Upgrade your Database - NOW! – Mike Dietrich's Blog About Oracle Database Upgrades... Mostly

Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog – DOHDATABASE.com

Posted on August 10, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Cloud 0

You may have realized that you will find mostly on-prem database upgrade and migration topics covered on my blog. Which doesn’t mean that you can’t use most of these techniques to migrate to the cloud either. But it’s really hard to write about everything in full detail. Hence, today I’d like to introduce you to Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog – DOHDATABASE.com. And no, I was never a fan of this American boyband from the 80s and 90s 😉

Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog - DOHDATABASE.com

Find Daniel’s blog at: https://dohdatabase.com

DOHDATABASE … huh?

Daniel Overby Hansen

As you may have read a …

Oracle AutoUpgrade between two servers – and Plugin?

Posted on August 4, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 0

In my previous blog post I demonstrated how you can upgrade with AutoUpgrade between two servers. This a very typical scenario where you get new server, often also with a newer operating system version installed. But I was wondering if you can use Oracle AutoUpgrade between two servers – and Plugin?

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AutoUpgrade between two servers

Please see my previous blog post about all the details:

Oracle AutoUpgrade between two servers – Aug 3, 2020

Upgrade and Plugin?

At the end of it, I was curious if I couldn’t just plugin afterwards. But I …

Oracle AutoUpgrade between two servers

Posted on August 3, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 14

I try to catch up with missing AutoUpgrade posts. And I should have written this one a while earlier ideally. Just yesterday a colleague asked me about it. So it’s time now to describe how to use Oracle AutoUpgrade between two servers.

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Documentation

The Oracle Database 19c Upgrade Guide has this section about the scenario:

AutoUpgrade with Source and Target Database Homes on Different Servers

And you see that it consists of 5 steps:

Run the -mode analyze step on source server
Run the -mode fixups step on source server
Shutdown and

AutoUpgrade with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)

Posted on July 30, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade TDE - Transparent Database Encryption 2

I knew, one fine day I will have to dig into TDE. Resistance is futile. There were so many questions regarding AutoUpgrade with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) in the past weeks and months. And the team is still working hard on a solution to make the non-CDB to PDB plugin flawless and automated for such cases. But I won’t cover the latter in this post here. I will solely focus on the database upgrade itself.

AutoUpgrade with Transparent Data Encryption (TDE)

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TDE?

Almost everybody of you reading this blog post may have more knowledge of Transparent Data Encryption than I. …

Install and Patch in one single action with OUI

Posted on July 28, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Installation Patch Recommendation 6

This is such a common case: You want to install a new Oracle Home and you’d like to apply the most recent patch bundle to it as well. But as we don’t officially offer Gold Images to download where the RU is included already, you have to do three tasks instead of one. But you can avoid this and Install and Patch in one single action with OUI.

Install and Patch in one single action with OUI

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Recommendation and 3 standard actions

We always recommend that you apply the most recent RU. Hence, usually you will download Oracle Database 19.3.0 from …

Web Seminar MEA – Recap, Slides, Recording and Answers

Posted on July 23, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 2

A few weeks ago, on June 29, 2020, I delivered an Upgrade Web Seminar for the MEA region. Thanks a lot if your participated. And today I’d like to share with you for this Web Seminar MEA – Recap, Slides, Recording and Answers.

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Recap

Thanks to those who found the time to participate. I enjoyed the hour a lot. And thanks also to my colleagues from Oracle Dubai who set up the session and handled the registration and the logistics.

Slides

You can download the slides for this session as usual from the Slides …

How to skip a Fixup in AutoUpgrade

Posted on July 22, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 0

In this blog post I’d like to demonstrate how to skip a fixup in AutoUpgrade. This can be very useful in cases where you know that an issue may happen. Recently we saw several cases with unexpected long runtime for the gathering of fixed objects stats.

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Analyze Mode

During the analyze phase, AutoUpgrade creates a <SID>_checklist.cfg file. You will find it in your job’s prechecks subdirectory, e.g.

