Improving Maintenance and Reducing Patching Downtime in 11

Improving Maintenance and Reducing Patching Downtime in 11 i Ric Ginsberg Vice President Applications Release Engineering Oracle Corporation

Topics Ÿ Patching Best Practices Ÿ Enhancements In Release 11 i Ÿ Maintenance Initiatives

Best Practices (#1) Ÿ Schedule periodic downtime for proactive maintenance Ÿ Keep up-to-date on latest AD code Ÿ Keep your test system current with production Ÿ Perform “uptime” maintenance – Gather schema stats – Patch help system – Apply translation database updates

Best Practices (#2) Ÿ Use a shared APPL_TOP and Distributed AD Ÿ Avoid extent allocation errors with autoextend Ÿ Combine patches with AD Merge Patch Ÿ Use AD Patch ‘novalidate’ option (default as of AD. H) Ÿ Use a staged APPL_TOP

Enhancements In Release 11 i

11 i Installation Enhancements Ÿ Eliminates error prone OUI/ORCA based install Ÿ Uses Cloning architecture Ÿ Installs in about an hour Ÿ Installs translation filesystem (11. 5. 9) Ÿ Rapid Install “-techstack” option – i. AS 1. 0. 2. 2. 2

11 i Performance Enhancements (#1) Ÿ Faster driver read (50 x faster) Ÿ Faster prereq checking Ÿ Faster file copy Ÿ Faster Patch History processing Ÿ Reduced worker idle time Ÿ Increased worker parallelism

11 i Performance Enhancements (#2) Ÿ Create PL/SQL packages directly Ÿ Generate reports in parallel Ÿ Significant performance tuning for: – FNDLOAD AKLOAD – Multi-Lingual Synch – Ÿ Synchronize Multi-lingual tables in parallel Ÿ Tuning based on large volume upgrade tests

11 i Patch Utility Enhancements (#1) Ÿ Checkfile feature – Activated with database drivers – Records file and version information in the database – Executes commands only if they have not executed previously for the highest onsite version of the file – Eliminates need for package revision cache Ÿ Automatic job deferral – Re-tries failed jobs at the end of the phase – Replaces auto restart

11 i Patch Utility Enhancements (#2) Ÿ Unified Driver – Requires a single AD Patch run Ÿ AD Merge Patch improvements – – – Can merge all patch types and driver types Characterset is converted during merge Significant performance improvement Ÿ Automated Pre-requisite checking – – – AD Patch confirms prerequisite is satisfied Allows for smaller patches, less overhead Duplicate patch avoidance

11 i Patch Utility Enhancements (#3) Ÿ Password Hider – Passwords automatically removed from log files Ÿ Manual Step Elimination – Automatically compiles Apps – Automatically Maintains MRC – Automatically compiles JSP Ÿ Technology Stack Validation Utility – Confirms minimum techstack requirements – Refers to appropriate Meta. Link notes

11 i Patch Utility Enhancements (#4) Distributed AD – adpatch adworker 01 … adworker 05 Apply patches using all your middle tier horsepower to significantly reduce downtime adworker 06 … adworker 10 adworker 11 … adworker 15 adworker 16 … adworker 20

Case Study Ÿ 11. 5. 5(+) to 11. 5. 9 Ÿ 300 GB database Ÿ Languages: US English & German Ÿ Characterset: UTF 8

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function US German File system update 3. 5 hours 2. 5 hours Database update 20 hours 10 hours Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total n/a 9 hours 3 hours 51 hours Reduction

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function File system update Database update Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total US German Reduction 2 hours . 5 hour 60% 20 hours 10 hours n/a 9 hours 3 hours 51 hours 3. 5 hour reduction for file system update: reduced AD overhead faster driver read prior charset conversion

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function File system update Database update Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total US German Reduction 2 hours . 5 hour 60% 14. 5 hours 3 hours 40% n/a 9 hours 3 hours 51 hours 12. 5 hour reduction for database update: checkfile loader performance direct PL/SQL increased parallelism reduced overhead reduced worker idle

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function File system update Database update Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total US German Reduction 2 hours . 5 hour 60% 14. 5 hours 3 hours 40% 1 hour 90% n/a 3 hours 51 hours 8 hour reduction Multi. Lingual Synch: runs in parallel performance improvements

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function File system update Database update Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total US German Reduction 2 hours . 5 hour 60% 14. 5 hours 3 hours 40% 1 hour 90% 2 hours 35% n/a 2 hours 51 hours 2 hour reduction file generation: parallel report generation less overhead

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function File system update Database update US German Reduction 2 hours . 5 hour 60% 14. 5 hours 3 hours 40% 1 hour 90% 2 hours 35% Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation n/a 2 hours Total 26 hour total reduction. 25 hours 50%

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function US German Reduction File system update 2 hours . 5 hour 60% Database update 5 hours . 5 hour 80% 1 hour 90% . 5 hour 85% Multi. Lingual Synch File Generation Total n/a. 5 hour 10 hours 80% Additional 15 hour reduction using distributed AD.

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function US German Reduction File system update none 100% 5 hours . 5 hour 90% 1 hour 90% none 100% Database update Multi. Lingual Synch n/a File Generation none Total 6. 5 hours 87% Additional 3. 5 hour reduction using staged APPL_TOP.

Case Study 11. 5. 5 to 11. 5. 9 Function US German Reduction File system update none 100% 5 hours none 90% Database update Multi. Lingual Synch n/a none 100% File Generation none 100% Total 5 hours 90% Additional 1. 5 hour reduction “hot patching” translation.

