SAP: Oracle Patching from 8.1.7.2 to 8.1.7.4

[Khurram Khan_2]

Hi,

We are currently on SAP 4.6B on HP-UX 11.00 with Oracle on 8.1.7.2 and will be patching Oracle to 8.1.7.4, would appreciate any advise on what is involved in the patching process and what would be the backout plan if something went wrong with the patch i.e. the patch caused a error or there was a problem with it. Any instructions and notes regarding Oracle patching and requirements etc would be welcomed, thanks in advance.

regards

KK

[Steven E. Protter]

Oracle recommends a cold backup prior to proceeding. This would be a physical copy of the files to tape or another location.

The documentation of 8.1.7.4.0 comes with step by step instructions for the conversion.

Take the backup, follow the instructions precisely and you should be fine.

SEP

[Khurram Khan_2]

Hi,

First of all this is not a conversion, and secondly we already have 8.1.7.2 and are patching to 8.1.7.4, and all are systems are on 64bit. Where can I get this documentation for patching and is there a backout option apart from the full backup, thanks.

regards

KK

[twang]

Go to Metalink, Patches,
Choose Advanced Search, under here, there is a link called "Quick Links", under "Patch Sets for Product Bundles "
select Oracle Database

You'll find all patches you need.
8174 is there, as I remember the 8.1.7.4 patchset should be 2376472.
Good Luck
twang

[Volker Borowski]

Hi,

http://service.sap.com/instguides

browse for "database upgrades" and find Oracle 8.1.7

http://services.sap.com/patches
Browse for DB-Patches and your platform
get the fixfiles (need to be combined after download). Unzip afterwards and find proper and well readable Readme.html.

Browse for the bugfixes at the same location as well, there are some bloody ones that need to be installed afterwards.

In case you need to fallback,
--- MAKE SURE YOU DID NOT SET COMPATIBLE=8.1.7.4
--- if you do, no way back

- Stop DB
- Stop listener and ...
- Deinstall Software completely
- Install 8.1.7.0
- Patch SW to 8.1.7.2
- Patch SW with ONEOFFs that are actually in place
- Re-Run catalog / catproc etc. (Check Metalink on document how to downgarde)

But do not expect any problems. In SAP environment 8.1.7.4 is one of the most stable ones I ever worked with (7.3.4 and 8.0.6 where compareable). This is why they fought for loger support-cycle.

Hope this helps
Volker

[Volker Borowski]

... uuups
typo in second URL.
http://service.sap.com/patches

Sorry
Volker

BTW, did you check your point-assignment-quota recently ?

[Khurram Khan_2]

Hi,

We are already on 8.1.7.2 so all we need to do is the following:

1. Use OPatch to install the 3 8.1.7.4 oracle patch sets downloaded from SAP. So I wouldn't need to deinstall and re-install 8.1.7.0 and then patch to 8.1.7.2 -> 8.1.7.4 etc.

Not too sure what the procedure is to backout of he patch once it has been installed.

Secondly not too sure where the setting MAKE SURE YOU DID NOT SET COMPATIBLE=8.1.7.4
is set either.

I also understand that the instructions should be with the readme file downloaded, as I have 3 *.bin downloaded files and no readme file.

Hope to hear back soon, thanks.

regards

KK

[Volker Borowski]

Hi,

no !

OPatch is for Oracle 9.x not for 8.1.7.x !

You should concatenate the downloaded files, as explained in the service-marketplace

cat f1 f2 f3 > file_complete.zip
(watch out for correct order of files)
unzip file_complete.zip
... and you will find the Readme.html
Shut down SAP/ORACLE, run runInstaller and browse to the unzip-location.
Select products-file and choose install.
That's it.

After this, do postprocessing according to Readme.html (.... several stuff, catalog, catproc, ...).

The COMPATIBLE Parameter is set in the initSID.ora file and should be (and stay) 8.1.7.

Since runInstaller (8.1.7) can NOT deinstall a patchset, in case you have to rollback, you will need to deinstall+reinstall everything up to 8.1.7.2.
That is no prob, is doable within ~30 Minutes on fast machine.

Good luck
Volker

[Khurram Khan_2]

Hi,

I didn't get any readme file with the 3 patchsets for Oracle which are as follows:

P2376472_8174_HP64AA.BIN
P2376472_8174_HP64AB.BIN
P2376472_8174_HP64AC.BIN

Also when I try to run Installer I get the following errormessage as well:

/oracle/LI3/817_64/bin/runInstaller oraclepatch8174

DISPLAY not set. Please set the DISPLAY and ry again.
: No such file or directory

The concatenated file from A, B & C is called oraclepatch8174, would appreciate any advise.

Thanks

Regards

KK

[Volker Borowski]

Hi,

the concatenated file is a .zip archive !
You need to unzip it first.

Did you check out note 509314 ?
The procedure is entirely described there.
SAP-Note 362060 has some additional Information on how to install the current patchset, but I'd recommend to fully read the Readme from the zip-archive !

To install the patchset, you need to have an X-Display. So you need to run ReflectionX or eXeed or CYGWIN or a linux-box with CDE or something like this.
In a proper funtional xterm you call "runInstaller" with no options, it is completely menu-driven and requires the X-connection. No way to run it on a alpha-numeric connection !

Good luck
Volker