How to recreate Oracle Inventory

Today I was applying patch on one of my development server and I got below error :-

[oracle@omr oraInventory]$ ./opatch lsinvinventory
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 11.2.0.3.12
Copyright (c) 2016, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Oracle Home       : /opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4
Central Inventory : /opt/orainv/oraInventory
   from           : /opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 11.2.0.3.12
OUI version       : 11.2.0.4.0
Log file location : /opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2016-03-11_04-33-59AM_1.log

Lsinventory Output file location : /opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4/cfgtoollogs/opatch/lsinv/lsinventory2016-03-11_04-33-59AM.txt

OPatch failed to locate Central Inventory.
Possible causes are: 
    The Central Inventory is corrupted
    The oraInst.loc file specified is not valid.
LsInventorySession failed: OPatch failed to locate Central Inventory.
Possible causes are: 
    The Central Inventory is corrupted
    The oraInst.loc file specified is not valid.


OPatch failed with error code 73

Cause :- 

Checked the Inventory location, /opt/orainv/oraInventory , it was empty, seems someone accidentally deleted it.

Solution :-

We have to recreate our Inventory with all the ORACLE_HOME details available in the server before this blunder happened.

To crosscheck , what all products are installed, query the oratab file :-

grid:/opt/grid/11.2.0.4:N
agent:/opt/oracle/product/agent/core/12.1.0.4.0:N
+ASM:/opt/grid/11.2.0.4:N
amit:/opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4:N        

We can see that , we have GRID_HOME, ORACLE_HOME and AGENT installed in this server.

Recreating the Oracle Inventory :-

1. Attach Oracle Home

Oracle Home :- /opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4
Oracle Home Name :- Db11g_home1

$ ./runInstaller -silent -attachHome ORACLE_HOME="/opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4" -invPtrLoc /etc/oraInst.loc ORACLE_HOME_NAME="Db11g_home1"
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 16383 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.loc
The inventory is located at /opt/orainv/oraInventory
'AttachHome' was successful.

$ ./opatch lsinventory -oh /opt/grid/11.2.0.4
Oracle Interim Patch Installer version 11.2.0.3.6
Copyright (c) 2013, Oracle Corporation.  All rights reserved.


Oracle Home       : /opt/grid/11.2.0.4
Central Inventory : /opt/orainv/oraInventory
   from           : /opt/grid/11.2.0.4/oraInst.loc
OPatch version    : 11.2.0.3.6
OUI version       : 11.2.0.4.0
Log file location : /opt/grid/11.2.0.4/cfgtoollogs/opatch/opatch2016-03-10_23-34-48PM_1.log

List of Homes on this system:

  Home name= OraDb11g_home1, Location= "/opt/oracle/product/database/11.2.0.4"
Inventory load failed... OPatch cannot load inventory for the given Oracle Home.
Possible causes are:
   Oracle Home dir. path does not exist in Central Inventory
   Oracle Home is a symbolic link
   Oracle Home inventory is corrupted
LsInventorySession failed: OracleHomeInventory gets null oracleHomeInfo

OPatch failed with error code 73

We have to attach grid home also.

2. Attach Grid Home to the Inventory

Grid Home :- /opt/grid/11.2.0.4
Grid Home Name :- 11g_gridinfrahome1

$ ./runInstaller -silent -attachHome ORACLE_HOME="/opt/grid/11.2.0.4" -invPtrLoc /etc/oraInst.loc ORACLE_HOME_NAME="11g_gridinfrahome1"
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 16383 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.loc
The inventory is located at /opt/orainv/oraInventory
'AttachHome' was successful.

3. Attach Agent Home to the Inventory

Agent Home :- /opt/oracle/product/agent/core/12.1.0.4.0
Agent Home Name :- agent12c1

$ ./runInstaller -silent -attachHome ORACLE_HOME="/opt/oracle/product/agent/core/12.1.0.4.0" -invPtrLoc /etc/oraInst.loc ORACLE_HOME_NAME="agent12c1"
Starting Oracle Universal Installer...

Checking swap space: must be greater than 500 MB.   Actual 16383 MB    Passed
The inventory pointer is located at /etc/oraInst.loc
The inventory is located at /opt/orainv/oraInventory
'AttachHome' was successful.

All Homes present in the server added to the Central Inventory.

I hope this article helped you.

Thanks
Amit Rath