11 i Patch Process Enhancements 50% step reduction in 11. 5. 9 Recreate Grants and Synonyms Compile Apps Schema Maintain MRC Compile Java Server Pages Compile Flexfield Data ² Gather Schema Statistics ¹ ² Generate Message Files ¹ Run multiple patch drivers ¹ 45% reduction in product steps ¹ ¹Maintenance Pack only ²Concurrent Request

11 i Quality Improvements (#1) Ÿ Generated database drivers Ÿ Internal standards compliance checker – Automatically checks over 200 standards Ÿ SQL Repository – Parses over 400, 000 SQL statements per release – Explain plans created against 5 volume databases Ÿ Automated testing – Win. Runner based infrastructure – 400% increase in coverage

11 i Quality Improvements (#2) Ÿ Release Engineering process changes – Earlier testing of Ÿ Product integration Ÿ Pseudo-translations – Additional pre-release testing of Ÿ Translations (by countries) Ÿ OCS business flows Ÿ EBSO customer business flows Ÿ Internal production instances Ÿ Release Engineering Internal Early Access Program

11 i Translation Improvements Ÿ Simultaneous release of all languages for: – – Maintenance Packs Family Packs/Minipacks Ÿ Translation escalation process – Usually available next day Ÿ Merged translations – Immediate availability with no translation regression Ÿ Translation quality improvements – 97% reduction in translation bugs 2001 - 2003

Configuration Management Rapid Install config. txt OAM Context Editor Auto. Config Applications Context File . xml Generated Configuration Files jserv. properties appsweb. cfg httpd. conf Generated Database Updates Applications Configuration Templates APPS_WEB_AGENT ICX_FORMS_LAUNCHER TCF: PORT TCF: HOST

Oracle Applications Manager OAM Configuration Context Editor

Oracle Applications Manager Configuration History

Oracle Applications Manager Compare and Restore Settings

Oracle Applications Manager Search Patches

Oracle Applications Manager Search Patches – Advanced

Oracle Applications Manager Patch Summary

Oracle Applications Manager Files Copied by a Patch

Oracle Applications Manager Database Driver Actions

Oracle Applications Manager File History

Oracle Applications Manager Patch Advisor

Oracle Applications Manager Create Patch Filter

Oracle Applications Manager View Advice

Oracle Applications Manager View Patch Details

Oracle Applications Manager View Patch Impact

Oracle Applications Manager Patch Impact Details

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Simple Patch Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Product/Family Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Saved Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Advanced Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Product Name Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Product Hierarchy Search

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Search Results

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Saved Searches

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Superseded Patch Details

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Quick Links

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Quick Links Mouseover

Meta. Link Patch Search 2. 0 Server/Tools Quick Links

Maintenance Initiatives

Meta. Link Patch Search Ÿ Improved flow to download patches Ÿ Automated notifications Ÿ Translation escalation/merge requests Ÿ Electronic Product Delivery

Install/Cloning Technology Ÿ Rapid Install “-techstack” option – RDBMS 9. 2. 0. 3 / 9. 2. 0. 4 Ÿ RAC Install Ÿ Complex cloning – Multi-node to single-node – RAC support Ÿ i. Setup Integration

Patching Enhancements Ÿ Parallel index creation Ÿ In progress patch status Ÿ Improved patch reporting Ÿ Improved Patch Advisor Ÿ Additional impact analysis Ÿ Eliminate MRC schema Ÿ Concurrent AD sessions

Admin Forms A, B Web A, B CP A, B Multi-Node Environment One Admin Node Two Forms Nodes Two Web Nodes Two Concurrent Processing Nodes Not using Shared APPL_TOP

Standard AD Admin 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) Forms A, B C driver on Admin node C driver on Forms node A C driver on Forms node B C driver on Web node A C driver on Web node B C driver on CP node A C driver on CP node B Web A, B CP A, B 8) D driver on Admin node 9) G driver on Forms node A 10) G driver on Forms node B 11) G driver on Web node A 12) G driver on Web node B 13) G driver on CP node A 14) G driver on CP node B

Admin Forms A, B Web A, B CP A, B 1) C driver on ALL nodes simultaneously 2) D driver on admin node and G driver on all nodes simultaneously AD Concurrent Sessions

Linux Migration Utility Ÿ Quickly (~8 hours) and easily (~9 steps) migrate middle-tier to Linux Ÿ Can cut over with only a few minutes of downtime Ÿ Retains current patch level Ÿ Retains many customizations Ÿ Includes tech stack upgrade

Linux Migration Utility Port-specific files Generic files ARU/Meta. Link Old System (Windows/Unix) New Linux Middle Tier Tech stack Rapid Install Techstack CDs

Long-term Initiatives Ÿ Fully Distributed AD Ÿ “Pre-downtime” patching – Schema Clone to pre-stage PL/SQL and view changes Ÿ Granular linking & generation Ÿ Manual step infrastructure Ÿ Auto. Config Integration with OEM

For more Information… Meta. Link Information Cloning Oracle Applications 11 i Using Autoconfig Oracle Applications Manager Using a Shared APPL_TOP Distributed AD Using a Staged APPL_TOP Linux Migration Utility Maintaining Apps FAQ Note ID 230672. 1 165195. 1 166762. 1 233428. 1 236469. 1 242480. 1 238276. 1 (coming soon)

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