Exadata Database Machine is a complete, integrated rack system that contains both hardware and software for running Oracle Database.
Patching it is done on a per-component basis and in general, in this order:
Infiniband Switch patches may not be cumulative - needs to be checked in the README.
These patches are usually launched from compute node 1 using dcli and ssh to remotely patch each cell node.
Patches can be applied in a rolling fashion or standalone.
Rolling
./patchmgr -cells <cells group> -patch_check_prereq -rolling ./patchmgr -cells <cells group> -patch -rolling
Standalone
./patchmgr -cells <cells group> -patch_check_prereq ./patchmgr -cells <cells group> -patch
Check the log files:
These patches are specific to Exadata - so download the right ones.
They are, however, installed using the standard opatch mechanism.