Are Oracle security patches supported for Empower? - WKB49348

ENVIRONMENT

• Empower 3 Personal and Enterprise
• UNIFI Workstation and Network

ANSWER

Only the Oracle security patches packaged and released by Waters are supported because they are structurally validated. See WKB27844_What_Oracle_DST_Timezone_patch_versions_are_used_in_Empower_3

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

• The Waters Oracle embedded license does not permit users to install security patches directly from Oracle.
• Guidance for Customers with Their Own Oracle Licenses:

1. Customers with their own Oracle licenses can obtain Oracle CPU and DST patches directly from Oracle's website and apply them as needed. They have the flexibility to upgrade their Oracle installations independently, such as applying the latest CPU's for Oracle 19c
2. When using their own Oracle licenses, customers must ensure that the Empower software is compatible with the Oracle version and patches they intend to deploy. For example, Empower 3 SR4 and SR5 can be upgraded to Oracle 19c, but the necessary timezone patches must be applied to all Empower nodes.
3. Patches for 19c are expected to be compatible but will not have been tested or structurally validated by Waters
4. Customers are advised to test any Oracle patches (whether or not released by Waters) in a test Empower environment first for any adverse effects on Empower operations before pushing to PROD environments
5. If they will also apply any included timezone updates, these must be applied to all nodes.
6. However, for LACE/Clients deployed using the Waters installer, updating them is only allowed through a released Waters CPU patch installer. Therefore, if the customer will apply a CPU not released by Waters, they should not apply the included timezone patches to the DB server.
7. Most Waters Oracle CPU patch installers include mandatory timezone updates -https://support.waters.com/KB_Inf/Empower_Breeze/WKB27844_What_Oracle_DST_Timezone_patch_versions_are_used_in_Empower_3
8. Customers should follow their internal standard operating procedures for database backups and patch installations. Additionally, they must ensure that the Oracle patches and configurations align with the requirements of their Empower software version.