18.2 patch… painless for me

April 19, 2018June 7, 2018 Connor McDonald 18c, patching, upgrade

18.2 was released a few days ago, so I thought I’d throw it against my 18c instance and see how things played out. This was just a single instance database, running with a single pluggable.

Step 1 for me was to download the latest OPatch. To be honest, I don’t even check whether I already have the latest version in any installed ORACLE_HOME anymore. If I’m going to apply a patch, I’m always going to download the latest OPatch unless the README explicitly tells me some reason why I should not. I figure getting the latest version reduces the chances I’ll hit problems. For me, I grabbed version “12.2.0.1.13”, but your experience may differ depending on when you encountered upon this post.

So I then downloaded patch 27676517 (note, this does not include patches for the JVM which are done separately).

From there is was just a case of following the README instructions and I had no dramas at all. Software patching went through smoothly:


[oracle@host18 27676517]$ export PATH=$PATH:$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch
[oracle@host18 27676517]$ opatch apply
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 12.2.0.1.13
Copyright (c) 2018, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Oracle Home       : /u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1
Central Inventory : /u01/app/oraInventory
   from           : /u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 12.2.0.1.13
OUI version       : 12.2.0.4.0
Log file location : /u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2018-04-19_08-32-51AM_1.log

Verifying environment and performing prerequisite checks...
OPatch continues with these patches:   27676517  

Do you want to proceed? [y|n]
y
User Responded with: Y
All checks passed.

Please shutdown Oracle instances running out of this ORACLE_HOME on the local system.
(Oracle Home = '/u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1')


Is the local system ready for patching? [y|n]
y
User Responded with: Y
Backing up files...
Applying interim patch '27676517' to OH '/u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1'
ApplySession: Optional component(s) [ oracle.assistants.usm, 18.0.0.0.0 ] , [ oracle.has.crs, 18.0.0.0.0 ] , [ oracle.network.cman, 18.0.0.0.0 ] , [ oracle.assistants.asm, 18.0.0.0.0 ]  not present in the Oracle Home or a higher version is found.

Patching component oracle.network.rsf, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.crs, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.assistants.acf, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.sqlplus.ic, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.deconfig, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.sqlplus, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.util, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.dbscripts, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.assistants.deconfig, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.assistants.server, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.install.plugins, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.rsf, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.rdbms.rman, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.javavm.client, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.ldap.owm, 18.0.0.0.0...

Patching component oracle.ldap.security.osdt, 18.0.0.0.0...
Patch 27676517 successfully applied.
Log file location: /u01/app/oracle/product/18.0.0/dbhome_1/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2018-04-19_08-32-51AM_1.log

OPatch succeeded.

And the datapatch stage to update the database(s) also went through without any problems.


[oracle@host18 OPatch]$ ./datapatch -verbose
SQL Patching tool version 18.0.0.0.0 Production on Thu Apr 19 08:37:40 2018
Copyright (c) 2012, 2018, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Log file for this invocation: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_10552_2018_04_19_08_37_40/sqlpatch_invocation.log

Connecting to database...OK
Gathering database info...done

Note:  Datapatch will only apply or rollback SQL fixes for PDBs
       that are in an open state, no patches will be applied to closed PDBs.
       Please refer to Note: Datapatch: Database 12c Post Patch SQL Automation
       (Doc ID 1585822.1)

Bootstrapping registry and package to current versions...done
Determining current state...done

Current state of interim SQL patches:
  No interim patches found

Current state of release update SQL patches:
  Binary registry:
    18.2.0.0.0 Release_Update 1804041635: Installed
  PDB CDB$ROOT:
    No release update patches installed
  PDB PDB$SEED:
    No release update patches installed
  PDB PDB1:
    No release update patches installed

