40 Adpatch question every DBA should know

Here is the compilation of 40 Adpatch question every DBA should know

1. What are the different types of patches?

Ans : oneoff, mini packs, family packs, maintanance packs, rollup pathches, colsolidated patches.

1. What is a oneoff patch?

Ans : An oneoff patch is a small patch of (20-90K size) without any pre-req’s

1. What is a mini pack ?

Ans : A mini pack is one which will upgrade any product patchset level to next level like AD.H to AD.I

1. What is Family pack ?

Ans : A Family pack is one which will upgade the patchset level of all the products in that family to perticular patchsetlevel.

1. What is Maintanance pack ?

Ans : A maintanance pack will upgrade applications from one version to another like 12.1.2 to 12.1.3

1. What is a Rollup patch?

Ans : A rollup patch is one which will deliver bug fixes identified after the release of any major application versions like 12.1.3

1. What is consolidated patch?

Ans: Consolidated patches will come into pictures after upgrades from one version of applications to anoter, all post upgrade patches will a consolidated and given as consolidated patch.

1. How u will find whether a patch is applied/not?

Ans : Query ad_bugs.

select substr(APPLICATION_SHORT_NAME,1,10) Product,substr(BUG_NUMBER,1,10) Patch#,
substr(ARU_RELEASE_NAME,1,10)
Version,last_update_date applied_date from applsys.ad_bugs where BUG_NUMBER= to_char(‘&bug_no’);

1. What is the other table where u can query what are the patches applied?

Ans : Ad_applied_patches

1. What is the difference between ad_bugs and ad_applied_patches?

Ans: A patch can deliver solution for more than one bug, so ad_applied_patches may not give u the perfect information as in case of ad_bugs.

1. How u apply a patch?

Ans : using adpatch in R12.1 and using adop in R12.2

1. What inputs you need to apply a patch other than driver name and etc?

Ans : apps and system passwords

1. What are the table u r adpatch will create and when?

Ans : Adpatch will create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table when it will apply d,g and u drivers

1. What is the significance of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table?
   Ans: FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES table will store the worker information like what job is assigned to which worker and its status. AD_DEFERRED_JOBS will come into picture when some worker is failed, it will be moved to AD_DEFERRED_JOBS table, from where again adpatch will take that job and try to resign, after doing this 3 times if still that worker is failing, then adpatch will stop patching and throw the error that perticular worker has failed. We need to trouble shoot and restrart the worker.

2. If it is a multinode installation which driver we need to apply on which node?

Ans: c,d,g on concurrent node and c, g on web node. If it is u-driver we need to apply on all nodes.

16.While applying a application patch is that necessary that u r database and listener should be up?

Ans: Yes . why because adpatch will connect to database and update so many tables etc…..

1. While applying a patch if that patch is failing because of a pre-req then how you will apply that pre-req patch and resume with the current patch?

Ans: We need to take the backup of FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables and restart directory at APPL_TOP/amdin/SID and then use adctrl to quit all the workers.

mv $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/restart $APPL_TOP/admin/<SID>/restart.old
create table applsys.FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES_11510 as select * from applsys.FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES
create table applsys.ad_deferred_jobs_11510 as select * from applsys.ad_deferred_jobs

drop table applsys.FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES
drop table applsys.ad_deferred_jobs

Then apply the pre-req patch , after that rename u r restart directory to its original name and create FND_INSTALL_PROCESSES and AD_DEFERRED_JOBS tables from the bcakup tables. Start adpatch session and take the options want to continue previous session.

1. What is adctrl?

Ans: Adctrl is one of the ad utilities, which is used to check the status of workers and to manage the workers.

1. Can u name some of the menu options in adctrl?

Ans: Check the status of workers, tell manager that worker has quited, restart a failed worker etc….

1. How to skip a worker and why?

Ans: We can skip a worker using option 8 in adctrl which is hidden. We will go for skipping a worker when we have executed the job which the worker is supposed to do.

More information:

How to restart and skip the job using adctrl

1. How adpatch knows what are the pre-req’s for the patch which it is applying?

Ans: With every patch a file called b.ldt file will be delivered which contain the pre-req information. adpatch load this into databse using FNDLOAD and check , whether those pre-req patches were applied or not.
22. What c-driver will do?

