Advanced Patch Search Options With Oracle Support

With Oracle's Patch search there are several useful Advanced Search options which extend the flexibility of the support tool. This feature can be used to locate Oracle Application patches that meet a wide variety of criteria. I've used this feature several times to quickly find patches needed to resolve a specific problem.



This search feature is not available on the Patch Search section under the My Oracle Support Patches & Updates tab. The feature is listed in the Patching Quick Links section under the heading Advanced "Classic" Patch Search. In the Patching Quick Links section there are several other links that are useful for an APPS DBA. There are links for recommended patches and latest packs for both releases 11i and 12. Per Oracle's help screen the Classic Advanced Search feature will eventually be moved into the Patch Search section, but is currently unavailable from there.



Under Classic Advanced search the APPS DBA has the ability to search for patches that have specific file versions. This option has been useful to locate a patch which includes a certain version of a file. Sometimes Oracle Support notes will list file versions that resolve a known problem. If you do not have the latest file, the search feature will list the patches that contain that file.



Spend some time using the advanced patch search features and the Patching Quick Links. Developing an understanding of the options available will allow for quicker searches in the future. This can help lead to faster problem resolution.

Bug 8207550 Not Dropping FA_JOURNAL_INTERIM Tables

If you run the Create Journal Entries request set in 11.5.10.2, you may have some unneeded tables hanging around in your system. The code to drop the FA_JOURNAL_INTERIM table has been inadvertently commented out of FAXCJEB.pls, allowing the tables to remain after they are no longer needed.


ISSUE

BUG 8207550 FA_JOURNALS_INTERIM tables are not dropped after Create Journal Entry.


SYMPTOM

FA_JOURNALS_INTERIM tables remain present in the database after Create Journal Entries run.


SOLUTION

There is no patch currently available to resolve this issue. You may choose to allow the tables to remain in your system, or these tables can be safely removed after the completion of the Create Journal Entries run.


TIP

If you aren't currently doing so, you should consider implementing a check for newly created objects in your database. This can help you identify objects that are not properly cleaned up.


REFERENCES

757666.1, FA_JOURNALS_INTERIM Tables are Not Dropped after Successful Create Journal Entry and Journal Import

732925.1, Journal Import Fails After Depreciation Run. Depreciation Journal Is Unbalanced

Minimum Requirements for 11.5.10 Extended Support

While Premier Support for 11i ends in November 2010, Extended Support will pick up and be available for free until November 2011.

Current bug fixes will continue to be available for older patch levels. However, EBS customers must meet a minimum baseline patch level in order to receive any new bug fixes. The minimum baseline requirement is spelled out in:

883202.1 Minimum Baseline Patch Requirements for Extended Support on Oracle E-Business Suite 11.5.10

Please note that, per the doc, the baseline versions may change in the future and any such changes will be communicated in the document.

Bug 8819967 with JRE Plugin and R11i Oracle Sourcing

If you have migrated from JInitiator to the native SUN JRE Plugin and utlize the Oracle Sourcing module, you will need to apply this fix to your enviornment.

ISSUE
BUG 8819967 JINI 1.3.1.21 is hardcoded into applet

SYMPTOM
You've upgraded to use the SUN JRE Plugin, however, when using Oracle Sourcing, the application attempts to launch the JInitiator.

SOLTUION
Apply Patch 8819967
or
11.5.10 PRC RUP XIII

TIP
If you have not migrated to SUN JRE Plugin, please consider doing this. Note that JInitiator has been desupported.

R11i REFERENCE
290807.1, Deploying Sun JRE (Nativ Plug-in) for Windows Clients in Oracle E-Business Suite 11i

R12 REFERENCE
393931.1, Deploying Sun JRE (Native Plug-in) for Windows Clients in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12

Bug 8264899 with 11.1.0.7 and UTLPRP.SQL

If you have recently upgraded to Oracle RDBMS 11.1.0.7, you may have noticed issues while using UTLPRP.SQL. If you are considering an 11.1.0.7 upgrade, please add this patch to your deployment.

ISSUE
BUG 8264899

SYMPTOM
UTLPRP.SQL failes from ORA-00904: "FALSE"; INVALID IDENTIFIER

SOLUTION
Apply patch 8264899 to Oracle RDBMS 11.1.0.7

TIP
Details for using 11gR1 with Oracle R11i and R12 can be found on My Oracle Support in the enclosed articles:
R11i Reference
452783.1, Interoperability Notes, Oracle E-Business Suite Release 11i with Oracle Database 11g Release 1 (11.1.0)
R12 Reference
735276.1, Interoperability Notes, E-Business Suite R12 with Oracle Database 11gR1 (11.1.0)

APPS Schema security changes delivered with HR EOY Phase I patch 8947666 for R11i

As an APPS DBA, there are occurences where an application patch will do things you don't expect. That is why reviewing the readme document and performing regression testing is important.


Some odd behaviour was seen when applying the HR EOY Phase I patch (8947666) for 2009. A customization in place that required the APPS account to access a data dictionary table stopped working after the patch was applied. After a little research the issue was traced to some security changes Oracle bundled with the EOY Phase I patch.

The EOY Phase I patch includes a call to adrevdba.sql in the directory $AD_TOP/patch/115/sql. This script will revoke some grants from the APPS user. The specific commands run are:


revoke dba from apps;

revoke select any dictionary from apps;


These grants are not required for functioning of the application. The grants are being revoked by Oracle to help secure the application. If these grants used by any custom work, they will need to be granted after the patch has been applied. Future patches may also revoke the grants, so they will need to be monitored after patching to validate they still exist.

The custom code using these grants should be reviewed to determine if the grants are neccessary. Changes should be made to the code to work around the requirement for the grants. This will allow for a more secured application.