There has recently been a lot of news about the exploit revealed in the bash shell. While the fix is very quick to implement, there are a couple of tricks that are required to install this update on an Exadata environment. According to Oracle support note #1405320.1, Exadata storage server versions 11.2.3.x.x and 12.1.1.x.x are susceptible… Read More »
Rene Kundersma at Oracle just published a nifty new utility named dbnodeupdate.sh that will assist with the sometimes-cumbersome process of updating the compute nodes in an Exadata environment. Starting last year with 11.2.3.1.0, Oracle introduced yum updates for the Exadata compute nodes. Previously, each Exadata storage server patch came with a “minimal” or “convenience” pack… Read More »
As you may have guessed, applying patches on the Oracle Database Appliance can be a little bit different from your standard Oracle environment. Oracle releases a software version that covers all aspects of the ODA – firmware, operating system, and Oracle software stack (grid infrastructure, rdbms). Versions are numbered like this (image courtesy MOS note… Read More »
One of the new requirements of the Exadata Storage Server patches (starting with 11.2.3.1.0) is that the compute nodes will be patched through yum. Previously, the minimal pack was bundled with the storage server patch and applied directly to the database servers. Instead of having the compute node directly receive updates from Oracle’s yum repository… Read More »
Oracle has announced a new patching strategy for Exadata, starting with databases running 11.2.0.3. Oracle will be moving away from the monthly bundle patch philosophy, which was panned by many administrators as coming too often to keep up with, given the tight schedules held around most Exadata systems. Instead, Oracle will be releasing a Quarterly… Read More »
Oracle has upgraded the supplemental note for 11.2.2.4.0 (1348647.1) with a handful of critical issues. First, there is an issue mentioned by Vishal Gupta here regarding 10 gigabit ethernet on the database servers. Currently, there is no workaround for this bug, and it is advised that customers utilizing 10 GbE on the database servers should… Read More »
Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on some new (and older) installations of Exadata, and came across a few items that piqued my interest. Each of these things had been on my mind for a while, but it’s nice to see them finally resolved. The first is a small change to the installation… Read More »