Oracle are recommending we use out of place patching, and AutoUpgrade for patching. Until now we have used a custom patch download script and an ansible patching process. Let’s see how AutoUpgrade works for patching.

Documentation is in the Oracle Database Upgrade guide under AutoUpgrade Patching. As with many Oracle things, it takes some effort to understand how it is supposed to work.

Downloading Auto Upgrade

We download auto upgrade from Oracle Support document KB123450, or from the Oracle website So we can do:

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wget https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/otn_software/autoupgrade.jar

we can check the options of AutoUpgrade for patching using:

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java -jar autoupgrade.jar -patch -help

Downloading and Staging Patches

Oracle Credentials

I am not happy about this, because this stores my personal credentials on a server in a keyfile which apparently can be opened by AutoUpgrade without providing a password. So a colleague (Or malware) could download patches using my account without my permission.

According to AutoUpgrade: Passwords must have a minimum length of eight characters and contain alphabetic characters combined with numbers or special characters.

$ java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config ./keystore.cfg -patch -load_password
Processing config file ...

Starting AutoUpgrade Patching Password Loader
  - Type help for available options
Creating new AutoUpgrade Patching keystore - Password required
Enter password:   
Enter password again:   
AutoUpgrade Patching keystore was successfully created

MOS> add -user my.email@example.com
Enter your secret/Password:   
Re-enter your secret/Password:   
MOS> exit
Save the AutoUpgrade Patching keystore before exiting [YES|NO] ? yes
Convert the AutoUpgrade Patching keystore to auto-login [YES|NO] ? yes

AutoUpgrade Patching Password Loader finished - Exiting AutoUpgrade Patching
$

Configuration File

To download patches, we need to specify a list of patches to download.

global.keystore=/home/me/autoupgrade/keystore
global.global_log_dir=/home/me/autoupgrade/logs
patch1.folder=/home/me/autoupgrade/patches
patch1.patch=RECOMMENDED
patch1.target_version=19

This downloads all recommended patches when passed to AutoUpgrade:

$ java -jar autoupgrade.jar -patch -mode download -config config
AutoUpgrade Patching 26.3.260401 launched with default internal options
Processing config file ...
Loading AutoUpgrade Patching keystore
AutoUpgrade Patching keystore is loaded

Connected to MOS - Searching for specified patches

----------------------------------------------------
Downloading files to /home/me/autoupgrade/patches
----------------------------------------------------
DATABASE RELEASE UPDATE 19.31.0.0.0
    File: p39034528_190000_Linux-x86-64.zip - VALIDATED

OPatch 12.2.0.1.51 for DB 19.0.0.0.0 (Apr 2026)
    File: p6880880_190000_Linux-x86-64.zip - VALIDATED

DATAPUMP BUNDLE PATCH 19.31.0.0.0
    File: p39196236_1931000DBRU_Generic.zip - VALIDATED

OJVM RELEASE UPDATE 19.31.0.0.0
    File: p38906621_190000_Linux-x86-64.zip - VALIDATED

autoupgrade.jar 26.3 (April 2026)
    File: autoupgrade.jar - VALIDATED
----------------------------------------------------

Creating the Oracle Home

Base Image

AutoUpgrade doesn’t download base or gold images. A base image can be downloaded once and then upgraded whenever, while a gold image is already patched. It seems easier to download the base image once, then patch it as the home is being created. Our base image was downloaded in a zip file called V982063-01.zip, but it seems autoupdate wants the base image to be called LINUX.X64_193000_db_home.zip, so we renamed it, and placed it in the patch folder. Also if we are not using a gold image, we need to have an existing home. This is done by specifying either a database, or a source home.

The parameters to create and patch the home are documented in the AutoUpgrade guide.

We need to ensure that the oracle inventory contains a copy of oraInst.loc, otherwise we get an invalid home/_No error when trying to patch.

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cp /etc/oraInst.loc "$(grep inventory_loc /etc/oraInst.loc | cut -f2 -d=)"

We need to run AutoUpgrade in create_home mode. First we create a configuration. Call it (say) create_home.cfg.

global.global_log_dir=/oracle/AutoUpgrade/logs
crehome.download=no
crehome.patch=RU:19.31,OPATCH
crehome.target_home=/oracle/product/test19home
crehome.folder=/oracle/AutoUpgrade/patches
crehome.gold_image=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.asm=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.dnfs=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.dm=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.jox=yes
crehome.home_settings.binopt.olap=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.part=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.rac=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.rat=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.sdo=no
crehome.home_settings.binopt.uniaud=no
crehome.home_settings.edition=EE
crehome.home_settings.ignore_prereq_failure=yes
crehome.home_settings.oracle_base=/oracle
crehome.target_version=19

Then we run AutoUpgrade to install the home.

java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config create_home.cfg -patch -mode create_home

When it fails

When the create home process failed, I found I had to remove the log directory, because AutoUpgrade detects that a previous run had failed, and refused to restart itself. The home hadn’t registered itself, so I removed that as well.

Analyze/fixups

We are used to running the analyze and fixups step while upgrading, but not while patching. We use the same file as below.

java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config create_home.cfg -patch -mode analyze

Patching the Database

Lastly we patch the database itself. This is the downtime.

global.autoupg_log_dir=/oracle/AutoUpgrade/logs
patch.folder
patch.target_home=/oracle/product/old19home
patch.target_home=/oracle/product/test19home
patch.sid=UPGR

We do have to supply a source home. It seems AutoUpgrade can’t work it out by itself.

And we run it using

java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config create_home.cfg -patch -mode upgrade

The listener is not upgraded. We have one listener per database, so we do the listener at the same time as the database. AutoUpgrade has changed the listener.ora for us.

Uninstalling the old home

Old homes need to be removed. We are on RHEL9, so we need to tell deinstall to pretend we are on RHEL8.

cd /oracle/product/mytest19home/deinstall
CV_ASSUME_DISTID=RHEL8 ./deinstall