An IT infrastructure’s database represents one of the core pillars of a business’s dataset management for its digital presence. This is hardly a big surprise considering the DBMS market continues to grow with an annual CAGR of 17.1% at a value of $64.8 billion in 2020. dbPaaS (Database Platform as a Service) is highly responsible for these growth rates. According to a survey on Statista, Oracle is the most popular DBMS (Database Management System) globally.
Similar to Server Patch Management, Oracle users are at risk of significant security vulnerabilities and threats without the latest security patches. It’s crucial to apply application and server patches once they become available to ensure adequate security and patch software vulnerabilities.
In some organizations, the complexity of the environment or production requirements may prevent the systematic application of every security patch to all production systems on an ongoing basis. As a result, you will need an automated Oracle patch management solution to automate the patching of security vulnerabilities.
This article walks you through Oracle patch management, the benefits of automating it, and how you can leverage it for your business.
Oracle DB is a fundamental part of the IT infrastructure of many businesses. It is one of the most widely used and trusted database engines for storing, retrieving and organizing data. Large, multinational enterprises manage and process their data across networks using the relational database architecture of Oracle DB.
Patch management is one of the top challenges that companies face these days. When dealing with enterprise data, manual patching can become a time-consuming, draining procedure considering the number of patches that need to be applied. Keeping track of current patch levels and testing the patches are essential for maintaining a compliant database environment.
Organizations may fail to timely apply security patches to all production systems on an ongoing basis because of the complexity of their environments or production requirements. Therefore, it’s crucial to take advantage of IT automation solutions to automate the process of applying patches to your Oracle DB.
According to a Ponemon survey, 60% of security incidents stem from vulnerabilities that went unpatched. Even with that, manual processes still pose a challenge for 52% of organizations in responding to vulnerabilities. To make the situation more precarious, incorrectly configured databases, often on cloud storage, account for 36% of all error-related breaches.
Oracle releases patches each quarter for different versions of its products. It consists primarily of patches to address security vulnerabilities and is known as the “Critical Patch Update” by Oracle. Oracle recommends updating all databases to the latest patches as a security precaution.
The Oracle patch process can be time-consuming, and complex, involving numerous manual processes, dependent on multiple stakeholders, and requiring disabling integrated services. When you factor in the increased downtime for businesses, choosing an automated solution might be the best approach to patching your database.
In essence, automated Oracle patch management is a comprehensive solution for automating Oracle database lifecycle management processes for database administrators, system administrators, and application developers. The process helps to reduce manual and time-consuming processes such as patching, upgrading, provisioning, auditing, change management, and configuration management.
One key challenge that most System Administrators face is separating functional and security patches. In fact, 79% of respondents in a 2017 0patch survey admit that decoupling functional patches from security patches would speed up the patch management process.
Before applying patches, you want to make sure they are compatible with other systems and tools within your IT environment. For instance, a patch management solution may only support Windows, whereas your infrastructure runs on Linux, Mac, or Unix operating systems.
Additionally, 58% of organizations have legacy systems. Some of these legacy systems may be vulnerable to patches, so you should evaluate and update all systems within your network.
Since unpatched systems lead to numerous security breaches, automating Oracle patches increases security. The consequences of failing to patch can be devastating to any business. With data breaches and cyberattacks on the rise, how can businesses stay compliant, relevant, and secure in an increasingly complex regulatory environment?
The answer to this is automation. By automating IT infrastructure, you can reduce the workload of DB admins when managing databases and supporting ERP applications. Most importantly, you can enable automated testing of patches for compatibility and vulnerability issues, leverage rollback features, decouple functional patches from security patches, and ultimately reduce risk.
According to a 2017 0patch survey, 88% of system administrators say they’ll roll out patches more frequently if there is an option to roll back or un-patch, if necessary. The last thing you need is a patch that causes incompatibilities or vulnerabilities to other systems. This is an additional benefit of automated patch management.
Though you may detect some of these issues during testing, there may be faulty patches from time to time. That’s why a rollback feature is crucial. With automated patch management for your Oracle systems, you can return your systems to their previous state before the patch application. Be sure to select patch software that supports this feature.
A patch may come with new features and improvements for the current system. These patches include extra features, increased performance, security fixes, and recommendations. However, most professionals prefer to decouple security patches and functional patches.
That’s because most of them believe that new software may introduce bugs or that existing patches cannot be installed since they are bundled with legacy software they can’t upgrade. An automated patch management solution can be vital to separating security and functional patches, enabling you to fix security vulnerabilities without introducing new bugs into your system.
With automated patch management, you can rapidly deploy security patches and reduce the workload on the Database Administrator and System Administrators. Similarly, it reduces the risk of system crashes and downtime, so your team can continue working uninterrupted. That means they can focus on more productive activities rather than spend a high number of work hours addressing or fixing a vulnerability.
Manual administering patches can leave you with little information about your entire database and ERP system. How can you guarantee the security or performance of your Oracle DB without complete visibility? An automated patch management solution gives all stakeholders comprehensive visibility of overall application resources, enabling easy tracking and auditing of all Oracle systems. Similarly, it’ll help you run regular checks for compliance with regulations like the European Union General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the Australian Privacy Act 1988.
Many small and large businesses have to stop and start their databases when applying patches manually. The cause may be misconfiguration, breaking changes, and improper patching. By automating DB patch management, you can deploy a tested and consistent patching process that reduces the amount of downtime your IT infrastructure experiences.
Maintaining up-to-date, secure, and compliant Oracle database systems requires highly specialized skills and a working knowledge of the businesses’ integrated applications. An automated Oracle patch management solution should appeal to any organization that manages business-critical data and integrated applications.
Attune orchestrates the Oracle patch management processes and the integrated application data services, enabling immediate patch management and deployment. Test the patch process in a pre-production environment before rolling out the proven process in your production environment.
Patching an Oracle database consists of numerous steps:
Oracle patching is crucial for several reasons.
By lowering the risk of security breaches, outages, and fines for noncompliance, Oracle patching assists businesses in improving security, stability, and compliance with their database systems.
To apply an Oracle patch, follow these steps:
Here are the steps to find Oracle patches:
Before deploying the patch, study the patch documentation and readme files to guarantee compatibility with your Oracle Database version and platform.
Markus Flach
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