Oracle Application Patch Types

Standalone (one-off) Patch:
Addresses a single fix or enhancement. Standalone patches are released only when there is an immediate need for a fix or enhancement that cannot wait until an aggregate bundling is available.The One-off patch category was common in the older versions R11 (11.0.x) and early releases of 11i. Typically, they fix single or isolated set of bugs.

Rollup Patch (RUP):
An aggregation of patches that may be at the functional level, or at a specific product/family release level. Roll-up patches are a special kind that started to become more common as 11i matured. They are collection of bugfixes for a specific product and relate to specific patchset level.

For example, a Receivables rollup patch contains all the latest patches related to Receivables at the time the patch was created. A Marketing Family 11.5.10 rollup patch contains all the latest Marketing patches released since, and applicable to, 11.5.10.

Product Patch sets /Minipack:
An aggregation of patches at the product level.Standalone patchsets were common in early releases of 11i. They can enhance functionality and typically fix a large number of bugs for a single product. Once a patchset is applied, it increments the patchset level of a product (the product is sometimes also referred to as module). There are around 250+ products integrated in EBS, and each product has specific patchset level. Minipacks are named in alphabetical sequence such as 11i.AR.M, 11i.AR.N 11i.AR.O, and so on.

Family Pack:
An aggregation of patches at the product family level. For example, Financials Family Pack G(11i.FIN_PF.G) contains all the latest patches for products in the Financials family at the time the family pack was created. Family product codes always end in "_PF" and family packs are given alphabetical sequence such as 11i.FIN_PF.E, 11i.FIN_PF.F and 11i.FIN_PF.G. Family packs are cumulative. Family packs are seta of product patchsets for a particular family (Financials, SCM, Project Suite, and so on). The family pack’s advantage is that the patchset levels were tested together, and should therefore be more stable.

Release Update Packs (R12) /Maintenance Pack:
An aggregation of patches for all products in the E-Business Suite. For example, Release 11.5.10 Maintenance Pack contains all the latest code level for all products at the time 11.5.10 was created. Maintenance packs are numbered sequentially such as 11.5.8, 11.5.9, 11.5.10, and are cumulative. In other words, 11.5.10 contains everything in 11.5.9, which contains everything in 11.5.8, and so on. Maintenance packs deliver a new version of a product. Unlike major release upgrades, maintenance packs change the release number, which is the third number in a version name (for 11i). They are still considered patches, but the changes they introduce are system-wide. Often they also bring in brand new products.

Diagnostic Patch:
Used to gather additional information when a product failure cannot be reproduced by Oracle. The additional information assists Oracle Support Services and Oracle Development in resolving the failure.

Interoperability Patch:
Allows Oracle Applications to function properly with a newer version of the technology stack. Interoperability patches are typically required with new versions of the database or Applications technology stack.

Translated Patch:
A non-English version of a patch. Release 11i supports 30 non-English languages. Customers who are using languages other than English, need to apply the corresponding translated patch(es) for the languages they are using in addition to any base US patch(es).

Merged Translation Patch:
Provided in real time (without requiring a translator) in the event a translated patch is not available when a customer needs it. A merged translation patch is applied just like a fully translated patch. The fully translated patch is escalated and is usually available within 24 hours. It can be applied safely on top of a merged translation patch.

Translation Fix:
Provided in the event a translation word choice is inappropriate. A translation fix is applied just like a translated patch, except there is no corresponding base US patch.

New Feature Patch:
Introduces new functionality and/or products. It is applied using standard patching utilities.

Consolidated Update (CU):
Improves and streamlines the upgrade and maintenance processes by consolidating certain post-release patches. Most recommended patches and rollups for a particular maintenance release are consolidated into a single patch that is installed immediately following application of a maintenance pack or a new installation of Rapid Install. Updates in the CU are predominantly error corrections.

Family Consolidated Upgrade Patch:
Consolidates all upgrade-related patches from all the products within a product family. Family consolidated upgrade patches are released as needed and are applicable only if you are upgrading to Oracle is now introducing a new method for patching, patch set updates, or PSU. According to Metalink notes 854428.1 and 850471.1, An Oracle PSU contains recommended bug fixes and "proactive" cumulative patches, a nice change that makes it simple for the DBA to chose to apply "priority" patches. Starting each quarter, Oracle Cumulative Patch Updates (CPU) will now contain both the PSU and CPU, so the DBA may choose to apply a whole CPU or only the selected patches in the PSU patch bundle.The naming conventions for CPU and PSU is the last-order digit, so it's easy to see of you are patching with CPU or PSU

The PSU supports Oracle's zero-downtime patching, a method for RAC databases whereby each node is patched independently with no downtime.

