Patching and Upgrades - Oracle Exadata Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach - page 327

Table 11-1. Exadata Patching Definitions

Description and Definition

Patches applied to Exadata Storage Servers using the patchmgr utility. Storage server
patches apply operating system, firmware, and driver updates and update both the
storage cells and compute nodes. These are usually released quarterly.

Storage server patches

Database server
yum channels

Database servers are patched using yum; there is a yum channel for each Exadata image
version. Recently, this functionality replaced the “minimal pack.”

Database
“minimal pack”

The database minimal pack is defined as the minimal version of Oracle RDBMS, Grid
Infrastructure, and diskmon software required to operate with a specific storage server
patch. Minimal packs were phased out in favor of using yum channels for patching.

QDPE QDPE = Quarterly Database Patch for Exadata. These patches are released quarterly

in 11.2.0.2 and monthly in 11.2.0.3 and are applied using OPatch. Each QDPE patch
includes three patches—one for the RDBMS binaries, one for the Grid Infrastructure
binaries, and one for diskmon . QDPE patches are cumulative in nature and were
previously called bundle patches . QDPE patches are always rolling patches and applied
with the opatch auto command.

Bundle patches Bundle patches are patches designed to patch Oracle RDBMS, Grid Infrastructure, and

diskmon software. These have recently been renamed QDPE patches.

Patch set upgrades These are full-upgrade patches on the compute node; for example, patching 11.2.0.2 to

11.2.0.3. Grid Infrastructure patches are always rolling in nature, and RDBMS patches
require an outage.

InfiniBand patches These are patches released annually that update your InfiniBand switches. These are

always rolling in nature, and the patch mechanism depends on your InfiniBand version.

QFSDP QFSDP = Quarterly Full Stack Download Patch. These patches contain all of the patches

for each stack in your Exadata Database Machine, including your infrastructure,
database, and Oracle Enterprise Manager. The patches inside a QFSDP patch are still
applied individually, but they are downloadable from the same patch file.

OPlan OPlan creates a patch deployment report customized for your environment and

includes step-by-step instructions for patching your environment. Details of OPlan are
discussed in MOS note 1306814.1 and delivered as part of patch 11846294.

When patching Exadata, we recommend following these steps:

1. Carefully read MOS note 888828.1 and become familiar with its contents. An Exadata DMA

responsible for patching should bookmark note 888828.1 in his or her browser and refer to
it often.

2. Determine if you will use a QFSDP patch or QDPE patches combined with storage server

and other infrastructure patches.

3. Download the patches to a compute node and patch the storage servers first using

patchmgr .

4. Apply the QDPE patches to the compute nodes.

5. Apply the QDPE patches to the compute nodes.