Applying patches for Siebel server software

For each major Siebel release such as 8.1.1.0, the base installers are made available by Oracle on http://edelivery.oracle.com. When new features or bug fixes are rolled out for a major release, registered Oracle customers can download the patches or maintenance releases such as 8.1.1.1 or 8.1.1.2 from the Oracle support portal "My Oracle Support" (http://support.oracle.com).

Administrators should review the accompanying maintenance release guide thoroughly in order to understand the implications of the patch.

Installing a patch is a process similar to that of installing the base applications as explained in this chapter in detail. The major difference is that the setup executable checks for existing installations and aborts the patch install if there is no appropriate base version available on the machine.

All software components of the Siebel infrastructure, including the clients such as Siebel Tools, must be on the same patch level. This means that we must plan, test, and execute the patch installation professionally.

In order to streamline the patch process, it is highly recommended to run the patch installers in unattended mode.

In order to enable specific features of the patch, it might sometimes be necessary to apply so-called repository patches using Siebel Tools. This typically involves the development team, testers, and the deployment team and adds to the time necessary to complete the patch. The processes to apply repository patches vary and are described in the respective maintenance release guide.