Maintenance mode in Apps

When we want to apply a patch in 11i, we first need to put the system in maintenance mode or else the patch will fail and error out. Enabling the maintenance mode feature shuts down the Workflow Business Events System and sets up function security so that no Oracle Applications functions are available to users. Also it ensures optimal performance and reduces downtime when applying a patch.

Here is how we do it->

Run adadmin>Change Maintenance mode>Enable Maintenance mode

And after applying the patch disable it.

Run adadmin>Change Maintenance mode>Disable Maintenance mode

Update Snasphot in apps

Snapshot is a view of the system at specific time. In apps, Patch Wizard uses Global snapshot to determine which patches have been applied to the system and Autopatch uses APPL_TOP snapshot to determine what patches have been applied to that APPL_TOP. Snapshot actually records the list of files,file versions and bug fixes. Both snapshot are views, they are created once during installation and then updated during patching. APPL_TOP snapshot information is stored in the AD_SNAPSHOTS, AD_SNAPSHOT_FILES, and AD_SNAPSHOT_BUGFIXES tables

How to update snapshot?(like after upgrade)

Run adadmin>select Maintain Application files>Maintain Snaphot information>Update current snapshot.

Note that when we update the APPL_TOP snapshot, the Global snapshot is updated at the same time.Also from AD.I the default functionality of checking for prereq patches has been disabled. You can turn on prereq checking by adding options=prereq to the AutoPatch start command.

 

Adsplice in Oracle Apps 11i

In oracle apps, Adsplice is an ad utility which is used to add off-cycle products to oracle apps i.e. products released between maintenance packs.

IDownload the product patch which contains information about the new product,adplice control file and other associated files. Go through the readme and apply pre-reqs if any. Now for using adsplice there is a control file newprods.txt. A typical newprods.txt  looks like->

product=zsa
base_product_top=*APPL_TOP*
oracle_schema=zsa
sizing_factor=100
main_tspace=ZSAD
index_tspace=ZSAX
temp_tspace=TEMP
default_tspace=ZSAD

If we are using OFA tablespace model then we need to change the last 4 parameters else for OATM it is optional.

One can then copy it in $APPL_TOP/admin and run adsplice from applmgr user and follow the prompts.Then we can verify that product is correctly spliced or not using adutconf.sql (AD Configuration report). We need to logout and login again so that the new environment is set.We can then verify that new <PROD>_TOP environment variable is set and  need to apply the patches for newly added product