Plan for Patching in E-Business Suite..

Create the Patch Plan:

A patch plan is a document or spreadsheet that details all of the information required to successfully apply a set of patches on a repeating basis. The plan itself will contain, but is not limited to, the following:

Ø  A Patch List: As patches are identified for a particular patching iteration, they are added to the plan

Ø  Patching Instructions: Each patch and its related documentation (READMEs etc.) should be analyzed with respect to the environment to which it will be applied and the relevant instructions extracted from the documentation and combined with any additional steps required for the successful application of the patch

There is a full example below as well.

• Patch number: The patch number
• Applies to: Where the patch applies to, which component of EBS. Patches can apply to the APPL_TOP, iAS Oracle Home, Tools Oracle Home, RDBMS Oracle Home
• Environment File: Which *.env file to use when applying the patch
• Merge: Can the patch be merged with other patches (Application patches only, using "admrgpch")
• Prereqs: Prereqs to be applied before the given patch can be applied.
• Pre-Patch steps: Any manual steps to be run before the patch is applied, called out by the patch README or other document.
• Patch order: The sequence in which the patch will be applied.
• Notes: Any notes taken during the patch application or any other information deemed worthy by the persons creating or applying the Patch Plan.
• Log location:  Name and location of the logs after the patch is completed.
• Failures: Notes about files which failed or errors encountered. Fixes may also be documented here.
• SR Number:  If an SR was generated for questions or failures about this patch.
• Impact Areas: Known areas of the application to be tested post-patch

Before Applying patches following things need to check:

1-      Find whether patch is applied or not?

Select * from ad_bugs where bug_number = &patch_number;

or

Select * from ad_applied_patches where patch_number = &patch_number;

2-      Read the Readme file of each patch for the pre-requisite and post-requisite and other information.

3-      Repeat Step 1 for the Pre-Requisite and Post-requisite Patches.

4-      Create the Patch Plan.

Step By Step Guide to apply the Patch:

1.                  Verify That Backup / Recovery Works

Before making any changes to the Production environment, verify that there is an up-to-date backup and verify that the plan for restoring from that backup is feasible to execute in the time lines provided. This information should be detailed in the Business Plan developed in the Evaluate phase. The backup / restore procedures should also, as a best practice, be tested in the Test phase.  

2.      Apply Patch Implementation Plan

At this stage you need to take into consideration the following:

• Quickly review the Patch Plan created in the previous phases for any last minute concerns
• Decide whether to proceed or abort
• Timelines and downtime should be approximated from patch timing documented during the Test phase.
• Apply the Patch Plan exactly as it was performed in the last test iteration

è Check for the invalid objects form the database.

Select * from dba_objects where status = ‘INVALID’;

è Shutdown the application tier services

è Enable the maintenance mode

è Apply the patches according to Patch Plan

è Disable maintenance mode

è Start the application services.

è Check for any new invalid objects.

3.      Verify Patch Install Has Been Successful

At this point in time do the following:

• Verify the patches installed as expected
• Check log files
• Perform pre-defined testing and diagnostics
• Use testing standards outlined in the Business Plan
• Any patch-specific testing documented in the Patch Plan
• Release instance to users
• Monitor instance for unforeseen issues

4.      Milestone Checklist and Feedback

At the end of the Implement phase stage of the lifecycle, the following is expected:

• Document all the patches which were applied, including dates, who applied them, any related issues and other notes 
• Gather feedback from all vested parties over the next few weeks 
• Document lessons learned
• Refine the Business Plan and Patch Plan guidelines as needed

Oracle Applications (12.1.1) Installation on RHEL 5

Oracle Applications (12.1.1) Installation on RHEL 5

In this article; i will try to explain step by step Oracle Application installation R12.1.1  on RHEL  5

Reference:

Oracle Applications Installation and Upgrade Notes Release 12 (12.1.1) for Linux x86 [ID 761564.1]
Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B53825_03/current/acrobat/121oaig.pdf

A. Before start installation:

1. The installation of  E-Business Suite R12.1.1 needs, secure Linux disabled and the following package groups installed:

• ar
• gcc
• g++
• ld
• ksh
• make
• X Display Server

I strongly suggest , try to  “install everything” while you are making RHEL installation. Its little hard to try install-add some rpms and other tools on RHEL.

In this article, i assume that you have been installed everything.

2. The installation size of Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.1 is:

• 90 GB for a fresh install with a production database:

Application tier file system – 35 GB (For HP-UX Itanium 50 Gb)
Database tier file system – 55 GB

• 243 GB for a fresh install with a Vision Demo database.

