This document answers frequently asked questions regarding:
  1) Steps to Upgrading WebLogic to a newer maintenance pack and patch level
  2) Questions about Upgrading Java patch level for your WebLogic Install.
  3) Details on how to locate/download/install newer WebLogic Maintenance Packs, Patches and Java Patches

This document is specifically for PeopleTools 8.51, 8.52 and 8.53 environments which are using WebLogic 10.3.x.

Give me an overview of the steps to get updated to the latest WebLogic version and patch level. And explain the difference between Maintenance Packs and Patches
If you are planning on upgrading WebLogic in your PeopleSoft environment, you need to keep in mind that there are actually three separate parts to the upgrade:
    Part #1: Upgrade the WebLogic Maintenance Pack (aka MP).
    Part #2: Upgrade the WebLogic Patch Level
    Part #3: Upgrade the Java (or JRockit) Patch Level

Note that you do not have to complete each of the above parts. However, we do recommend that you complete each part, as this will get you fully up-to-date on all bug fixes and patches for security vulnerabilities.

Below are additional details regarding WebLogic Maintenance Packs, WebLogic Patches and Java Patches, that are referenced in Part#1, 2 and 3 above.


Part #1: WebLogic Maintenance Pack (aka MP).

Weblogic Maintenance Packs (MP's) are a set of patches for a given WebLogic release (eg WebLogic 10.3). The MP's contain significant changes. The MP's are cumulative (eg WebLogic 10.3 Maintenance Pack 6 also contains Maintenance Packs 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

There are a couple different naming conventions for referring to a Maintenance Pack. For example, both of the following refer to WebLogic 10.3 Maintenance Pack #6.
    -WebLogic 10.3.6
    -WebLogic 10.3 MP6

Maintenance Packs are not partial WebLogic updates, but rather they are full WebLogic installs. So you can install a WebLogic MP as a brand new install, or you can replace an existing install with a new WebLogic MP (example: if you currently have WebLogic 10.3.3 installed, you can replace it with 10.3.6 by installing 10.3.6 to the directory where 10.3.3 was installed).

The Maintenance Packs are available from eDelivery (aka Oracle Software Delivery Cloud). More details, on how to locate/download/install MP's, are provided in the next question below (see question "Give me the step-by-step details for Upgrading WebLogic 10.3.x to the latest Maintenance Pack, Patch Level and Java Patch Level")

Part #2: WebLogic Patch Level

WebLogic Patches, typically consist of fixes for security vulnerabilities. They are normally released as part of the quarterly CPU's. The patches are specific to a Maintenance Pack# (eg MP5).  The patches are relatively small changes (as opposed to the MP's which contain significant changes).
The PSU patches (which are released as part of the quarterly CPU) are cumulative. So you need to apply only the most recent patch that was released.

The Patches are available from My Oracle Support (MOS). More details, on how to locate/download/install patches, are provided in the next question below (see question "Give me the step-by-step details for Upgrading WebLogic 10.3.x to the latest Maintenance Pack, Patch Level and Java Patch Level")

Part #3: Java (or JRockit) Patch Level

Java patches are a set of updates for a given Java version. Note that there are different types of Java (Oracle JRockit, IBM JDK, etc) depending on the OS platform you are using (Windows, Linux, AIX, HP-UX, etc), and the Java patches are released by the OS vendor (eg IBM, HP, Oracle). Below are examples of Java patch levels:
   - JRockit 1.6.0_17 : This is patch #17 for JRockit 1.6.0
   - Sun Java 6 update 23: This is patch #23 for Sun Java 6
   - Itanium(R) JDK 6.0.09: This is patch #9 for HP-UX IPF JDK 6
   - IBM JDK 6 SR9: This is patch "SR9" for IBM JDK 6

The location and instructions to install a Java patch will vary, depending on the type of Java you are using. For example, patches for Oracle JRockit and and Sun JDK are available from My Oracle Support. But patches for other vendor's such as HP and IBM, are available from their site. More details, on how to locate/download/install patches, are provided in the next question below (see question "Give me the step-by-step details for Upgrading WebLogic 10.3.x to the latest Maintenance Pack, Patch Level and Java Patch Level")



Below are details on how to get updated with the latest WebLogic Maintenance Pack, Patch and Java Patch. These instructions are provided as three different steps:
    Step #1: Upgrade the WebLogic Maintenance Pack (aka MP).
    Step #2: Upgrade the WebLogic Patch Level
    Step #3: Upgrade the Java (or JRockit) Patch Level

