Compared to all other patch types, a Patchset is released the least frequently. It contains fixes for most known issues for the release and potentially also introduces new features. A patchset is cumulative and when applied it changes the fourth digit of the product release banner - for example, 10.2.0.5 is 4th patch set for 10.2, and 11.2.0.2 is the 1st patch set for 11.2.

A patchset must be installed via the Oracle Universal Installer (OUI) and is generally considered an "upgrade".

Prior to 11gR2, a base release had to be installed before a patchset could be applied. For example, to install 10.2.0.5 on Linux, the 10.2.0.1 base release has to be installed first and then upgraded to 10.2.0.5.

Prior to 11gR2, the same patchset download is used to patch the Clusterware, ASM and Database homes.  For example, Patch 8202632 is the 10.2.0.5 patchset, this same patch (Patch 8202632) will be used to patch the 10.2.0.x Clusterware, 10.2.0.x ASM and 10.2.0.x Database to 10.2.0.5.

Starting with 11gR2, patchset releases are now full releases and no longer require a "base" release, e.g. 11.2.0.2 can be installed directly without having to install 11.2.0.1 first.

Prior to 11gR2 - even though the CRS and RDBMS base releases were provided on separate media (downloadable zip file or separate DVD/CD) - the patchsets for both products were delivered as one i.e. the same patchset could be applied to the CRS as well as the RDBMS home.

Starting with 11gR2 the patchsets for Grid Infrastructure and RDBMS are delivered separately (as they are full releases).

Clusterware patchsets can be applied in a rolling fashion, while database patchsets cannot. For example, you can rolling upgrade clusterware to 11.2.0.2, but you have to shutdown database on all nodes to upgrade to database 11.2.0.2.

1.3.2.2  Patch Set Updates (PSUs) Q&A

As the name implies PSUs are patches that are applied on top of a given patchset release. They are released on a quarterly basis and contain fixes for known critical issues for the patchset. PSUs are subject to thorough testing and do not include changes that would alter the functionality of the software.  With this in mind, PSUs are designed to provide "low risk" and "high value" allowing for customers to more easily adopt proactive patching strategies. Consider the following PSU facts:

· All PSUs are installed via "opatch" and are not considered an "upgrade".

· Database PSUs always contain the CPU for the respective quarter that the PSU is released in.  PSUs and CPUs are NOT compatible meaning if you apply the 11.2.0.2.2 Database PSU and then want to apply the 11.2.0.2 July CPU this would result in the rollback of the 11.2.0.2.2 Database PSU.  That said, once a PSU patching strategy is adopted it must be maintained.

· Independent PSUs are released for both the Database and Clusterware or Grid Infrastructure installations.

o Clusterware PSUs (pre-11.2) are refered to as CRS PSUs

o Grid Infrastructure PSUs are refered to as GI PSUs

§ GI PSUs do contain the Database PSU for the corresponding release, e.g.  11.2.0.2.3 GI PSU contains the 11.2.0.2.3 Database PSU

o Database PSUs hold true to their name

· Both Clusterware/Grid Infrastructure and Database PSU patches are cumulative. Clusterware PSU refers to CRS PSU for pre-11gR2 and GI PSU for 11gR2.

· GI PSUs are always cumulative meaning that you can apply higher version GI PSU directly without having to apply a lower version one first. For example, the 11.2.0.2.2 GI PSU can be applied to a 11.2.0.2 home without having to apply GI PSU 11.2.0.2.1 first.

· Database PSUs can be subject to overlay PSU packaging.  In these cases, the PSUs are still cumulative, but a higher PSU may require a lower PSU to be applied first; for example, to apply database PSU 10.2.0.4.7, you must apply database PSU 10.2.0.4.4 first.  If a previous PSU is a prerequisite to a later PSU the requirement will be clearly documented in the PSU readme.

· For more information on PSUs please review Document 854428.1.

Generally speaking PSU are released on quarterly basis for both Clusterware/Grid Infrastructure and Database.  There's cases where a Clusterware PSUs is not released for corresponding Database PSU. For example, there's database PSU 10.2.0.5.4 but no CRS PSU 10.2.0.5.4.

A PSU will not physically update the 5th-digit of the release information, the updates to the 5th digit in the release are for Documentation purposes only. So the third GI PSU that was released for 11.2.0.2 will have a documentation version of 11.2.0.2.3. You will NOT see this change reflected in the actual software version if you query it from the inventory, clusterware or database.

