datapatch failed with ORA-27477: "SYS"."LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_X" already exists

We have received the below error while working on the 6-node cluster patching. The patch has been applied on software GRID and RDBMS on all the node but the datapatch execution is failed with ORA-27477.

rac06:dbp01:/u01/app/oracle/product/12.1.0.2/database/OPatch$ ./datapatch -verbose

SQL Patching tool version 12.1.0.2.0 on Wed Oct 25 12:55:45 2017
Copyright (c) 2016, Oracle. All rights reserved.

Log file for this invocation: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_12298_2017_10_25_12_55_45/sqlpatch_invocation.log

Connecting to database…OK
Bootstrapping registry and package to current versions…done

Queryable inventory could not determine the current opatch status.
Execute ‘select dbms_sqlpatch.verify_queryable_inventory from dual’
and/or check the invocation log /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/sqlpatch/sqlpatch_12298_2017_10_25_12_55_45/sqlpatch_invocation.log for the complete error.

Prereq check failed, exiting without installing any patches.

Solution: The above error occurs when datapatch trying to read the inventory across all the nodes using predefined set of jobs. If the predefined jobs are removed from any of the node in RAC. You will see the above error. 

Hence, drop the jobs from all the cluster nodes and run the datapatch to fix the issue.

1.) Lets validate, the inventory is queryable or not.

SQL> select dbms_sqlpatch.verify_queryable_inventory from dual;

VERIFY_QUERYABLE_INVENTORY
——————————————————————————–
ORA-27477: “SYS”.”LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_1″ already exists

2.) Check the predefined job status on all the nodes.

SQL> select job_name,state, start_date from dba_scheduler_jobs where job_name like ‘LOAD_OPATCH%’;

JOB_NAME STATE START_DATE
————————— ————— ————————————
LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY DISABLED 25-OCT-17 06.00.50.791058 AM +00:00
LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_1 STOPPED 25-OCT-17 07.11.49.606570 AM +00:00
LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_2 DISABLED 25-OCT-17 07.11.50.543851 AM +00:00

3.) Clear all existing job entries

SQL> exec DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB(‘LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY’);
SQL> exec DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB(‘LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_1’);
SQL> exec DBMS_SCHEDULER.DROP_JOB(‘LOAD_OPATCH_INVENTORY_2’);

4.) Validate, there should not be any jobs.
  SQL> select job_name,state, start_date from dba_scheduler_jobs where job_name like         ‘LOAD_OPATCH%’;

4.) Execute the datapatch again. This time, the datapatch should be executed successfully.

     $ ./datapatch -verbose

Note:- Test, Test and Test before executing the above solutions in your environment or consult the oracle support.