Step #1: Upgrade the WebLogic Maintenance Pack (aka MP)

1) Go to eDelivery (aka "Oracle Software Delivery Cloud") and sign in

2) After you sign in, you are prompted for a 'product pack' and 'platform'
     -For 'product pack' choose 'PeopleSoft Enterprise'
     -For 'Platform', enter your platform.
     -Click "Go"

3) Click on the hyperlink for 'PeopleSoft PeopleTools 8.53 Media Pack' (the exact title will vary slightly depending on your OS platform).
    Note that you should click on PeopleTools 8.53 media pack even if you are using PeopleTools 8.51 or 8.52 (this is because PeopleTools 8.51, 8.52 and 8.53 use the same WebLogic version)
4) Now click "Download" button next to "Oracle WebLogic Server 11gR1 (10.3.6) Generic and Coherence"

5) When you are ready to install the maintenance pack, do the following:
     a) Shut down the WebLogic domains
     b) We suggest you install the new WebLogic MP to the same directory as your existing WebLogic install. By doing this, you do not need to re-install the WebLogic PIA's.
         Before installing, rename the existing WebLogic installation directory (we suggest doing this so you have a back-up and so that you install the new MP to a clean, empty directory)
         eg. If you have WebLogic 10.3.3 installed in d:\WebLogic10.3, rename it to d:\WebLogic10.3-backup
    c) Now, install the new WebLogic maintenance pack, following the instructions in the PeopleTools 8.5x installation guide (see section "Installing Oracle WebLogic Server").

Step #2: Upgrade the WebLogic Patch Level

Check to see if there are any patches required for the MP that you installed, as follows:
    a. Log onto My Oracle Support.
    b. Click on the "Patches & Updates" tab.
    c. Click on hyperlink "Product or Family (Advanced Search)" located towards top, right portion of page
    d. At the "Product" prompt,  choose "Oracle WebLogic Server"
    e. At the "Release" prompt, choose the WebLogic Server release you want to search on. (eg "WLS 10.3.6")
    f. "Platform" prompt can be left blank
    g. Then add another search criteria of ‘Description’  (do this by clicking on dropdown box at end of your existing search criteria).
    h. Select Description contains "PATCH SET UPDATE"
    i. Click “Search” button
    j. You will now get a list of PSU's for your Weblogic release.  Download the highest patch# that was released (patches are cumulative, so you need only the most recent patch)
       The download file contains instructions on how to install the patch using 'Smart Update'

Step #3: Upgrade the Java (or JRockit) Patch Level

The quarterly CPU's sometimes include instructions for upgrading to a newer Java patch level. So you may have already completed this step during the step above (Step #2: Upgrade the WebLogic Patch Level). But if not, follow the instructions below if you want to get on the latest Java patch level.

1. First, if you want to find out what Java patch levels are certified for the WebLogic version you are using, do the following:
    a. Go to the following link which will open a spreadsheet: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/downloads/fmw-11gr1certmatrix.xls
    b. On the spreadsheet, go to tab "FMW on WLS - System"
    c. You may want to choose to filter the "OS Version" column to show the OS that your WebLogic server is installed on. 
       And filter the "JDK 32/64 bit" column for the type of JDK you are using (64-bit for PeopleTools 8.51 and higher)
    d. You can then view the supported JDK Vendor/Version for each release
***Note: For PeopleTools  8.51 and 8.52, you must use a java patch in the JDK 6 family (ie 1.6.x). PeopleTools 8.53 uses JDK 7***

2. After you identified the Java patch levels that are certified, you can determine whether you want to download and install the latest Java patch level. If you need additional assistance with determining how to locate and download the JDK for your OS, refer to section 'Installing JDK for Oracle WebLogic' in the PeopleTools 8.5x installation guides.

