OPatch silent and unattended

In general I use Oracle OPatch interactively in command line mode to install patch set updates. But recently I did patch a system cloud based system, with a confusing network timeout. As expected I did get a broken pipe while executing OPatch. Ok, the system is also damn slow, which is not exactly helpful. Never mind, this was the time to look around for a stable alternative. eg. OPatch should survive potential network / connection lost.

A possible solution would be using screen. Unfortunately screen is not available on the HP-UX system, which I use for this particular Critical Patch Update tests. Therefore I’ve searched in MOS and found two helpful notes about using opatch in silent mode.

First step is to create a response file for OCM to make sure you do not get ask about security updates:

oracle@hpux01:~/ [CPU11204] $cdh/OPatch/ocm/bin/emocmrsp -no_banner -output $cdl/oradba/rsp/ocm_opatch.rsp
Provide your email address to be informed of security issues, install and
initiate Oracle Configuration Manager. Easier for you if you use your My
Oracle Support Email address/User Name.
Visit http://www.oracle.com/support/policies.html for details.
Email address/User Name: 

You have not provided an email address for notification of security issues.
Do you wish to remain uninformed of security issues ([Y]es, [N]o) [N]:  y
The OCM configuration response file (/u00/app/oracle/local/dba/../oradba/rsp/ocm_opatch.rsp) was successfully created.

Second step is to run opatch in silent mode with the response file for the OCM.

oracle@hpux01:~/ [CPU11204] cd /u00/app/oracle/software/ora/CPU_2015_10/21352635/
oracle@hpux01:/u00/app/oracle/software/ora/CPU_2015_10/21352635/ [CPU11204] $cdh/OPatch/opatch apply -silent -ocmrf $cdl/oradba/rsp/ocm_opatch.rsp

Alternatively run opatch apply with nohup. 

oracle@hpux01:~/ [CPU11204] cd /u00/app/oracle/software/ora/CPU_2015_10/21352635/
oracle@hpux01:/u00/app/oracle/software/ora/CPU_2015_10/21352635/ [CPU11204] nohup $cdh/OPatch/opatch apply -silent -ocmrf $cdl/oradba/rsp/ocm_opatch.rsp &

oracle@hpux01:/u00/app/oracle/software/ora/CPU_2015_10/21352635/ [CPU11204] tail -f nohup.out 

Oracle Home       : /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.4
Central Inventory : /u00/app/oraInventory
   from           : /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.4/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 11.2.0.3.12
OUI version       : 11.2.0.4.0
Log file location : /u00/app/oracle/product/11.2.0.4/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2015-10-30_08-51-15AM_1.log

Verifying environment and performing prerequisite checks...

At the time of analog and ISDN connections I was used to network interruptions. But today, where one is everywhere online… I guess I must use nohup and screen more often again. 🙂

References