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

Can you use the UEK7 Linux kernel, or may you get some trouble?

Posted on November 27, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Linux Release Schedule 6

Writing about a topic I have not much knowledge with is … no fun 🙂 But let me share this with you as one of my most trusted customers, Peter Lehmann, tested this and got trapped. The information being available was not crystal clear, and Peter‘s database did not start anymore when HUGEPAGES were enabled. So, the question is: Can you use the UEK7 Linux kernel, or may you get some trouble?

Can you use the UEK7 Linux kernel, or may you get some trouble?

Photo by Sandip Kalal on Unsplash

Where it all starts

Peter set up a new cluster with Oracle Linux 8.8 using an UEK7 kernel. And as …

DOAG 2023 Conference – our talks this year

Posted on November 16, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Conference 2

Time flies so quickly – and I guess I wrote this phrase already plenty of times on the blog. It is already November, and just a few weeks until Christmas. And this year, DOAG conference in Nuernberg is again in November – which means: next week. So, let me give you a quick overview for DOAG 2023 Conference – our talks this year.

DOAG 2023 Conference - our talks this year

Photo by Thomas Winkler on Unsplash

When, who, where?

At first, DOAG 2023 will happen from November 21-24, 2023 at the usual superb location in Nuernberg. You find all the details on the DOAG webpage. …

Monitor progress of Oracle Data Pump impdp

Posted on October 26, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Data Pump 5

This blog post is a quick brain dump. I realized that I have so many “blog posts to write” that I need to dump the ideas or information much quicker. So, feel free to comment and correct. These queries may be useful when you run a larger import, and you would like to monitor progress of Oracle Data Pump impdp.

Monitor progress of Oracle Data Pump impdp

Photo by George Vidos on Unsplash

Monitor Data Pump progress during impdp

To monitor the progress of Data Pump during impdp you can use the following queries.

What object types are left?

select unique object_type_seqno, object_type
from system.sys_import_full_01
where

Oracle Database 19c is certified on OL9 and RHEL9

Posted on October 25, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Operating System Oracle Database 19c 19

I know, many of you were asking several times already about the certification of the Oracle Database on Oracle Linux 9 and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9. And originally I think an announcement was planned for Oracle Cloud World in Las Vegas. But certification mean that you really certify, and not just wave things through. We’ve done thorough testing, and some issues were found which needed to be fixed at first. Good news: Oracle Database 19c is certified on OL9 and RHEL9.

Oracle Database 19c is certified on OL9 and RHEL9

Photo by Ilia Bronskiy on Unsplash

Certification Tab

You can check certifications quickly on MyOracle Support by yourself. …

Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Best Practice Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 4

When I came back from vacation a few weeks ago (or was it almost 2 months ago??) I learned that we have added some Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy. The clarifications are mainly about how long you will be able to request a single fix for a given Release Update (RU). Take this not as a constraint but a motivation to argue internally to not stay on too old Release Updates.

Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy

Photo by Saul Macias on Unsplash

How to find the important notes?

It is not easy to find this important note in MOS, …

How many fixes are you missing?

Posted on October 4, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich ORAdiff Patch Recommendation 2

Since we’ve had a public holiday in Germany yesterday, this feels almost like my Monday-morning-rant blog post. But seriously, this question came up so many times the past weeks. And I think it is worth a blog post to answer the question: How many fixes are you missing?

Photo by Paul Hutton on Unsplash

Why would you want to know?

To be frank, customers I discussed the patch bundle topic with recently are often not interested in knowing how many fixes they are missing. Discussions quickly emerge into “quality” or “ease” or “cost” for how to apply patches. But rarely …

September 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

Posted on September 29, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 4

It’s time again – and the new September 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available for download to you.

Photo by Spenser Sembrat on Unsplash

Where to download it?

