I guess no one really wants nasty surprises. That’s also true when you patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c (GI). Luckily, you can prepare yourself using the Cluster Verification Utility and its oddly sounding command line interface, cluvfy (I pronounce it cluffy).

The Grid Infrastructure Release Update readme says:

2.1.3 Patch Installation Checks The Cluster Verification Utility (CVU) command line interface (CLUVFY) may be used to verify the readiness of the Grid Home to apply the patch. … The CLUVFY command line for patching ensures that the Grid Home can receive the new patch and also ensures that the patch application process completed successfully leaving the home in the correct state.

That sounds like a good idea. You can check the GI home before and after patching.

Where Is Cluster Verification Utility?

Although Cluster Verification Utility (CVU) is present in my Grid Infrastructure (GI) home, I always get the latest version from My Oracle Support. I find it via patch 30839369.

CVU is backward compatible, so I download the release Oracle Database 21.0.0.0.0.

1. I must install CVU on one node only. CVU connects to the other nodes and checks them as well. I log on as grid:

   [grid@copenhagen1]$ export CVUHOME=/u01/app/grid/cvu
   [grid@copenhagen1]$ mkdir $CVUHOME
   

2. I extract the zip file I downloaded from My Oracle Support patch 30839369:

   [grid@copenhagen1]$ cd $CVUHOME
   [grid@copenhagen1]$ unzip /u01/app/grid/patches/cvupack_linux_ol7_x86_64.zip   
   

3. I check that it works:

   [grid@copenhagen1]$ export PATH=$CVUHOME/bin:$PATH
   [grid@copenhagen1]$ cluvfy -version
   Version 21.0.0.0.0 Build 011623x8664
   Full version 21.9.0.0.0
   

Check Before Patching

Before I start patching GI, I check my cluster with cluvfy. I log on as grid:

[grid@copenhagen1]$ export PATH=$CVUHOME/bin:$PATH
[grid@copenhagen1]$ cluvfy stage -pre patch

cluvfy prints the report to the screen. In this case, all is good, no problems were found:

Performing following verification checks ...

  cluster upgrade state ...PASSED
  OLR Integrity ...PASSED
  Hosts File ...PASSED
  Free Space: copenhagen2:/ ...PASSED
  Free Space: copenhagen1:/ ...PASSED
  OPatch utility version consistency ...PASSED
  Software home: /u01/app/19.0.0.0/grid ...PASSED
  ORAchk checks ...PASSED

Pre-check for Patch Application was successful.

Here are a few examples of problems detected by cluvfy:

• No SSH connection between the nodes:

  User Equivalence ...FAILED (PRVG-2019, PRKC-1191)
  PRVF-4009 : User equivalence is not set for nodes: copenhagen2
  Verification will proceed with nodes: copenhagen1
  

• Different versions of OPatch on the individual nodes:

  Performing following verification checks ...
  
     cluster upgrade state ...PASSED
     OLR Integrity ...PASSED
     Hosts File ...PASSED
     Free Space: copenhagen2:/ ...PASSED
     Free Space: copenhagen1:/ ...PASSED
     OPatch utility version consistency ...WARNING (PRVH-0668)
  

Check After Patching

The patch readme advises me to rerun cluvfy after patching:

[grid@copenhagen1]$ export PATH=$CVUHOME/bin:$PATH
[grid@copenhagen1]$ cluvfy stage -post patch

Luckily, I patched GI without any problems. cluvfy tells me all is good:

Performing following verification checks ...

  cluster upgrade state ...PASSED

Post-check for Patch Application was successful.

Happy Cluvfy’ing!

Appendix

Other Blog Posts in This Series

• Introduction
• How to Patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c Using In-Place OPatchAuto
• How to Patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c Using Out-Of-Place OPatchAuto
• How to Patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c Using Out-Of-Place SwitchGridHome
• How to Patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c Using Zero Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching
• Which Method Should I Choose When Patching Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c
• How to Avoid Interruptions When You Patch Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c
• Patching Oracle Grid Infrastructure And Oracle Data Guard
• Use Cluster Verification Utility (cluvfy) and Avoid Surprises
• A Word about Zero Downtime Oracle Grid Infrastructure Patching
• Why You Need to Use Oracle Fleet Patching and Provisioning
• My Best Advice on Patching Oracle Grid Infrastructure
• Pro Tips

Further Reading

• Documentation: Cluster Verification Utility Reference, Clusterware Administration and Deployment Guide 19c
• FAQ: Cluster Verification Utility (CVU)

Cluster Verification Utility in Your Grid Infrastructure Home

I can also find Cluster Verification Utility (CVU) in my GI home.

[grid@copenhagen1]$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
[grid@copenhagen1]$ ls -l cluvfy
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root oinstall 10272 Feb 20 11:47 cluvfy

The tool gets updated with Release Updates. However, when I try to use it, it prints this warning:

[grid@copenhagen1]$ cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
[grid@copenhagen1]$ ./cluvfy stage -pre patch
This software is "223" days old. It is a best practice to update the CRS home by downloading and applying the latest release update. Refer to MOS note 756671.1 for more details.

Even if I patch my GI home with the newest Release Update, I am not guaranteed to get the latest version of CVU.

Thus, I recommend always getting the latest version of CVU from My Oracle Support.