Application tier file system – 35 GB
Database tier file system–208 GB (For HP-UX Itanium 210 Gb)

3. Create stage area folder:

You need to setups file for can make Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1 installation. You can use edelivery.oracle.com site for can download Oracle E-Business Suite the lastest version.

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1 setup files almost have 50 GB size(with NLS patch)

You can create stage folder by following:

Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1 installation manual – Page 1-14 Setting Up the Stage Area

Mainly;

Put all the files under one directory (i.e. /data/R12stage), and extract all the files under the same directory and give it to 777 permission

For instance:

[root@test]# mkdir /data/R12Stage

[root@test]# chown –R 777 /data/R12Stage

[root@test]#  cd /data/R12Stage

For  Start Here DVD create below:

mkdir startCD

For APPL_TOP DVD create below:

mkdir oraApps

For RDBMS DVD create below:

mkdir oraDB

For Tools DVD create below:

mkdir oraiAS

For Databases DVD create below:

mkdir oraAppDB

Before start to  installation, i strongly suggest check below:

MD5 Checksums for R12.1.1 Rapid Install Media [ID 802195.1] note for can observe you have any problem wiht your stage or not(Corrupted zip etc)

In this article, i assume you have installed everything on you Redhat Enterprise Linux installation.

For related  requiriments(tools&rmp etc) please follow below:

http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/B53825_01/current/html/docset.html

Oracle Applications Installation Guide: Using Rapid Install

B. Installation steps preparings:

1. Edit Host file:

The /etc/hosts file must contain a fully qualified name for the server:

<IP-address>  <fully-qualified-machine-name>  <machine-name>

Example:

[root@test]# more /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost

Open your hosts file wiht editor(I will use vi editor in this article),put your info in this file and save it. In this article my localhost will be test, my localdomain will be helios.com

PS: If you are using standalone server or pc you can give use any domain name you want. But if your server or pc on any domain you must use localdomain.

[root@test]# vi  /etc/hosts

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain   localhost

10.100.x.x     test.helios.com  test

2. Set Kernel Parameters:

Add following line in end of the  /etc/sysctl.conf file.

[root@test]# vi  /etc/ sysctl.conf

#R12.1.1 kernel settings

kernel.shmall = 2097152

kernel.shmmax = 4294967295

kernel.shmmni = 4096

# semaphores: semmsl, semmns, semopm, semmni

kernel.sem = 256 32000 100 142

fs.file-max = 327679

net.ipv4.ip_local_port_range = 10000 65000

net.core.rmem_default=262144

net.core.rmem_max=262144

net.core.wmem_default=262144

net.core.wmem_max=4194304

#full qualified hostname(format is host.localdomain)  << optional

kernel.hostname   = test.helios .com << optional

#correct domain name !! << optional

kernel.domainname = helios.com << optional

After this steps you must set your new settings wiht below command:

/sbin/sysctl –p

3. Update /var/tmp/.oracle with 777 permissions

chmod 777 /var/tmp/.oracle

4. Edit /etc/security/limits.conf file:

Add the following lines to the /etc/security/limits.conf file:

[root@test]# vi  /etc/ security/limits.conf

* hard nofile 65535

* soft nofile 4096

* hard nproc 16384

* soft nproc 2047

5. Edit /etc/resolv.conf file:

Add the following lines to the /etc/resolv.conf file:

options attempts:5

options timeout:15

6. Check /etc/sysconfig/network files format:

Verify that the /etc/sysconfig/network file is formatted as follows:

HOSTNAME=[node_name].[domain_name]

7. If the /etc/sysconfig/networking/profiles/default/network file exists, remove it.

If you changed any files in the previous steps, restart the system.

Be sure you have below rmp on your system:

Oracle Enterprise Linux 5*:

Update 1 (5.1) or higher of Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL) 5 is required

Update 1 (5.1) or higher of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5 is required

The following i386 packages are not part of the OS distribution media and must be downloaded separately (from http://oss.oracle.com/projects/compat-oracle/files/Enterprise_Linux for both OEL 5 and RHEL 5) and installed manually:

• openmotif21-2.1.30-11.EL5.i386¹
• xorg-x11-libs-compat-6.8.2-1.EL.33.0.1.i386
• For Update 1 or 2:
• binutils-2.17.50.0.6-6.0.1.i386²
• For Update 3:
• binutils-2.17.50.0.6-9.0.1.i386²
• For Update 4 (5.4) or higher, see workaround listed below in the ‘After Installing or Upgrading’ section.

