A Frequently Asked Questions

A.1 Oracle Universal Installer

The following section answers the frequently asked questions in Oracle Universal Installer:

On Windows, when I run Oracle Universal Installer setup.exe, it is not invoked.

This may be due to some system resources being held by some services. If we stop these services, then Oracle Universal Installer would be invoked.

To run Oracle Universal Installer again, execute the following:

setup -J-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true -Dsun.awt.nopixfmt=true

When I start Oracle Universal Installer from any location, after setting the PATH environment variable, I get an error that reads "Could not read any NLS message catalogue!". What do I do?

Oracle Universal Installer needs some files in the directory where the runInstaller (UNIX) or setup.exe (Windows) is running. So, when you invoke runInstaller (UNIX) or setup.exe (Windows), you should invoke it from the directory where this command is present, or you must specify the complete path.

I have lost my Central Inventory but have a valid Oracle home(s). What do I do?

Oracle Universal Installer allows you to set up the Central Inventory or register an existing ORACLE_HOME with the Central Inventory in case of inventory corruption or loss. You need to execute the command with the -attachHome flag. For more information refer to the section "Creating the Central Inventory".

I want to deploy multiple Oracle home(s) from an existing Oracle home. How do I do this?

Oracle Universal Installer creates Oracle homes during Oracle software installation. To deploy multiple Oracle homes using an existing one, you need to clone the Oracle home. For more information on cloning and mass deployment, refer to Chapter 7, "Oracle Software Cloning Using Oracle Universal Installer".

I have lost my Oracle home inventory (comps.xml). What can I do?

Oracle recommends backing up the inventory when an Oracle home is installed or removed. Ensure that you back up the comps.xml having the latest timestamp. For more information on backing up the inventory, refer to section "Backing up the Inventory".

When your Oracle home inventory is corrupted or lost, you can restore from the backup or you can install the Oracle home from an identical installation.

When I apply a patchset or an interim patch, the installer tries to propagate to a node that I disconnected long back. What do I do?

This may be due to the presence of the Oracle home in the Central Inventory.

Oracle Universal Installer allows you to remove the Oracle home from the Central Inventory in cases where the Oracle home is uninstalled. To remove the Oracle home, you need to execute runInstaller with the -detachHome flag. You can also completely remove the Central Inventory to remove traces of log files. For more information refer to the section "Detaching Oracle Homes from the Central Inventory".

When I apply a patchset or an interim patch, the patch is not propagated to some of my Real Application Clusters nodes. What do I do?

In a Real Application Clusters environment, the inventory contains a list of nodes associated with an Oracle home. It is important that during the application of a patchset or an interim patch, the inventory is correctly populated with the list of nodes. If the inventory is not correctly populated with values, the patch is propagated only to some of the nodes in the cluster.

Oracle Universal Installer allows you to update the inventory.xml with the nodes available in the cluster using the -updateNodeList flag in Oracle Universal Installer. For more information refer to the section "Updating the Nodes of a Cluster".

A.2 OPatch

The following section answers the frequently asked questions in OPatch

When I apply a patch I get an error that reads "Failed to load the patch object. Possible causes are: The specified path is not an interim patchshiphome. Meta-data files are missing from the patch area ". What do I do?

This simply means the directory OPatch is using to find the patch doesn't match the template it is checking for. For more information on this error, refer to section "Not a valid patch area".

When I apply a patch I get an error that reads "Syntax error.....Patch location not valid". What do I do?

This simply means that the patch location that you specify is an invalid one. Give the correct patch location and apply the patch again.

When I apply a patch I get an error that reads "Exception in thread "main" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: <Class Name>". What do I do?

This may be due to OPatch not able to find the particular class listed in the error, which is supposed to be located inside $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/jlib/opatch.jar file. Check if you have the particular class file there. To check this, execute the following command; the missing class file will be printed out:

cd $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch/jlib
jar tf opatch.jar <Class File Name>.class

It is recommended that you contact Oracle support when you encounter this error.

Another reason might be having done a file transfer of OPatch in a non-binary mode.

When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads "OPatch cannot find the required command 'ar' from Property file and your PATH". What do I do?

'ar' is a command used by OPatch. This message may appear if OPatch is not able to locate this command.

For more details and workaround for this problem, refer to section "OPatch cannot find system commands like fuser, make".

When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads "OPatch cannot find the required command 'fuser' from Property file and your PATH". What do I do?

'fuser' is a command used by OPatch. This message may appear if OPatch is not able to locate this command.

For more details and workaround for this problem, refer to section "OPatch cannot find system commands like fuser, make".

How do I get the information about a patch that I applied long back?

You can look at the folder $ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage/<patch-id_timestamp>. It has detailed information about the patch. You can also use opatch lsinventory -detail to see the files that have been modified by the patch.

How do I find out a list of Oracle home(s) for a host?

To find out the list of Oracle home(s) in a host, use the command lsinventory -all.

How can I minimize the downtime when applying a patch to a Real Application Clusters setup?

You can minimize the downtime when applying a patch to a Real Application Clusters setup by doing a Minimum Downtime Patching. For more information refer to section "Minimum Downtime Patching".

Can I stop applying a patch after applying it to a few nodes? What are the possible issues?

Yes, it is possible to stop applying a patch after applying it to a few nodes. But, Oracle recommends that you do not do this. There is a prompt that allows you to stop applying the patch. This means you cannot apply another patch until the process is restarted and all the nodes are patched or the partially applied patch is rolled back.

Can I run patching in scripted mode?

Yes, it is possible by using the command opatch <option> -silent. For more information, refer to section "Operations and Options in OPatch Utility".

Before applying a patch I want to know what is the impact of the patch?

You can use the command opatch <option> -report. For more information, refer to section "Operations and Options in OPatch Utility".

What versions of OPatch can I use with Oracle Universal Installer 10.2?

Oracle recommends using OPatch version 10.2 from the Oracle home with Oracle Universal Installer 10.2. Also note that OPatch is compatible only with the version of Oracle Universal Installer that is installed in the Oracle home.

When I apply a patch, I get an error that reads as follows:

"OPatchSession cannot load inventory for the given Oracle Home <Home_Location>. Possible causes are:No read or write permission to ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storageCentral Inventory is locked by another OUI instanceNo read permission to Central InventoryThe lock file exists in ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storageThe Oracle Home does not exist in Central Inventory"

What do I do?

This error may occur because of any one or more of the following reasons:

1. The ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage may not have read/write permissions. Ensure that you give read/write permissions to this folder and apply the patch again.

2. There may be another Oracle Universal Installer instance running. Stop it and try applying the patch again.

3. The Central Inventory may not have read permission. Ensure that you give read permission to the Central Inventory and apply the patch again.

4. The ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory might be locked. If this directory is locked, you will find a file named patch_locked inside this directory. This may be due to a previously failed installation of a patch. To remove the lock, restore the Oracle home and remove the patch_locked file from the ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage directory. For more information on restoring the Oracle home, refer to section "Restoring Oracle Homes".

5. The Oracle home may not be present in the Central Inventory. This may be due to a corrupted or lost inventory or the inventory may not be registered in the Central Inventory. For more information, refer to section "Diagnosing and Recovering from Central Inventory Corruption".