Adding patches to installation queue and performing prereq checks...done
Installation queue:
  For the following PDBs: CDB$ROOT PDB$SEED PDB1
    No interim patches need to be rolled back
    Patch 27676517 (Database Release Update : 18.2.0.0.180417 (27676517)):
      Apply from 18.1.0.0.0 Feature Release to 18.2.0.0.0 Release_Update 1804041635
    No interim patches need to be applied

Installing patches...
Patch installation complete.  Total patches installed: 3

Validating logfiles...done
Patch 27676517 apply (pdb CDB$ROOT): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/27676517/22097537/27676517_apply_DB18_CDBROOT_2018Apr19_08_38_45.log (no errors)
Patch 27676517 apply (pdb PDB$SEED): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/27676517/22097537/27676517_apply_DB18_PDBSEED_2018Apr19_08_39_58.log (no errors)
Patch 27676517 apply (pdb PDB1): SUCCESS
  logfile: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/27676517/22097537/27676517_apply_DB18_PDB1_2018Apr19_08_40_01.log (no errors)
SQL Patching tool complete on Thu Apr 19 08:41:13 2018
[oracle@host18 OPatch]$ 




[oracle@host18 ~]$ sqlplus scott/tiger@pdb1

SQL*Plus: Release 18.0.0.0.0 - Production on Thu Apr 19 08:44:27 2018
Version 18.2.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2018, Oracle.  All rights reserved.


Connected to:
Oracle Database 18c Enterprise Edition Release 18.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 18.2.0.0.0

SQL>

So all in all, a painless and straightforward experience for me.

One minor annoyance for me was the “Bugs Fixed” document. The README references this as:

but that document is not accessible currently. However, if you follow a different link in the README

then you will get to the document which contains the list of fixes etc.

Footnote: If you are not familiar with the new nomenclature of “Patch”, “Release Update”, etc etc, here is a good place to start

https://mikedietrichde.com/2017/11/07/ru-rur-recommendations-facts/

and follow the various links within that post for more information.

Happy upgrading!

Addenda: When it comes to the ‘datapatch’ script, the README is perhaps a little ambiguous. More on that here

https://mikedietrichde.com/2018/04/19/do-you-have-to-execute-datapatch-when-you-create-a-new-database/

18c–If you can’t wait

February 23, 2018February 27, 2018 Connor McDonald 18c, livesql, upgrade

You’ve seen the tweet !!

but perhaps the accompanying blog post has tempered your enthusiasm Sad smile

You might be thinking:

“I’m not on Exadata – how can I play with 18c?”

Well, there is still a way to get ahead of the game and skill up on 18c. We’ve upgraded livesql.oracle.com to 18c, and we’ve pre-loaded some demo scripts for you as well.

So get cracking! Oracle Database 18c builds upon the foundation set by 12.2.

Enjoy!

Oracle Database 18c

February 17, 2018June 27, 2018 Connor McDonald 18c, database, upgrade

Yup…it’s arrived!

New name obviously, because we’ve jumped to our new naming model to align with the calendar year as opposed to version number. You might be thinking “So what?” but it’s a significant change in the way we getting software to customer. Mike Dietrich blogged about this at length here so I won’t repeat what has been said, but in TL;DR form:

More frequent releases, with smaller amounts of change per release

In this way, the approach lets us focus more of solidifying existing features, and being able to quickly respond to bugs that arise.

So 18c is more an incremental release on 12.2 (in fact, internally it was referred to as “12.2.0.2” for most of it’s build cycle) focussed on stability and hardening of existing features.

Don’t worry, we still managed to pack some cool new things in there – which you can read about in the New Features guide.

I’ll be doing some blog posts and videos on the 18c content soon, but here’s something to whet your appetite

Apex upgrade 4.2 to 5.0.2

November 24, 2015March 29, 2017 Connor McDonald apex, upgrade

Just a quick note for anyone upgrading Apex on their systems.

The installation (into a non-multitenant 12.1.0.2 instance) went through with no problems, but tracing the installation suggests it will flush the shared pool 6 times during installation/upgrade.

