With the release of Exadata 11.2.3.1.0 back in April 2012 Oracle has deprecated the minimal pack for the Exadata Database Servers (compute nodes). From that release the Linux Database Server updates will be done using ULN and YUM. For the 11.2.3.1.0 release the ULN exadata_dbserver_11.2.3.1.0_x86_64_base channel was made available and Exadata operators could subscribe their system to it via linux.oracle.com.

With the new 11.2.3.1.1 release two additional channels are added:

1. a 'latest' channel (exadata_dbserver_11.2_x86_64_latest)
2. a 'patch' channel (exadata_dbserver_11.2_x86_64_patch)

From here there are three possible situations a Database Server can be in before it can be updated to 11.2.3.1.1:

1. Database Server is on Exadata release < 11.2.3.1.0
2. Database Server is patched to 11.2.3.1.0
3. Database Server is freshly imaged to 11.2.3.1.0

In order to bring a Database Server to 11.2.3.1.1 for all three cases the same approach for updating can be used (using YUM), but there are some minor differences:

• Subscribe to el5_x86_64_addons, ol5_x86_64_latest and  exadata_dbserver_11.2_x86_64_latest
• Create local repository
• Point Database Server to the local repository*
• install the update

* during this process a one-time action needs to be done (details in the README)

• Subscribe to patch channel  exadata_dbserver_11.2_x86_64_patch
• Create local repository
• Point Database Server to the local repository
• Update the system

• Subscribe to patch channel  exadata_dbserver_11.2_x86_64_patch
• Create local  repository
• Point Database Server to the local repository
• Update the system

The difference between 'situation 2' (Database Server is patched to 11.2.3.1.0) and 'situation 3' (Database Server is freshly imaged to 11.2.3.1.0) is that in situation 2 the existing Exadata-computenode.repo file needs to be edited while in situation 3 this file is not existing  and needs to be created or copied. Another difference is that you will end up with more OFA packages installed in situation 2. This is because none are removed during the updating process. 

For detailed and up-to-date instructions always see the patch README's

• 1466459.1
• patch 13998727
• 888828.1

Rene Kundersma