Opatch Howto

How to specify different inventory location?

OPatch expects the oraInst.loc file in the standard location namely  /var/opt/oracle/oraInst.loc   however there are some systems where this file is located in a different location other than default location

In order to specify a different inventory location  when you apply a patch to oracle database you can use  inventory API flag invPtrLoc (note the case)

opatch apply -invPtrLoc $ORACLE_HOME/oraInst.loc .

 

Errors related Ora inventory locations are

“OPatch would error out saying “Unable to access inventory“  OR “Couldn’t find required file liboraInstaller”

 

What is the Default Storage location of OPATCH

Opatch is usually located in the $ORACLE_HOME/OPatch directory.

 

Where are the Opatch logs located and how to check if a patch has been applied successfully ?

 Opatch logs are placed as follows:

For opatch version 1.0.0.0.xx, logs are written into the patch storage area under $ORACLE_HOME/.patch_storage/ and the log in this case starts with

“_Apply_.log”

For the newer opatch versions for products installed with OUI release 10.2 and after, logs are written into the cfgtoollogs/opatch area under $ORACLE_HOME/ and the log in this case starts with

“opatch.log”