That might have some impact on other applications/sessions running on that database, so best to find a quiet time to do it.

Virtualbox 5.0

October 8, 2015March 29, 2017 Connor McDonald misc, upgrade

I like it when stuff just “works”.

I’ve been using Virtual Box 4 for a long time now, and since my needs are relatively simple (ie, run a VM!) then I’ve not had any great cause to move to version 5. But today I had a spare few minutes and thought “Well, its probably time”.

So the steps I followed were:

download
run the installer
start version 5

And .. well, all my stuff (aka all my existing VM’s) worked just fine. In fact, the only “error” I got was when I tried to start up too many of them at once and VirtualBox helpfully told me that I was either kidding myself or needed a better laptop.

This is how upgrades should be. Simple and pain free. Love it.

Downloads are here https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Upgraded and can’t see the tables you could before ?

June 24, 2015December 20, 2017 Connor McDonald dba, security, upgrade

If you take a look at the “alter user” command in the old 9i documentation, you’ll see this:

DEFAULT ROLE Clause

Specify the roles granted by default to the user at logon. This clause can contain only roles that have been granted directly to the user with a GRANT statement. You cannot use the DEFAULT ROLE clause to enable:

Roles not granted to the user
Roles granted through other roles
Roles managed by an external service (such as the operating system), or by the Oracle Internet Directory

Oracle enables default roles at logon without requiring the user to specify their passwords.

And if you do a similar examination of the 10g documentation, its pretty much the same, with some more elaboration.

DEFAULT ROLE Clause

Roles not granted to the user
Roles granted through other roles
Roles managed by an external service (such as the operating system), or by the Oracle Internet Directory

Oracle Database enables default roles at logon without requiring the user to specify their passwords or otherwise be authenticated. If you have granted an application role to the user, you should use the DEFAULT ROLE ALL EXCEPT role clause to ensure that, in subsequent logons by the user, the role will not be enabled except by applications using the authorized package.

So lets take a look at the 11.2 documentation for the same section

DEFAULT ROLE Clause

Specify the roles granted by default to the user at logon. This clause can contain only roles that have been granted directly to the user with a GRANT statement, or roles created by the user with the CREATE ROLE privilege. You cannot use the DEFAULT ROLE clause to specify:

Roles not granted to the user
Roles granted through other roles
Roles managed by an external service (such as the operating system), or by the Oracle Internet Directory
Roles that are enabled by the SET ROLE statement, such as password-authenticated roles and secure application roles

Notice the new 4th bullet point, which has replaced the handling of default roles from previous versions. If a role is password protected, then even if it is set as a default role, then it will not be enabled automatically. We can see this with a simple example:

SQL> conn / as sysdba

Connected.

SQL> create user NO_PRIVS identified by blah;

User created.

SQL> grant create session to NO_PRIVS;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> create role SUPER_DOOPER identified by SECRET_PASSWORD;

Role created.

SQL> create role DOES_NOTHING;

Role created.

SQL> grant delete any table, select any table to SUPER_DOOPER;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> grant SUPER_DOOPER  to NO_PRIVS;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> grant DOES_NOTHING to NO_PRIVS;

Grant succeeded.

SQL> alter user NO_PRIVS default role all;

User altered.

SQL> conn NO_PRIVS/blah

Connected.

SQL> select count(*) from hr.employees;

select count(*) from hr.employees

                        *

ERROR at line 1:

ORA-00942: table or view does not exist

SQL>

SQL> set role SUPER_DOOPER identified by SECRET_PASSWORD;

Role set.

SQL> select count(*) from hr.employees;

  COUNT(*)

----------

       107

SQL>

Learning is not a spectator sport

Connor McDonald's Oracle blog

upgrade

18.2 patch… painless for me

18c–If you can’t wait

Oracle Database 18c

Apex upgrade 4.2 to 5.0.2

Virtualbox 5.0

Upgraded and can’t see the tables you could before ?