Diagnostic Patches

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Oracle has created a complete line of diagnostic tools that they will use to try to help you to determine what part of your system requires attention. These tests gather information about your system and perform several data related validations based on the information that it gathers and makes recommendations and suggestions on actions to take based on the information and validations. Never are any data or setups within your environment altered by any of these diagnostic tools. There are three different varieties of tools available. Oracle Diagnostics tests depend on the Oracle Diagnostics framework being in place and viable to assist in the execution. These tests are typically run exclusively through the Web. Stand-alone tests run from either a command prompt or through a SQL*Plus session. Finally, Oracle Diagnostics tests (OD patch tests) are tests that are designed by Oracle and delivered to you by means of a patch set. These patches are not released to bring new features to an application or to fix any existing problems; they are simply to provide you with diagnostic tools to assist in the troubleshooting of your application. There are diagnostic patches for printer issues and for Concurrent Manager issues. There is a diagnostic patch that determines current configuration of the database. There are diagnostic patches available for many other things that commonly are found to have problems. Usually, Oracle Support will direct you to whatever diagnostics it wants you to run and provide the patch set number that you can download to allow you to perform that functionality. The diagnostic patches are usually unobtrusive queries that simply gather information and put it into a predetermined format. Once you have downloaded that diagnostic tool, if it does something that you routinely seem to be investigating, you can run it independent of Oracle Support and start to troubleshoot your own problems. When you do log a support request iTAR, you will have the background information already at your fingertips. This is not Oracle's suggested method of running them: it suggests that you only run them with the assistance of Oracle Support.

A complete catalog of all available diagnostic tools is available through Metalink Note 178043.1 and the note gives you access to the latest release of the diagnostic tool, along with the last update date of the tool, so you can double-check to make sure that you are running the latest version. These diagnostics tools are included in the monthly support pack, which can be downloaded from Metalink (Note 1670001). One of the diagnostic tools is ACT (Applications Collection Tool). ACT can be used for diagnosis of installation and configuration problems in your system and to gather all relevant information at one time and in one place to facilitate the logging of your iTARs or when you need to verify what specific version of a file is currently running on your system. ACT registers itself as a Concurrent Program and can, therefore, be run from either the command line or from your concurrent request screen. It probably is not one that you will want to run on a schedule, as it will provide the same information every time. However, I recommend that you run it after patching or after an upgrade so that you can print and maintain the information for quick reference. That way when a developer or an end user calls and says "What version of <insert program unit here> are we on?" you have a quick reference you can scan and give them the answer. Just some of the information that it gathers is Forms and Forms library versions, package versions, Reports versions, profile option values, all Oracle versions, Applications installation details, and creation date.

Other tests are available; some as general purpose as this test; others are product or problem specific. It is a good idea to look at the catalog periodically to see what tests might apply to you and which ones you could make use of in your maintenance routine.

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