Ans: C-drive copies the files from patch unzipped directory to required location in u r application file system. Before copying it will check the file version of the existing file at the file system with the file version of the file in the patch. If the patch file version is higher than what it is at file system level then only c-driver will copy that files.

1. How adpatch will know the file versions of the patch delivered files?

Ans:With each patch a file with name f.ldt is delivered , which contain the file versions of the files dilivered with the patch. Adpatch will use this file to compare the file versions of files its delivering with the file on file system.

1. What is the adpatch log file location?

Ans : APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log

1. What is the worker log file name and its location?

Ans : adwork01,adwork02…… and location is APPL_TOP/admin/SID/log

26 How u will know what are the files the patch is going to change just my unzipping the patch?

Ans:When u unzip a patch it will keep all the files related to a particular product under that directory inside u r patch directory for example if the patch delivering files related to FND product then it will create a sub directory under the patch directory with the name FND in which it will put all related files to that product

1. What is the significance of backup directory under u r patch directory?

Ans:When we apply a patch it will keep the copy of the files which its going to change in file system.

1. What are the different modes you can run your adpatch?

Ans :1.Interactive – default mode

2.Non interactive – Use defaults files to store prompt values

(adpatch defaultsfile= interactive=no)

1. Test – Without actually applying a patch just to check what doing.(adpatch apply=no)
2. How you can enable maintainance mode without adadmin utility?

Ans we can use the below script to enable and disable maintainance mode
@$AD_TOP/patch/115/sql/adsetmmd.sql ENABLE
@$AD_TOP/patch/115/sql/adsetmmd.sql DISABLE

1. How you can analyze the impact of patch i.e what files will be replaced and what new files will be added?

Ans we can find that using Patch wizard
System Administrator (Responsibility)
–> Oracle Application Manager
–> Patching and Utilitie
–> Site Map
–> Maintenance
–> Patch Wizard

31.How often should customers apply mini-packs, family packs, and maintenance packs?
Ans You should keep your maintenance level up to date in order to:
Receive the latest fixes.
Reduce the number of file updates needed for emergency fixes.
Reduce the possibility of unfulfilled prerequisite patches when applying an emergency fix.
Make it easier for Oracle Support and Oracle Development to assist you.
Keep core products such as AD (patches and maintenance fixes), FND (security and technology stack updates), and HR (legislative updates) up to date.
32.Can I run multiple AutoPatch sessions at the same time?
Ans You cannot currently run multiple sessions simultaneously. However, patches can be merged and can be applied in a single patching session.

33.Can we merge US and NLS patches together?
Ans: Merging US and NLS patches is fully-supported. When AD Merge Patch merges a US and NLS patch, it alters the phasing of the NLS patch so that all NLS actions occur after all US actions. AD supports merging US and NLS patches because it works and may be easier for the customer. If the customer does not have strict downtime requirements, it may be more convenient for the customer to merge the US and NLS patches and apply them together. They can possibly reduce their downtime by separating US and NLS (or by using one merged NLS patch per language), but this is more work for the customer. We should let the customer decide which of the various supported options best meets their needs.

34.What are deferred jobs and how are deferred jobs handled?
Ans The first time a job fails, the manager automatically defers it to the end of the current phase and assigns a new job to the worker.

If the deferred job fails the second time it is run , the manager defers it again only if the total runtime of the job is less than 10 minutes . If the deferred job fails a third time (or if the job’s total runtime is not less than 10 minutes the second time it is run) the job stays at FAILED status and the worker waits.

At this point, you must address the cause of the failure, and then restart the worker, using AD Controller.

1. where is patch history stored in database?

Ans:

patch history tables in Oracle apps

1. How to reduce the downtime for patching?

Ans:

Downtime Reduction during patching

1. What is distributed AD?

Ans:

Distributed AD

38 What is staged APPL_TOP?

Ans

Staged APPL_TOP in R12

1. What is adop in R12.2?

Ans

ADOP explained

40 What is Onling patching in R12.2?

Ans :

R12.2 Online Patching cycle Summary