Oracle Linux Ksplice Support with Oracle Database

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oracle Linux Ksplice Support with Oracle Database (Doc ID 2312257.1)               

In this Document
Purpose
Questions and Answers
        Background
        Support
        Frequently Asked Questions
        Q1:  What is Ksplice?
        Q2:  Will I have to restart or relink my database after installing ksplice patches?
        Q3:  Is Oracle CRS/RAC is supported on Oracle Linux with Ksplice?
        Q4:  Is my Oracle Application compatible with Ksplice?
        Q5:  How will my Oracle application be affected by Ksplice?
        Q6:  Will there be performance impacts because of Ksplice patches?
        Q7:  Are there any particular Ksplice known issues?
        Relevant Documentation
References
APPLIES TO:
Oracle Database Exadata Cloud Machine - Version N/A and later
Oracle Cloud Infrastructure - Database Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Backup Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Cloud Exadata Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Cloud Service - Version N/A and later
Linux x86-64
PURPOSE
To answer questions about the compatibility of the use of Oracle Linux Ksplice on a system running the Oracle Database product.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
Background
Oracle Ksplice, which is part of Oracle Linux 6 and 7, updates the running Linux operating system (OS) kernel without requiring restarts or any interruption.  Ksplice is available only with Oracle Linux.  You can configure Oracle Ksplice to perform zero downtime updates for your operating system if you have an Oracle Linux Premier Support subscription and an access key, which is available on Unbreakable Linux Network (ULN).  For more information about Ksplice (including trial versions), refer to the Ksplice site:

https://ksplice.oracle.com/





Support
Ksplice is simply a part of Oracle Linux and the Oracle Database is supported on Oracle Linux.  Therefore the Oracle Database is supported on Oracle Linux with Ksplice and there is no need to stop the Database and/or relink the $ORACLE_HOME.





Frequently Asked Questions
Q1:  What is Ksplice?
A:  Ksplice is a premier feature of Oracle Linux to allow customers to patch the Linux kernel and selected user space packages (glibc and openssl) without the need to reboot.


Q2:  Will I have to restart or relink my database after installing ksplice patches?
A:  No.  Ksplice is simply a part of Oracle Linux and the Oracle Database is supported on Oracle Linux.  Therefore the Oracle Database is supported on Oracle Linux with Ksplice and there is no need to stop the Database and/or relink the $ORACLE_HOME.


Q3:  Is Oracle CRS/RAC is supported on Oracle Linux with Ksplice?
A:  Yes.


Q4:  Is my Oracle Application compatible with Ksplice?
A:  Yes. All Oracle software has been certified with Oracle Linux, thus it's fully supported to deploy Oracle software (Applications, Middleware, and Database) on Oracle Linux using Ksplice as long as all the software requirements such as minimum release version are met.



Q5:  How will my Oracle application be affected by Ksplice?
A:  Oracle Linux is patched (using Ksplice for kernel and user space packages) patching is completely transparent to the Oracle software running on Oracle Linux, thus it's fully supported to use Ksplice to patch Oracle Linux with Oracle software (Applications, Middleware and Database) installed.


Q6:  Will there be performance impacts because of Ksplice patches?
A:  No. Ksplice patches memory only and patches are performed in microseconds. Ksplice works with the system scheduler and temporarily halts all instructions on the CPU’s of the system. It then patches memory and releases all CPU’s back to the scheduler. Since this is done in memory the patching process is very fast and even on the most utilized system completely transparent to all applications.


Q7:  Are there any particular Ksplice known issues?
A:  One of the actions that Ksplice takes is to create a symbolic link under /boot/symvers-<kernel>.  Under some circumstances in Oracle Clusterware 12g Release 1 (12.1.0.2.0), the link could interfere with the ACFS routine to insert modules.  Therefore, Ksplice can be a problem when ASM and the ASM Filter Driver is in use.   The solution is to install the fix in Patch 21519796 for your Oracle Clusterware 12g Release 1 (12.1.0.2.0), which filters the ksplice updates which resides in /boot/symvers-<kernel> directory.





Relevant Documentation
Oracle Linux 6 Ksplice User's Guide
    https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E37670_01/E39380/html/index.html


Oracle Linux 7 Ksplice User's Guide
    https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E39380/html/index.html


Oracle Linux 8 Ksplice User's Guide

    https://docs.oracle.com/en/opera ... ice-user/index.html





Oracle Database 19c Database Installation Guide
Section Configuring Oracle Ksplice to Perform Oracle Linux Updates
https://docs.oracle.com/en/datab ... E-B67D-801A1FDE130A





Oracle Database 18c Database Installation Guide
Section Configuring Oracle Ksplice to Perform Oracle Linux Updates
https://docs.oracle.com/en/datab ... E-B67D-801A1FDE130A





Oracle Database 12c Release 2 Database Installation Guide
Section Configuring Oracle Ksplice to Perform Oracle Linux Updates
https://docs.oracle.com/database ... e-linux-updates.htm


Oracle Database 12c Release 1 Database Installation Guide
Chapter 4 Oracle Database Preinstallation Tasks
Section 4.1.5 Using Oracle Ksplice to Perform a Zero Downtime Update
https://docs.oracle.com/database ... stall.htm#LADBI7495


Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Database Installation Guide
Chapter 2 Oracle Database Preinstallation Tasks
Section 2.1.7 Using Ksplice to Perform a Zero Downtime Update
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E1188 ... stall.htm#LADBI1094