Question: Currently I'm on 10.2.0.3 and I'm concerned about
frequent patch application. I have not installed all the
cumulative patch updates (CPU) patches because its been a bit like
walking in a mine field.
I've even
had a tech at Oracle tell me during one of my ill-fated Oracle patch set
installations that my mistake was reading and following the readme.txt
file.
In more than one instance, The Oracle tech person couldn't install the
patch correctly! How often should I apply Oracle patches?
Are there best practices for Oracle patch application frequency? My gut
is telling me that if it isn't broke, don't fix it, but I don't know
what the best practices are for applying Oracle patches.
Answer: Remember, you DON'T have to apply patches, and sometimes
patches can CAUSE unplanned issues. The best practices are always
to conduct a full stress in a TEST environment before applying the
patches in production. It also depend on your production policy.
In many shops, patches are only applied to address a specific known
problem.
In general there are two approaches to applying Oracle patches:
1 -
If it ain't broke - don't fix it. Don't apply Oracle patches
and risk hitting bugs.
2 - Apply all patches and be proactive. Lots of extra work and
you risk a patch causing a problem.
Me, I
wait for major releases and re-install at-once, and I only look at
patches to fix specific issues.