R12 Changes:

R12 introduces some new terms, codeline and codelevel and changes the meaning of several established terms.

Codeline:

This refers to a point release. Every codeline delivers a unique set of features. So release 12.0 is a understood as codeline A; release 12.1 is understood as codeline B; release 12.2 will be understood as codeline C, and so on.

Codelevel:

Codelevel can resemble patchset level from 11i. For each codeline, there can be a set of updates, which deliver mostly bugfixes and reflects the particular product codelevel after the codeline letter.

Example R12.AR.A.6 means Account Payables product on codeline A (Release 12.0) on codelevel 6 (Part of release 12.0.6).

The important thing to understand is that if you install a specific R12 release such as 12.0.6, all products will not only be on the same codeline (A), but also on the same codelevel (6). The codelevel is incremented via Release Update Packs

Recommended Patch List(RPL):

The Recommended Patch List (RPL) is a tool available via My Oracle Support (formerly called MetaLink), which provides a list of recommended patches pertaining to a selected Family Pack for all the EBS product families. The RPL is available for both 11i and R12 code lines.

The tool is been updated regularly in MySupport/Metalink by EBS development. The well-maintained data in the RPL helps you to easily identify the required patches for the patch set level. As the tool is being standardized across EBS product family, the HRMS patch information is also updated for 11i (FP.K Rup 1, 2 & 3) and R12 code lines. You can now use all the features of the RPL tool

Advantages of applying CPCs over one-off fixes and RUPs are as follows:

• CPCs are fully quality assured against current RUP levels. Individual one-off patches are not.
• CPCs are consolidated and only contain critical patches that apply to broad customer usages. They are smaller in footprint and therefore much easier to apply and uptake than RUPs.
• CPC Readmes have detailed business and functional information about the fixes included. Customers can leverage the Readmes to determine impact and testing required for specific process flows and software components involved.

Important points:

• One-off patches, the 7-digit number is their only identifier.
• The Patchset level naming convention has an alternative to the patch number for easier identification. It consists of version number, product abbreviation, and a letter.
• 11i.AR.N refers to patchset N for product AR for version 11i and it can be found under patch number 9054532 (7 Digit Number)
• Family packs add an additional component to the short name which is “_PF” after the product name abbreviation. For example: the Financails family pack is referred to as 11.FIN_PF.G
• Consolidated updates were introduced after release 11.5.10. They append another number after the version number. So consolidated update 2 is referred to as 11.5.10.2 or simply CU2 .
• Maintenance packs and their alternative names are same as the version number, so it’s 11.5.9, 11.5.10 etc.
• R12.AR.A.6 means Account Receivables product on codeline A (Release 12.0) on codelevel 6 (Part of release 12.0.6).
• RUP5 is equivalent to R12.0.5, RUP6 is equivalent to R12.0.6 etc.

Short names and their meaning:

• CPC: Critical Patch Collection
• RUP: Release update Packs
• RPL: Recommended Patch List
• ARU: Automated Release Update
• CP: Concurrent Processing
• UPC: Upgrade Patch Collection
• PSU:Patch Set Update

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

1. What is a one-off patch?
Ans : An one-off patch is a small patch (of without any pre-requisites) to fix a bug.

2. What is a mini pack?
Ans : A mini pack is one which will upgrade any product patchset level to next level (like AD.H to AD.I).

3. What is Family pack?
Ans : A Family pack is one which will upgrade the patchset level of all the products in that family to particular patchset level.

4. What is Maintenance pack?
Ans : A maintenance pack will upgrade applications from one version to another (like 11.5.8 to 11.5.9).

5 What is a Rollup patch?
Ans : A rollup patch is one which will deliver bug fixes identified after the release of any major application versions (like 11.5.10.2/12.1.0).

6.. What is consolidated patch?
Ans: Consolidated patches will come into picture after upgrades from one version of applications to another, all post upgrade patches will a consolidated and given as consolidated patch.