/home/oracle/logs/DB12/100/prechecks

My SID is DB12, and 100 is the job number.

This is how the db12_checklist.cfg looks in my example:

[SID]          [DB12]
==========================================
[container]          [DB12]

More information on AutoUpgrade’s TARGET_PDB_COPY_OPTION

Posted on July 21, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 4

A few weeks ago I blogged about the 3 new parameter options to plugin a non-CDB right after the upgrade and make it a PDB. As I explained, you must create the receiving CDB by yourself. But from your emails and comments, we realized that the examples in the documentation are not sufficient. Hence, today I’d like to give more information on AutoUpgrade’s TARGET_PDB_COPY_OPTION parameter.

More information on AutoUpgrade's TARGET_PDB_COPY_OPTION

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What does this parameter do?

At first, this AutoUpgrade parameter (not an init.ora parameter!) is optional. If you don’t set it, the NOCOPY option will be used. Your …

Oracle Database In-Memory BASE_LEVEL Feature available since 19.8.0

Posted on July 20, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich in-Memory 0

These are absolutely exciting news. I found this email from our PM for Oracle In-Memory, Andy Rivenes, in my inbox this morning. Andy explained that with the database Release Update 19.8.0 the In-Memory BASE_LEVEL feature is now available. And you don’t have to purchase an extra license for it.

Oracle Database In-Memory BASE_LEVEL Feature available since 19.8.0

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What is Oracle In-Memory?

So many things have been written and published about the In-Memory option. I’d rather link to this White Paper here (Oracle Database In-Memory with Oracle 19c) and put some additional links at the end of the blog post.

What is Oracle

datapatch and OPatch documentation and MOS note

Posted on July 17, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 2

Did you ever ask yourself whether there is documentation available for OPatch and for datapatch? It is not easy to find. And you won’t find it under “Database” in the Oracle Bookshelf. So today I would like to guide you in this short blog post to the datapatch and OPatch documentation and MOS note.

datapatch and OPatch documentation and MOS note

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OPatch? Datapatch?

Just to recap: You use OPatch (or opatchauto) to apply the binaries to an Oracle installation. As a result, you change the second or the third number of the release from Oracle 19.5.0 to Oracle 19.8.0. But …

AutoUpgrade: Refresh Status Information automatically

Posted on July 16, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 2

I have heard and received this question several times. And I always pointed people to the status logs in AutoUpgrade’s logging directory. But I wasn’t aware how simple the monitoring can be. Kudos to my colleague Meir Burmanov from Oracle Israel for explaining me today how you can simply monitor AutoUpgrade: Refresh Status Information automatically.

AutoUpgrade: Refresh Status Information automatically

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Like it – and it’s very simple

This won’t be a long blog post. And maybe there are even more fancier ways to do the monitoring. But for me it does the job. And it is super simple. …

Patching all my environments with the July 2020 Patch Bundles

Posted on July 15, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 20

Quarterly routine: When the new security alert get published, then it is patching time again. I’ll show you as usual how Patching all my environments with the July 2020 Patch Bundles works. And I heard your comments – in the next round in October, I will do this for GI and OJVM most likely, too. If not earlier …

Patching all my environments with the July 2020 Patch Bundles

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And just an important annotation upfront: I patch in-place due to space issues. But in reality, you please patch always out-of-place with a separate home.

Security Alert July 2020

This is the Security Alert for …

Pitfalls: Connect to a PDB directly with ORACLE_PDB_SID

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Single-/Multitenant 16

A few weeks ago I learned about the ability to connect directly into a PDB by using the environment variable ORACLE_PDB_SID. I blogged about it in Can you connect as SYSDBA without password into a PDB directly?. And today, I’d like to give you a bit more insights and warn you about the Pitfalls: Connect to a PDB directly with ORACLE_PDB_SID.

Pitfalls: Connect to a PDB directly with ORACLE_PDB_SID

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How does it work?

