Changes in Oracle's Patching Strategy for Siebel CRM
If you are following the various articles on Siebel Open UI on My Oracle Support (hopefully using the great Open UI Information Center available as Document 1511846.2), you might have stumbled upon Oracle Support Document 1535281.1 (Latest recommended maintenance pack for Siebel Open UI on Siebel Version 8.1.1.x and Version 8.2.2.x) which holds some interesting information regarding Oracle's strategy for releasing quick fixes, maintenance releases or patches for future Siebel versions.
The biggest news is that from Innovation Pack 2013 (i.e. version 8.1.1.11 and 8.2.2.4) onwards, Oracle will provide monthly patchsets which introduce a fifth digit in the version number.
So the January patchset for 8.1.1.11 is 8.1.1.11.3, as you can see in the above screenshot.
The patches can be downloaded as usual from My Oracle Support.
Bringing the new monthly patchset strategy together with the traditional version paths results in the following diagram:
Explanation:
When a Siebel customer goes from an older major release such as 8.0 to a newer one such as 8.1.1, a full upgrade is required. Besides physical schema changes, the full upgrade always includes the notorious repository merge and subsequent conflict resolution and post-merge fixup which is usually measured in person months or even years (for larger projects).
Once the newer release is reached, customers can apply patches or quick fixes without the need to merge repositories.
Since 8.1.1.10, Oracle delivers innovation packs (one per year), the current being IP 2013. To reach an innovation pack level, customers must not only apply the patch but also run the Incremental Repository Merge (IRM) which is (as of 8.1.1.11) basically the same as a full upgrade, albeit a bit more automated. Still there might be conflicts to resolved and things could break and require fixing.
If you are already on 8.1.1.11 (or 8.2.2.4), you can obtain the monthly patchsets which are just that, a patch. So there is no repository merge to do.
Monthly patchsets replace planned 8.1.1.12 / 8.2.2.5 fix pack
As announced in MOS document 1600520.1, "The new Patchset process will make redundant the planned release of Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.12 / 8.2.2.5 Fix Pack (FP) in early 2014." But, so the same announcement assures us, IP 2014 is still going ahead.
have a nice day
@lex
The biggest news is that from Innovation Pack 2013 (i.e. version 8.1.1.11 and 8.2.2.4) onwards, Oracle will provide monthly patchsets which introduce a fifth digit in the version number.
 |
| Source: My Oracle Support |
The patches can be downloaded as usual from My Oracle Support.
Bringing the new monthly patchset strategy together with the traditional version paths results in the following diagram:
 |
| Example version path from Siebel 8.0 to 8.1.1.11.3 |
When a Siebel customer goes from an older major release such as 8.0 to a newer one such as 8.1.1, a full upgrade is required. Besides physical schema changes, the full upgrade always includes the notorious repository merge and subsequent conflict resolution and post-merge fixup which is usually measured in person months or even years (for larger projects).
Once the newer release is reached, customers can apply patches or quick fixes without the need to merge repositories.
Since 8.1.1.10, Oracle delivers innovation packs (one per year), the current being IP 2013. To reach an innovation pack level, customers must not only apply the patch but also run the Incremental Repository Merge (IRM) which is (as of 8.1.1.11) basically the same as a full upgrade, albeit a bit more automated. Still there might be conflicts to resolved and things could break and require fixing.
If you are already on 8.1.1.11 (or 8.2.2.4), you can obtain the monthly patchsets which are just that, a patch. So there is no repository merge to do.
Monthly patchsets replace planned 8.1.1.12 / 8.2.2.5 fix pack
As announced in MOS document 1600520.1, "The new Patchset process will make redundant the planned release of Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.12 / 8.2.2.5 Fix Pack (FP) in early 2014." But, so the same announcement assures us, IP 2014 is still going ahead.
have a nice day
@lex
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