Unlike other Grid Infrastructure patches (discussed later), 11gR2 GI PSUs contains both GI PSU and Database PSU (YES, both GI and DB PSU) for a particular quarter. For example, 11.2.0.2.2 GI PSU contains both the 11.2.0.2.2 GI PSU and the 11.2.0.2.2 Database PSU. 

You are able to take note of this when you extract a GI PSU, you will see 2 directories (named with the Patch number) one for the GI PSU and one for the RDBMS PSU.

How do I find out whether a bug is fixed in a Clusterware or Grid Infrastructure PSU ? To find out, check the patch readme and the following notes:

Document 405820.1 - 10.2 CRS PSU Known issues
Document 810663.1 - 11.1 CRS PSU Known issues
Document 1082394.1 - 11.2.0.1 GI PSU Known issues

Document 1272288.1 - 11.2.0.2 GI PSU Known Issues
Document 1508641.1 - 11.2.0.3.x Grid Infrastructure Bundle/PSU Known Issues

Once the GI PSU is applied, "opatch lsinventory" will show that both GI PSU and DB PSU are applied, i.e.:

Interim patches (2) :

Patch  9654983      : applied on Thu Feb 02 20:36:47 PST 2012
Patch  9655006      : applied on Thu Feb 02 20:35:53 PST 2012

And "opatch lsinventory -bugs_fixed" will list each individual bugs that have been fixed by all installed patches, i.e.:

List of Bugs fixed by Installed Patches:

Bug        Fixed by  Installed at                   Description
            Patch
---        --------  ------------                   -----------

7519406    9654983   Thu Feb 02 20:36:47 PST 2012   'J000' TRACE FILE REGARDING GATHER_STATS_JOB INTER
..
9783609    9655006   Thu Feb 02 20:35:53 PST 2012   CRS 11.2.0.1.0 Bundle

No, only CRS PSUs, GI PSUs or other Clusterware/GI patches can be applied to a Clusterware/GI home.

1.3.2.3  Critical Patch Updates (CPUs) Q&A

CPU Patches are collection of high-priority fixes for security related issues and are only applicable to the Database Home (and pre-11.2 ASM Home(s)) .  CPUs are released quarterly on the same cycle as PSUs and are cumulative with respect to prior security fixes but may contain other fixes in order to address patch conflicts with non-security patches.  PSUs always contain the CPU for that respective quarter.  PSUs and CPUs are NOT compatible meaning if you apply the 11.2.0.2.2 Database PSU and then want to apply the 11.2.0.2 July CPU this would result in the rollback of the 11.2.0.2.2 Database PSU. That said, once a PSU patching strategy is adopted it must be maintained.  PSU patching is preferred over CPU Patching.

1.3.2.4  Bundle Patches Q&A

A Clusterware or Grid Infrastructure (GI) patch can be in the form of bundle or Patchset Update (PSU).  The biggest difference between a GI/Clusterware bundle and a PSU is that PSUs are bound to a quarterly release schedule while a bundle may be released at any time throughout the course of a given quarter.  If a GI/Clusterware bundle is released in a given quarter, the fixes in that bundle will be included in the PSU that will be released for that quarter.  This concept allows for development to provide critical bug fixes in a more granular timeline if necessary.

1.3.2.5  Interim (one-off) Patch Q&A

An interim patch contains fixes for one or in some cases several bugs (merge patch).

Clusterware interim patches are rare, they usually are build on top of the latest PSU (at the time) and include the entire PSU they were built on.

The same does not hold true for database interim patches, they usually do not include a PSU.

An interim clusterware patch on top of a PSU includes the PSU, for example, 11.2.0.2.2 patch 12647618 includes 11.2.0.2 GI PSU2 (11.2.0.2.2). But the same is not true for database interim patch, for example, 11.2.0.2.2 databasepatch 11890804 can only be applied on top of a 11.2.0.2.2 database home.

1.3.2.6  General Patch Q&A

Generally speaking Clusterware/Grid Infrastructure patches modify files that belong to the Clusterware or Grid Infrastructure product, while Database patches change files that belong to the database product.  As they apply to different sets of files, they do not conflict with each other.

Please note:

·  "files" in this context can refer to binaries/executables, scripts, libraries etc

·  Clusterware files can reside in all types of Oracle software homes like clusterware home, database home and ASM home

·  Prior to 11gR2, RDBMS files reside in DB/ASM homes only, while with 11gR2 RDBMS files will also reside in the GI home (as ASM is now part of GI)

·  A GI PSU is a special type of clusterware patch as it also includes a database PSU and modifies database binaries.

