Test environment for PCA patches
I recently had the pleasure of getting the following action plan from an oracle support engineer:
1. Download and review the readme and pre-requisites for PCA 2.1.1
2. Ensure that you have taken a backup of your system before applying
the recommended patch.
3. Apply the patch in a test environment.
4. Confirm the following file versions: PCA 2.1.1
5. Migrate the solution as appropriate to other environments.
What surprised me was action point 3.
As far as I know, the only place you can test a PCA patch bundle is on an actual PCA. Now, I certainly agree that it is best if one have access to two such machines for disaster recovery purposes, and such a standby machine may be used to mitigate upgrade risks. Still, with a list price starting at around $250.000 (for the X4-2 anyway) and a full blown installation approaching $1,000,000, I don't fully expect most customers to have a spare PCA just sitting on a shelf.