When I wrote the blog post Can you connect as SYSDBA without password into a PDB directly? I haven’t dug into the technique behind the ability …

Windows Only: Upgrade to Oracle 18.10.0 fails with ORA-01722

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Microsoft Windows 0

Liron Amitzi reported this on his blog a few days ago already. And it is a very nasty tiny little issue happening with RUs where the second number of the release enters the two-digit-space, such as 18.10.0. At this point, on Windows Only: Upgrade to Oracle 18.10.0 fails with ORA-01722. This happens late in the upgrade phase.

Windows Only: Upgrade to Oracle 18.10.0 fails with ORA-01722

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What is the issue?

The problem here is a tiny little piece in %ORACLE_HOME\admin\catupstr.sql – a SUBSTR function is used in a way that it does not take into account a potential two-digit …

Transportable Tablespaces – Example and strange error with a PDB

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Data Pump Single-/Multitenant Transportable 4

Yesterday I was browsing around for a useful simple example to test Transportable Tablespaces. A colleague mailed with the other day with a strange error message. The attempt to import into a PDB in Oracle 19c failed. My first thought: Oh, this is simple. But I failed, too. And even worse, I couldn’t find a single useful note in MyOracle Support (MOS) for ORA-31640, ORA-27037, Linux-x86_64 Error: 2 with Additional information: 7. So I decided to summarize this in Transportable Tablespaces – Example and strange error with a PDB.

Transportable Tablespaces - Example and strange error with a PDB

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A simple Transportable Tablespace

Upgrade Seminars 2020 – Recap and Videos on-demand

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 4

Thank you for participating in our 4 Database Upgrade to Oracle 19c seminars in the past two weeks. There were over 800 questions during the seminars – and it was a good idea that we prerecorded them. This way, I could answer your questions as it was a more convenient time for me than for Roy. We enjoyed it a lot – and from the feedback I read, most of you enjoyed it, too. Now please read about Upgrade Seminars 2020 – Recap and Videos on-demand below.

Upgrade Seminars 2020 - Recap and Videos on-demand

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The Slides

I uploaded all 4 decks …

Collection of EBS upgrade information for Oracle Database 19c

Posted on June 30, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich E-Business Suite 0

This was the question I received the most often during the Virtual Classroom web seminars last week: “Can you say something about EBS upgrades with 19c?”. And I promised to publish a blog post about it. But as I’m not an EBS expert, I can only share a Collection of EBS upgrade information for Oracle Database 19c. For all further inquiries, please open an SR or get in touch with your Oracle contact.

Collection of EBS upgrade information for Oracle Database 19c

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Recap – EBS and Oracle 19c

In September 2019, right before Oracle Open World, we announced the certification of EBS …

Upgrade Seminars 1 and 2 – A quick recap, slides download and more

Posted on June 25, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Best Practice Workshop 2

Thank you for participating in the first two seminars. Roy and I did already the “Release and Patching Strategy” webinar on Tuesday, June 23. And today “AutoUpgrade to Oracle 19c”. So it time for Upgrade Seminars 1 and 2 – A quick recap, slides download and more.

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Slides Download

I uploaded the slides already to https://mikedietrichde.com/slides/#WEB2020. Of course, I will upload the other slide decks as well to the same location.

Seminar Recordings

As soon as the recordings page has been completed, we will send out an email. And I will post the links …

Special characters show junk in CLOB columns after upgrade to Oracle 19.7.0 with JDBC

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls 23

When you’d copy & paste the above title into a search engine, you may come across a very similar sounding blog post I wrote two years ago. Today, my dear colleague Dirk asked me on behalf of a customer if it’s possible that this bug is back in 19.7.0. Of course, I said “No”, for sure not. Bug 26380097 was fixed in Oracle 18c already. Gladly, Dirk insisted. So I checked the SR his customer opened.

