Different ways to Apply the Quarterly Released WebLogic Critical Patch Updates

Last Updated: 08-March-2022

Applying quarterly released CPU/PSU for WebLogic Server involves patching all the components of WebLogic Server like WebLogic Server, Coherence, ADR component, Samples/Examples, OPatch tool itself, and other components like JDK, etc

WLS components are further divided into Always Present (Weblogic Server, Coherence, JDK, and OPatch tool) and Optional components (ADR and Samples).

WebLogic Patch Set Updates are currently delivered in two forms :

1. Individual component patches

2. Stack Patch Bundle (SPB)

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1. Individual component patches

If you are using the traditional approach of applying WLS PSU’s, then you need to first check if the optional components are installed in your environment and then patch them accordingly.

So in this case you may have to download all the individual patches and apply each of these patches individually one after the other and also upgrade the JDK to the latest build available.

What you need to Know :

- Requires multiple downloads — for each component installed

- You have to run the opatch apply command multiple times.

- Not all WLS components are updated every quarter, there are a few components that are generally updated every quarter like WLS, Coherence, JDK, and a few components which are sometimes updated like ADR or Samples.

- The main challenge in the traditional approach of applying a patch is that you need to first check what components are installed and then check what was the latest update for a particular component and then decide if it has to be patched or not.

- If you miss patching an installed component, then your environment can be exposed to a vulnerability that was fixed in the PSU release.

- You have an option to remove individual components patches.

Example: If you have patched all the components of the Weblogic Server and you want to roll back one of the component patches for testing then you can remove the individual component patch.

2. Stack Patch Bundle (SPB)

Stack Patch Bundle or SPB is a single download zip file that consists of all the latest components patches (NOTE: Latest JDK build is not bundled with SPB) and it can be applied using :

a. OPatch napply

b. SPBAT (Stack Patch Bundle Automation Tool)

What you need to Know :

- One SPB zip download contains all the latest patches for all the WLS components. (JDK patch has to be downloaded separately).

- *One command to install all component patches.

- It auto-detects what components are installed and patches them accordingly.

- Simpler, more Reliable, and More Secure.

- It is not recommended to roll back individual component patches after patching your environment with SPB. You either apply/remove the entire SPB.