Applying 11gR2 GI PSU with 10gR2 databases

Question

On a Linux-x86-64 cluster I have 11.2.0.1 Clusterware/ASM/Listener running without patches and a RAC database running under the old 10.2.0.4.1 home (PSU 1). I'm thinking of applying the GI PSU 9655006 for 11.2.0.1.2 but I notice it includes the database PSU for 11.2.0.1.2 and I am afraid the patch will attempt to update the 10.2.0.4 home.
Looking at the Readme for the GI PSU I can't find any warnings about applying the patch with 10g databases present. Has anyone tried this? Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi Chucky,
actually it will not.
Before a patch is installed OPatch checks the inventory if the prerequisites are o.k. and since 10.2 is not a valid prerequisite for an 11.2 patch, it won't install into the DB home.
The reason the patch includes the DB patch is, that the 11.2 GI home includes oracle db executable (for ASM) and that needs to be patched.
However if you still fear that something may go wrong, you can explicitly tell opatch auto to only patch the GI home.
It's in the readme or if you execute opatch auto -h:
-oh Database/Clusterware home locations
comma_delimited_list_of_oralcehomes_to_patch
The default is all applicable Oracle Homes including
the clusterware home .Use this option to patch RDBMS homes where
no database is registered or any specific database home or
clusterware home.
Sebastian