Special characters show junk in CLOB columns after upgrade to Oracle 19.7.0 with JDBC

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And now I can write an unplanned blog post about Special characters show junk in CLOB columns …

Oracle Long Term Support vs Innovation Releases

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Release Schedule 0

Earlier this week I wrote about the recent exciting news: Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year. But if you went to MOS 742060.1 to read the fine print, you may have spotted another change as well: A differentiation between Oracle Long Term Support vs Innovation Releases.

Oracle Long Term Support vs Innovation Releases

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What is a Long Term Support Release?

MOS 742060.1 explains:

Oracle Database Long Term Releases are ideal for use cases that benefit from less frequent upgrades to newer releases. Long Term Releases offer the highest level of stability and the l

Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Release Schedule 0

Exciting news. And some of you may have spotted it already due to an update on the Single Source of Truth note, MOS 742060.1 last week: Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year.

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Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year

This is an important message some customers have already asked for. Originally, the Premier Support period for Oracle Database 19c was supposed to run until end of March 2023. Now you may relax in your chair as this seems unbelievably far away. But that’s only…

Upgrade to Oracle Database 19c – Virtual Classroom Series

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 22

Roy and I delivered a similar seminar already for the Australia and New Zealand region. And now it is time at a more convenient time zone setting for EMEA and India. So if you are not tired of web seminars yet, please sign up for our Upgrade to Oracle Database 19c – Virtual Classroom Series.

Upgrade to Oracle Database 19c - Virtual Classroom Series

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4 Web Seminars – Going far beyond upgrades

The idea for this series of 4 web seminars is to cover not only the database upgrade itself. You will get much more than technical upgrade information. And we will …

Off Topic: How to outsmart KEF EGG’s auto power off mode

Posted on June 13, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Off Topic 4

At first, this blog post has nothing to do with Oracle databases. And not even with databases. Still, I’d like to post it here as I couldn’t find any useful solution anywhere – except a program which is not available to end-users. Hence, this is fully Off Topic: How to outsmart KEF EGG’s auto power off mode.

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KEF EGG

KEF EGG Desktop Speakers

Let me say at first that I’m not doing any advertising for any company here. I recently bough a pair of KEF EGG speakers for my office desk. Especially when crafting …

Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database’s?

Posted on June 11, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich ASM / RAC / GI 2

A long while ago I blogged about whether you should keep your patch versions between Grid Infrastructure and Databases Homes in synch, or not. And today, Daniel dropped me a note mentioning that this old blog post may need an update for 18c/19c. He’s right. And as I’ve had trouble finding my old blog post, I title this one a bit more obvious: Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database’s?

Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database's?

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Before Oracle Database 18c

Since Oracle 18c we move from a 5-number release schema to a 3-number one. …

AutoUpgrade in trouble when you are short on RAM

Posted on June 5, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 3

Actually I blog about this topic for the simple reason that currently you won’t find helpful information in MyOracle Support. And I’ve seen this issue now twice in a row at Enterprise customers. You may see AutoUpgrade in trouble when you are short on RAM. During one of the restarts AutoUpgrade initiates you may get an ORA-600.

AutoUpgrade in trouble when you are short on RAM

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What you may see

At first, the alert.log – and this is the strange pattern here – does not give you any indication about this ORA-600. You will find it only in the logs written by autoupgrade.jar:…

DOHDATABASE … huh?

AutoUpgrade between two servers

Upgrade and Plugin?

Documentation

TDE?

Recommendation and 3 standard actions

Recap

Slides

Analyze Mode

What does this parameter do?

What is Oracle In-Memory?

What is Oracle

OPatch? Datapatch?

Like it – and it’s very simple

Security Alert July 2020

How does it work?

What is the issue?

A simple Transportable Tablespace

The Slides

Recap – EBS and Oracle 19c

Slides Download

Seminar Recordings

What is a Long Term Support Release?

Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year

4 Web Seminars – Going far beyond upgrades

KEF EGG

Before Oracle Database 18c

What you may see

Archives

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