The following i386 packages must be installed from the OEL 5 or RHEL 5 distribution media:

• compat-glibc-2.3.4-2.26
• gcc-4.1.2-14.el5
• gcc-c++-4.1.2-14.el5
• glibc-2.5-12³
• glibc-common-2.5-12³
• glibc-devel-2.5-12
• libgcc-4.1.2-14.el5³
• libstdc++-devel-4.1.2-14.el5
• libstdc++-4.1.2-14.el5³
• make-3.81-1.1³
• gdbm-1.8.0-26.2.1³
• libXp-1.0.0-8.1.el5
• libaio-0.3.106-3.2³
• libgomp-4.1.2-14.el5
• sysstat-7.0.0-3.el5
• compat-libstdc++-296-2.96-138
• compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61

Additionally, the following RPMs are required for an 11gR1 Database (which is bundled with the 12.1.1 release) on the database tier:

• elfutils-libelf-devel-0.125
• elfutils-libelf-devel-static-0.125
• libaio-devel-0.3.106
• unixODBC-2.2.11
• unixODBC-devel-2.2.11
• kernel-headers-2.6

Note:

1: The openmotif package version must be 2.1.30 (for example, openmotif-2.2.3-10.RHEL4.5 is not supported).
2: This GNU linker (ld) version 2.17 provided by Oracle is required for relinking the modules in Advanced Planning & Scheduling (MSC, MSO, MSR)
3: This rpm is distributed as part of the ‘default’ installation of Enterprise Linux

8. Link to Motif library for Oracle Application Server 10.1.2 (on OEL 5 and RHEL 5 only)

Perform the following command (as root on your system) to update a required link to a Motif library prior to relinking or patching the 10.1.2 Application Server Oracle Home:

# unlink /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6

# ln -s /usr/X11R6/lib/libXtst.so.6.1 /usr/lib/libXtst.so.6

Without this updated link, you may see the following errors during a relink of the 10.1.2 Oracle Home:

/usr/lib/libXtst.so.6: undefined reference to  `__stack_chk_fail@GLIBC_2.4'

/usr/lib/libXtst.so.6: undefined reference to  `__fprintf_chk@GLIBC_2.3.4'

/usr/lib/libXtst.so.6: undefined reference to  `__sprintf_chk@GLIBC_2.3.4'

9. Create user and group for installation:

[root@test]# groupadd dba

[root@test]# useradd –g dba  –d  /home/appltest appltest

[root@test]#useradd –g dba  -d /home /oratest oratest

We will use appltest to can manage Application Tier and we will use oratest for can manage Database Tier. Our installation folder will be TEST,also our SID will be TEST.

10. Create folder for Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.1 installation

Firstly,  i want to show you my mount point size of server

[root@test]# df –h

Filesystem	Size	Used	Avail	Use%	Mounted
/dev/cciss/c0d0p6	355G	55G	300G	6%	/data

As you can see i have 300 GB free space, so i will create my stage folder and my installation folder on this mount point.

[root@test]# cd /data

[root@test data ]#mkdir  TEST

In this article i will make Fresh Installation(Normaly, If i will make DEMO installation, I like to call installation  folder  VIS, if i will make fresh installation(TEST or PROD) i like to call installation folder  TEST or PROD)

Give 777 to installation folder

[root@test]# chmod 777 /data/TEST

Option 1:

Create related folder for Application and Database tier(optional)

If we want to put application tier installation folder  together(also database tier instalaltion folder) together we can create 2 subfolders under my main installation folder TEST.

[root@test]# cd /data/TEST

[root@test TEST]# mkdir apps

[root@test TEST]#mkdir db

We must give permisson to our user for can make installation of those folder

[root@test]# chown  –R appltest:dba /data/TEST/apps

[root@test]# chown  –R oratest:dba /data/TEST/db

Option two:

Just create TEST folder and give it 777 and use it for installation and application and db tier’s folders will be created under this main folder.

11. I assume that you will not make installation on server room, you will try to make installation on your local laptop or on your pc. So we need to set our xdisplay settings. If this is your first time on server you need to start vncviwer services,before start sevices please follow below steps:

Open  /root/.vnc/xstartup file with vi and edit it as:

[root@test]# vi  /root/.vnc/xstartup

Delete # from below lines

unset SESSION_MANAGER

exec /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc

[root@test]# service vncserver status <<if it return  not running result,than

[root@test]# service vncserver start

Starting VNC server: [  OK  ]

If first time you are starting VNCSERVER after your Red Hat installation, than you need to give password can connect from your local machine

[root@test]# vncserver

[root@test]# export DISPLAY=test:1.0

[root@test]#xhost+ << it should return below line

Access control disabled,  client can connect from any hosts

12. Open your vncviewer from your local machine and follow installation wizard (if you dont have this program please download it from www.realvnc.com)

C. Installation wizard steps:

When you run vncviewer from your local,than you will see installation screens,For can see screen shoots, Please follow C. Installation wizard steps part on my previous post which is avaliable  here