What if the EBS remained online during patching -> R12.2 The Downtime Solution – Online Patching

Posted on October 5th, 2013 by Sanjit Anand | Print This Post | Email This Post

Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 introduces Online Patching (OLP) using the new adop (AD Online Patching) utility. This replaces adpatch , that means adpatch is no longer supported in R12.2 for direct use.

In 12.2 all patching operations are online, that means:

• EBS will remain available to users during patching operations
• Online users share resources for example Users can enter expense reports while Payables is being patched
• Revenue generating activities were to stay online like Web Orders,Booking Orders,Service Requests
• Downtime required by any patch was predictable
• Patching CANNOT affect the running application
  • Data model changes (tables, indexes…)
  • Code changes ( pl/sql, views, c code, java code…)

This is DBA stuff, but in intrest of subject you can simply understand the Online Patching cycle consists of the following phases:

• Prepare a virtual copy (patch edition) of the running application (run edition).
• Apply patches to the patch edition of the application.
• Finalize the system in readiness for the cutover phase.
• Cutover to the patch edition and make it the new run edition.
• Cleanup obsolete definitions or data to recover space.

The way it works is any patch application occurs on the Patch copy while users are accessing the Run Copy and performing routine transactions.

At one of the many phases of the adop utility called cutover, the application gets restarted and it changes the File System Role for Patch.

The Patch Copy becomes the run copy and the run copy becomes the patch copy . This is where you will require a few minutes of downtime, but is significantly less than the full downtime required to apply a patch or patches.

Business Benefits of Online Patching

• Removes barriers to uptake
• Much easier to negotiate downtime with lines of business
• Much easier to identify downtime windows as they are so brief
• Applications stays online during patch application

Therefore, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Online Patching provides a smooth, predictable patching process that dramatically reduces maintenance downtimes while ensuring business continuity

You can refer to Metalink support note #1583902.1 on Online Patching FAQ

1. Customizations & Custom Application in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2
2. Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2
3. EBS Online Documentation Library
4. Dunning and EBS R12
5. R12 Report Manager goes user-friendly