Patching Oracle Software

Time and again and again we see people asking help in patching Oracle software

I will just briefly explain the procedure to Patch and Upgrade the database.

Patching invloves 2 steps sometimes it is a one step process only if there is no DB running on the version

1.Assume you have a Oracle software Installed(9.2.0.1)
2.No database has been created in this version so far.

Patching
Patching is nothing but Fixes and upgrading the binary with the latest bug fixes released by Oracle

1.Download the patchset from Metalink for the Oracle/Os Versions
2.Lauch the Oracel Universtll installer from the downloaded patch
3.It selects the Oracle Home and display the Oracle Home which will be Upgraded
4.If you have multiple homes Select the appropriate Software which needs to be upgraded.
5.IF no patch is required it will prompt a message that "No Patches will be installed"
6.If the Prequisties are over It will start installing/upgrading the ORacle binaries
7.On completion of installation the Software will be upgraded to the latest patchset.

The Database created after the PAtching will all be in the latest patch version(9.2.0.8)

On the Other hand if you want to the Patch on a software on which many databases are already running

This is 2 step process
1.Upgrading the binary
2.Upgrading the database

1.Upgrading the binary
a.Shutdown all the ORacel databases on that version(9.2.0.1)
b.Stop the services related to it.
c.Follow the steps mentioned in the above steps patching


Now the Oracle binary is upgraded and now we need to upgrade the DB
1.Start the DB in the STARTUp UPGRADE/START MIGRATE
2.This will upgrade the Oracle Database.
Look for errors if any.

Comments are welcome