3. The last step is to update any existing WebLogic domains, so that they are using the latest JDK patch level that you installed. Do this by updating the JAVA_HOME variable as follows::
    a. Go to <WLHOME>/wlserver_10.3/common/bin and locate "commEnv.cmd" (or commEnv.sh for Unix/Linux).
    b. Back up this file.
    c. Open commEnv.cmd/sh in edit mode.
    d. Modify JAVA_HOME, point JAVA_HOME to latest Java that you downloaded.
         For example :
            Before the change, it looks like the following:
                 JAVA_HOME="D:\WebServers\wls103\jrockit-jdk1.6.0_20"
           After the change, JAVA_HOME looks like the following:
                JAVA_HOME="D:\WebServers\wls103\jrockit-jdk1.6.0_29

After completing the above changes, restart the WebLogic domains to pick up the new WebLogic MP, Patch and Java patch. If you want to verify that the WebLogic domain(s) are picking up the new MP
and patches, refer to the question below ( How can I tell what WebLogic Maintenance Pack/Patch# and Java patch# that I'm currently using?)


How can I tell what WebLogic Maintenance Pack/Patch# and Java patch# that I'm currently using?

The best way to check what MP and patch WebLogic is using, is to check the WebLogic log. Note that all of the version and patching information is logged to PIA_weblogic.log each time you restart the domain. Check this as follows:

1. Go to <PS_HOME>/webserv/<DOMAIN_NAME>/servers/PIA/logs

2. Open file PIA_weblogic.log (make certain that the log includes a restart of the PIA)

3. Search the following string to find the maintenance pack and WebLogic patch (you may want to go to end of log and do a backward search in order to find info for the most recent PIA restart):
                 WebLogic Server "PIA" version
In the example below, WebLogic is using 10.3 MP 5 (ie 10.3.5) with no patches
<WebLogic Server "PIA" version:
WebLogic Server 10.3.5.0 Fri Apr 1 20:20:06 PDT 2011 1398638 Copyright (c) 1995, 2009, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.>
And in this example, WebLogic is using 10.3 MP 4 (ie 10.3.4) with PSU patch #3 (bug id 12770299).
<WebLogic Server "PIA" version:
WebLogic Server 10.3.4.0.3 PSU Patch for BUG12770299 Tue Oct 04 13:47:04 IST 2011


4. To check the java version, search the following string (again, you may want to go to end of log and do a backward search in order to find info for the most recent PIA restart):
          java.vm.version
In the example below, WebLogic is using patch 29 of JDK 1.6.0 and it is using a 64-bit java
java.vm.version = R28.1.5-20-146757-1.6.0_29-20111004-1750-linux-x86_64

Do I need to re-install the WebLogic PIA(s) after completing a WebLogic Upgrade?

If you install the new WebLogic maintenance pack to the same directory where WebLogic was previously installed, then there is no need to re-install the PIA's. All that you need to do is to restart the WebLogic PIA's, in order to pick up the new Maintenance Pack/Patch and Java patch. To validate that the PIA is picking up the changes, refer to question "How can I tell what WebLogic Maintenance Pack/Patch# and Java patch# that I'm currently using?"

How can I validate that the WebLogic upgrade was successful?

To validate that the WebLogic upgrade was successful, do the following:
   1) After the upgrade, restart the WebLogic domain
   2) Check PIA_weblogic.log and verify that the PIA is successfully starting with no errors (you should also test logging into the PeopleSoft application)
   3) Validate that the PIA picked up the new changes, by checking the maintenance pack#/patch# and java patch#. This can be done as outlined in Question "How can I tell what WebLogic Maintenance Pack/Patch# and Java patch# that I'm currently using?"

Do all PeopleTools 8.5x Environments use the same WebLogic Version and Java Version? And can I upgrade my existing PeopleTools Environment to a newer Weblogic Version (eg WebLogic 10.3 to WebLogic 12c) or a Newer Java Version (eg JDK 6 to JDK 7)?

PeopleTools 8.50 uses the following:
  -32-bit version of WebLogic 10.3.x. We do not support 64-bit WebLogic for PeopleTools 8.50
  -32-bit version of JDK 6. We do not support 64-bit Java for PeopleTools 8.50

PeopleTools 8.51 and 8.52 use the following:
   -64-bit version of WebLogic 10.3.x.
   -64-bit version of JDK 6.
PeopleTools 8.53 uses the following:
   -64-bit version of WebLogic 10.3.x.
   -64-bit version of JDK 7.
If using PeopleTools 8.50, 8.51, 8.52 or 8.53, then you must stay on WebLogic 10.3.x. You cannot upgrade to a newer WebLogic version such as WebLogic 12c (WLS 12c).

Also, note that you must use JDK6 for PeopleTools 8.50-8.52 and you must use JDK7 starting with PeopleTools 8.53

1 Comments

  1. Thank you for details information on installing server,patch and upgrading Java.

    ReplyDelete