Re: Exadata patching + Oracle support
- From: Andy Colvin <acolvin@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Chris.Stephens@xxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2013 22:19:56 +0100
Chris,
Oracle does provide patching for Exadata if you're enrolled in their platinum
support level. This does require some flexibility from the customer - they
have to be willing to give Oracle direct access (root and otherwise) to get
into the Exadata system remotely from wherever they have "platinum support"
staff working. This has been a challenge for many of our Exadata customers
that cannot give that kind of access. From our customers that do use platinum
support, only a few have gone through the patching process. In order to patch,
Oracle has asked for a 12 hour downtime window to complete the patch. In my
experience, this is a much larger window than what is really needed, but it's
what they ask for. According to the platinum agreements, the customer is
allowed 4 patch applications per year. Customers must upgrade to the latest
version within 6 months of the patch release. The patching only covers the
standard Exadata patches (storage server, IB switch, QDPE). Any oneoff patches
that need to be installed are outside the realm of what platinum provides. If
you wanted to apply a patchset upgrade (11.2.0.2 to 11.2.0.3), this would be
separate and count as one patch application.
Also, keep in mind that the monitoring provided is only for faults, so only if
something goes down. If a database is performing poorly, using a lot of
CPU/memory/storage, you will not be notified. Hopefully, you would know
because you'll still need to provide day-to-day support of the system. It's
not a fully managed service type of engagement. It's still Oracle support.
<disclaimer> Of course, I'm not able to talk about patching on Exadata without
mentioning that my company, Enkitec provides patching services for Exadata as
well. </disclaimer>
Andy Colvin
Principal Consultant
Enkitec
andy.colvin@xxxxxxxxxxx
http://blog.oracle-ninja.com
On Jan 9, 2013, at 2:57 PM, Stephens, Chris wrote:
> Would anyone care to comment on the fact that Oracle sales folks are saying
> that Exadata patching is included in the purchase price of Exadata appliances
> + support vs. the "patch madness" I keep hearing about?
> Management is under the impression that Oracle would handle all patching if
> Exadata is brought into the datacenter. That's what Oracle seems to be
> claiming but I'm skeptical.
>
> Thanks,
> Chris
>
>
>
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