Master Note on Fusion Middleware Proactive Patching - Patch Set Updates (PSUs) and Bundle Patches (BPs) (Doc ID 1494151.1)

Last updated on MAY 20, 2019

Applies to:

Details

This document includes the announcement of the latest Fusion Middleware proactive patch releases and provides a single entry point to access all of the documentation pertaining to the Fusion Middleware proactive patches by product..

Proactive Patching Overview

Between Patch Set releases, Oracle's proactive patching program provides critical fixes to customers on a regular, predictable schedule in support of best maintenance practices.

Proactive patches are released on the same quarterly schedule as the Critical Patch Updates program releases, specifically the Tuesday closest to the 17th of January, April, July, and October. Exceptions to this schedule are documented in the product bundle patch documentation listed in the tables below.

There are a few different types of proactive patches - Patch Set Updates (PSUs), Product Bundle Patches, and Suite Bundle Patches. They all share the following characteristics:

• Cumulative Content: The most recent patch can be applied, and it includes all fixes previously released in earlier patches for the patch set or base release.
• CPU (Critical Patch Update) program security fixes: All security fixes announced in the CPU Advisory for this product are included in the proactive patch. Please see the Critical Patch Updates, Security Alerts and Third Party Bulletin for a listing of all CPU Advisories released to date.
• Well tested: The patches are tested for regressions and functional correctness.
• Supported: If an Oracle product has been certified with specific patchset versions of another Oracle product, it is supported with any Oracle provided interim patches including the proactive patches. For example, Oracle Service Bus 11.1.1.7.x is supported with all of the WebLogic Server 10.3.5 and 10.3.6 PSUs (WebLogic Server versions 10.3.5.0.x and 10.3.6.0.x).

The patch types differ in the nature of their content as follows:

• Patch Set Update (PSU): The content is highly controlled. Enhancements are not included.
• Product Bundle Patch: The content is controlled. Small enhancements may be included.
• Suite Bundle Patch: A collection of product bundle patches for a suite (e.g., an Oracle Identity Management Suite bundle patch consisting of OAM, OAAM, and OIM).

A primary goal of the proactive patching program is to provide a series of proactive, stabilizing cumulative patches for a product version (release or patch set). The following are guidelines that Oracle follows for the bundle patch lifecycle for a product version. The specifics will vary depending on the content of individual bundles.

• Once a patch set or release is available, the first bundle patch may occur as early as the next quarterly proactive patch cycle, or more typically at the second quarterly proactive patch cycle after the release. The timing is a function of both the targeted content and when in the quarterly period the release was made available.
• Proactive patches with security content will continue as long as the version is supported for error correction. The policies are outlined in <Note 209768.1>, Database, FMW, EM Grid Control, and OCS Software Error Correction Support Policy.
• Bundle Patches and PSUs will reach a plateau of non-security content as the version stabilizes. Once this is reached, there will be a tapering off of non-security content. Oracle expects this plateau to be reached with the third or fourth Bundle Patch or PSU.
• PSU and Bundle Patch content will be primarily security-related once the next patch set in the series is released.

Version Numbers

Oracle associates a version number to each proactive patch. The fifth number of the product version is incremented for each patch. For example, if the initial SOA Suite Bundle Patch is version 11.1.1.6.1, the second Bundle Patch for Release 11.1.1.6 is 11.1.1.6.2, and so on.

This enables customers and Oracle Support to refer to just one number, the version, rather than a list of interim patches or sets of bundles that have been applied.

Known Issues

Starting with the July 2016 release, proactive patches READMEs will include a link to a Known Issues document. These Known Issues documents will be scoped to a particular product and patch set version and are listed in the Proactive Patch Tables below. Review the Known Issues documents for information on late breaking issues and regressions.

Actions

Proactive Patch Tables

Business Intelligence

Cloud Application Foundation

Data Integration

Developer Tools

Exalogic

 Identity Management

Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)

WebCenter

Secure Enterprise Search

Technically not Oracle Fusion Middleware, but many times integrated with Fusion Middleware and uses the MW_HOME/oracle_common, including ADF, Web Services (in above tables). See <Note 1274494.1> - Oracle Secure Enterprise Search 11g Maintenance Patches" for more information on maintaining this environment.

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