1.3.3  安装PSU的一般性步骤

每个PSU安装包中都包含一个README.html或README.TXT文档，其中描述了如何安装该PSU，有些PSU是可以直接安装的，而有些PSU则必须要求安装了上一个版本的PSU之后才能继续安装。比如对于10.2.0.4版本的数据库来说，PSU 10.2.0.4.4可以直接安装在最原始的10.2.0.4.0版本中，而最新的PSU 10.2.0.4.8则必须要求先安装10.2.0.4.4。这些信息在README.html中都可以找到，所以请仔细阅读该文档。

通常安装PSU是比较简单的，步骤如下：

1) 安装PSU需要使用到opatch，在README.html中有描述该PSU需要的最低版本opatch，如果当前opatch版本过低，则需要先下载 Patch 6880880，该Patch中包含最新的opatch，只需要解压覆盖原先的$ORACLE_HOME/OPatch目录即可。

查看当前的opatch版本，可以使用opatch version命令。

$ opatch version

Invoking OPatch 10.2.0.5.2

OPatch Version: 10.2.0.5.2 

OPatch succeeded.

2）安装PSU，请仔细阅读README.html，确认安装命令，通常是简单的opatch apply。

$opatch apply

3）更新数据库，将修改过的SQL文件应用到数据库中，很多DBA在执行完上述安装命令以后就不再进行这一步，那么实际上PSU是没有完整安装的。

cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin

sqlplus / as sysdba

SQL> STARTUP

SQL> @catbundle.sql psu apply

SQL> QUIT

注意：如果PSU是overlay PSU，比如10.2.0.4.8，则需要执行@catbundle.sql opsu apply，同样这些在README.html中都有详细描述。

1.3.4  如何确认当前数据库已经安装了什么PSU/CPU？

数据库版本 sqlplus -v

检查数据库PSU号命令为su - oracle -> opatch lsinventory

集群数据库

10205版本，CRS为PSU2，补丁号为9952245 | DB有PSU3，补丁号为11724962、DB有PSU6，补丁号为13343471、DB有PSU7，补丁号为13632743

10205版本单库无CRS，只有DB的PSU，如：DB有PSU3，补丁号为11724962、DB有PSU6，补丁号为13343471、DB有PSU7，补丁号为13632743

11G单库或集群都有GI和DB PSU,opatch lsinventory显示具体的PSU号，如:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Patch  13923374     : applied on Tue Sep 04 10:53:32 GMT+08:00 2012

Unique Patch ID:  14912546

Patch description:  "Database Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.3 (13923374)"  ---->DB PSU3补丁

Sub-patch  13696216; "Database Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.2 (13696216)" ---->DB PSU2补丁

Sub-patch  13343438; "Database Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.1 (13343438)" ---->DB PSU1补丁

Patch  13919095     : applied on Tue Sep 04 10:50:02 GMT+08:00 2012

Unique Patch ID:  14912546

Patch description:  "Grid Infrastructure Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.3 (13919095)" ---->GI PSU3补丁

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

上面的例子是11203版本的集群,DB安装了PSU1、PSU2、PSU3，取最大PSU号，即DB为PSU3，PSU3包括PSU2、PSU1，GI为PSU3

不同的版本类推即可！！！

opatch lsinventory -bugs_fixed | grep 'PSU'

opatch lsinv

opatch lspatches

[ZFLHRDB1:grid]:/home/grid>opatch lspatches

13343438;Database Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.1 (13343438)

13348650;Grid Infrastructure Patch Set Update : 11.2.0.3.1 (13348650)

[ZFLHRDB1:grid]:/home/grid>

col action_time   for a30

col action       for a10

col namespace     for a10

col version       for a10

col bundle_series for a10

col comments    for a30

SELECT to_char(action_time, 'YYYY-MM-DD HH24:MI:SS') action_time,

       action,

       namespace,

       version,

       id,

       bundle_series,

       comments

  FROM dba_registry_history D;

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

第二章 PSU升级正文部分

2.1  准备工作

2.1.1  数据库环境

2.1.2  软件准备

我们需要准备的软件如下表格所示，至于这些内容怎么来的我们不要急，且看下边的MOS上下载安装软件：

说明：GI PSU包括DB PSU,CPU。

2.1.2.1  MOS上下载安装软件