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY NOT BE INCORPORATED INTO ANY CONTRACT. IT IS NOT A COMMITMENT TO DELIVER ANY MATERIAL, CODE, OR FUNCTIONALITY, AND SHOULD NOT BE RELIED UPON IN MAKING PURCHASING DECISION. THE DEVELOPMENT, RELEASE, AND TIMING OF ANY FEATURES OR FUNCTIONALITY DESCRIBED FOR ORACLE'S PRODUCTS REMAINS AT THE SOLE DISCRETION OF ORACLE.
Patching: Be Proactive
• Preventative maintenance is key to a successful system • Our most successful customers take a proactive approach to patching • By being proactive you can • • • Avoid production issues Reduce support costs Get new fixes quickly • Make proactive patching the cornerstone of your maintenance strategy
Objectives of this presentation
• Give you a clear understanding of Oracle’s patching terminology • Help you develop a proactive patching and maintenance strategy • Describe tools to help simplify the entire process
Oracle Support Basics
• Understanding Oracle’s Life Cycle Support Policy is a requirement for devising a good maintenance strategy • It allows you to plan your upgrades • It ensures you to stay on supported releases • Oracle may not provide fixes for all releases • You can have the best patching strategy in the world, but it won’t matter if Oracle is unable to provide you with patches
What version of the database should I choose?
• • • • • Which release has the longest life?
Which releases do you understand the best?
Which are the most stable in your environment?
Which are certified with your 3 rd One size does not have to fit all party vendors?
– categorize your systems and decide which releases to use for each: – Early adopters or non-critical systems can be used to gain experience for the enterprise with a
recent
release (eg.11.2) – Where you want most of your systems where you want system having the best balance between release life, stability, and organizational experience, adopt a more
mature
release (eg. 10.2) – Only consider staying on a down” and not changing, and are likely to be retired – ie not worth the investment in upgrading
legacy
release for systems that are “bedded
Error Correction policy
• Throughout the Premier Support period, patch sets are produced to fix known bugs that are discovered after GA.
• Successive patch sets are cumulative and improve quality over the lifetime of the release. For a given release, the most recent Patch Set is always the least risk option.
• We stop patching older patch sets once the new one is out for a year – it is important to be deployed on a currently supported Patch Set.
• Once a release goes into Extended Support • We will only patch the LAST patch set for the release • Extended Support is optional – but without it, no patches!
Patching Terminology
• • • • • There are several methods that may be employed to deliver fixes to a customer. The differences between these methods are often a source of confusion.
Interim Patch
• a single standalone patch also called a “one-off” or PSE
Component or Configuration Bundle
• • • a set of patches issued between patch sets target a specific product, component or Configuration e.g. RAC, Dataguard or Ebusiness Suite database release certification bundles
Critical Patch Update (CPU)
• a bundle of patches released quarterly, to fix security bugs
Patch Set Update (PSU)
• • • a bundle patches for high impact bugs encountered in the field includes the CPU and component / configuration bundle content guaranteed not to contain any changes to the optimizer or fixes which change application behaviour.
What level of confidence can I have?
• One-off patches • Basic Functional Testing • • Install Testing
Reactive Only
• Patch Bundles (CPU, PSU, Component Bundles etc) • Complete Functional Testing • • • System Testing (intermediate) Install Testing
Recommended for Proactive Patching
• Patch Sets • Complete Functional Testing • • • System Testing (comprehensive) Upgrade Testing
Proactive Maintenance Vehicle
Proactive Patching Strategy
• So how do I know what to apply?
What should be my Patching Strategy
• Proactive vs Reactive • • Reactive isn’t really a strategy Hit a bug – apply a patch • Don’t try the ‘Dim Sum’ patching methodology • • • It increases the possibility of patch conflicts It increases risk due to untested patch combinations It increases production time if new patches are needed • Oracle recommends a Proactive patching strategy • Stay with supported patch sets • Preferably be on the latest • • Follow the Oracle patch recommendations For simplest deployment – use PSU’s • RAC rolling installable • Only apply one-off patches when • You
know
that you are impacted by a bug
Help me to be proactive
• My Oracle Support (MOS) • • • • Report on recommendations Develop patching plans Check for conflicts Share experiences • Downloads • Problems
Demo
Unified View, Integrated Information
Between My Oracle Support and Enterprise Manager
Knowledge Management
My Oracle Support
Problem/SR Management Configuration Management
Oracle Customer
Knowledge Management Problem/SR Management Configuration Management
Performance Management Problem Diagnosis Enterprise Manager Provisioning & Patching
Operating Systems Databases Middleware Applications
What other tools do you have?
• Database Replay • • Real Application Testing Capture and replay known workloads • SQL Performance Analyzer • Assess statement performance impact • what statements improved or regressed • Provide tuning recommendations for statements whose plans regressed • SQL Plan Management • • • Records and evaluations SQL plans over time Create a baseline of accepted plans for a SQL statement Controlled Plan Evolution
Other Recommendations
• Before performing upgrades, always refer to the
10g and 11g Upgrade Companion
• • documents.
My Oracle Support
Notes 466181.1 and 601807.1
These documents include invaluable advice on best practices for pre- and post-upgrade activities
Summary
• • • • • Make sure you understand the Life Cycle and Error correction policies Stay on currently supported releases Upload your system configuration Deploy Oracle recommended patches Stay ahead of the curve – be proactive