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

Types of Patches

Individual Patch, One-off, Standalone

These are terms used to describe an individual patch that is created to fix one particular bug. Currently, most Application products deliver their patches primarily through ‘Mini Packs’. Individual patches are possible, but rules for when one is created varies by product.

Mini Pack

‘Patch Set’ was the original term used in R10. In R11 the same type of patch is now being called a ‘Mini Pack’. Both terms mean a large, cumulative patch, for a particular product, that fixes most or all bugs that have been fixed for that release and product. These patches are….

· Named using a letter.

Þ 11i.PA.D

· Cumulative.

Þ For example, 11i.AP.D, would include fixes in AP.A, AP.B, AP.C, plus bugs fixed between when AP.C was released and when they began building AP.D.

· Created periodically.

Þ How often they are created varies by product.

· Require just one patch.

Þ However, if the install is a multi-node install, then the patch must be installed on each machine.

Þ If different platforms are used, the patch must be ported for each platform.



Family Pack
‘Family Pack’ is a group of Mini Packs for related products that are bundled together, and possibly some additional individual fixes that have been created after the Mini Packs. Some examples of product families are ERP, CRM, Procurement, or Order Management, but there are many others.



The same bulleted information for Mini Packs applies for Family Packs. The only difference is the naming structure. Family Packs will be named similar to:

· 11i.OM_PF.G or 11i.FINAP_PF.A

· The ‘_PF’ in the name indicates it is a Family Pack and not a Mini Pack.



FCUP or Family Consolidated Upgrade Patch
An FCUP (pronounced F-CUP) is a patch that needs to be applied before starting an upgrade. This patch includes performance improvements or bug fixes for processes that run during the upgrade. If an FCUP is required for an upgrade, it will be mentioned in the Release Notes.

Consolidated Patch or Mega Patch
These are unofficial terms that are used to name, or describe, a large patch that is a bundle of important bug fixes in one patch.

Maintenance Pack

Maintenance Pack is the term that Oracle began using for R11, while Release Update was used for R10.

A ‘Maintenance Pack’ is a collection of Mini Packs that are bundled together onto a set of CDs that can be ordered and easily installed by the customer.

· With the full installation of this type of patch, the 3rd digit of Applications Release will change.

Þ An example of a Maintenance Pack is 11.5.3 or 11.5.5

· When applying a Maintenance Pack, a user can choose to apply certain product’s Mini Packs individually, or they can apply all the product’s Mini Packs at once using one set of drivers.

Þ The Application’s version will not be updated, for example to 11.5.5, if the Mini Packs are applied individually.

· As with Mini Packs, Maintenance Packs are cumulative.

Þ So if 11.5.5 is applied, then prior Maintenance Packs do not need to be applied.

(11.5.1, 11.5.2, 11.5.3, 11.5.4).

· The primary purpose of Maintenance Packs is to fix bugs that have been identified. However, on occasion new functionality may be introduced.

NLS Patches

If your install has multiple languages, additional patches may need to be installed for each language. The

American patch needs to be applied first, then an NLS version of the same patch needs to be applied for each language. When applying the NLS patch, be sure to set the NLS_LANG variable to AMERICAN_AMERICA., substituting the appropriate character set for your language. For more information on other variables and steps, consult the NLS Installation manual.

Not ALL patches will require an NLS version of a patch. For example, if the patch is only creating a new package, an NLS patch would not be required. However a patch that is replacing a form or report, or all large patches, such as Mini Packs or Maintenance Packs will require an NLS patch. Consult Oracle Support to confirm if an NLS patch is needed when applying a patch.
Adpatch has a function that was introduced in 11i that will alert the customer if an NLS patch may be needed. During patch application, the user will receive a message that an NLS patch may be required, and ask the user if they want to continue with the application of the patch.



Minor Release

Examples of a minor release are 10.7, 11.0, or 11.5. A minor release is not a patch.

· A Minor Release is installed using autoUpgrade, not adpatch, to upgrade to the release.

· The primary purpose of a Minor release is to introduce new functionality.

source:http://oracleappsyashrajvarsity.blogspot.jp/2009/12/oracle-application-patch-types.html

http://satya-appsdba.blogspot.jp/2013/01/oracle-apps-dba-patching-interview.html

http://pdpshettyappsdba.blogspot.jp/2008/06/types-of-patches.html