As usual, the MOS Note: 2485457.1 offers you access to the new release, and to the previous versions of the tool as well. This new version will show the following version information:

java -jar autoupgrade.jar -version

build.version 23.4.230921
build.date 2023/09/21 14:43:05 -0400
build.hash 165be072
build.hash_date 2023/09/21 13:05:52 -0400
build.supported_target_versions 12.2,18,19,21
build.type production
build.label (HEAD, tag: v23.4, origin/stable_devel, stable_devel)

This version will be also included in the Jan 2024 RU, 19.22.0, but not …

In-person Upgrade Workshops in Brussels and Utrecht

Posted on September 27, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 11

For a long time we haven’t met in person I guess. But I know very well that the audiences in Brussels, Belgium, and Utrecht, Netherlands, are very active. And it’s actually the best to meet for In-person Upgrade Workshops in Brussels and Utrecht in October – not via zoom 🙂 And this is your change to sign up if you haven’t already.

In-person Upgrade Workshops in Brussels and Utrecht

Photo by Chris Lawton on Unsplash

When will it happen?

Very simple – and you are just one click away:

Both events …

Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich OOW 8

Thanks for using this blog post. It will be your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23. You will find the slide decks to download, the coming talks, the HOL as well as the survey links and other important sources. We wil update it every day throughout the conference. If you have questions, please use the “Comment” option below the blog post. And we won’t post content BEFORE the session but instead AFTER the sessions.

Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23

All you need, day by day

Please find – grouped day by day – each of our talks with the survey links and …

Your UPGRADE and MIGRATION program at OCW23

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich OOW 4

Are you coming to Oracle Cloud World 2023 and to Oracle DatabaseWorld at CloudWorld? Then you should read on since this may be your upgrade and migration program at OCW23. We are desperately looking forward to see and meet you in 2 weeks in Las Vegas. Don’t forget to add the talks you’d like to visit to your schedule as some of the rooms have limited capacity. And at least one of our labs is already sold out.

https://www.oracle.com/database/upgrades/#rc30p2

Who’s speaking and HOL’ing?

Speakers and your lab hosts will be:

Roy Swonger
Mike Dietrich
Daniel Overby Hansen
Rodrigo Jorge

Restricted Upgrade Support added for several releases of Oracle Database

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Release Schedule 5

You may have read my blog post from yesterday about the additional second year of Waived Extended Support for Oracle Database 19c. But there are more news such as Restricted Upgrade Support added for several releases of Oracle Database.

Restricted Upgrade Support added for several releases of Oracle Database

Photo by Georgi Kalaydzhiev on Unsplash

What has been announced?

When you consult our single-source-of-truth MOS Note: 742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases you may see also this message:

Restricted Upgrade Support has been added for 2024 through Customer Success Services (aka ACS)

But you have to look a bit closer and either go through the long …

2 years of Extended Support get waived for Oracle Database 19c

Posted on August 22, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Release Schedule 7

I learned the other week that 2 years of Extended Support get waived for Oracle Database 19c. So, just in case you haven’t seen it, please take note since this is important to know.

Photo by Bob Brewer on Unsplash

Where can you find the updated information?

You can find the updated information in our single-source-of-truth MOS Note: 742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases explaining:

Premier Support (PS) ends April 30, 2024, two years of waived Extended Support (ES) fees will be in effect from May 1, 2024 until April 30, 2026. Fees will be required

ORAdiff is live – compare two Oracle Database and Patch releases

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich ORAdiff 23

Did you ever wanted to find out the differences between two Oracle database releases? Today, I am super-super excited. Especially, since this was a long journey. And I have to thank our entire team, Rodrigo especially but also Bill and all the others working and helping here. THIS is the tool many of you have looking for since years. It is time now, ORAdiff is live – compare two Oracle Database and Patch releases.

ORAdiff is live - compare two Oracle Database and Patch releases

What is ORAdiff?

This tool is made for you. It allows you to compare two Oracle releases to each other. And not only core …

You may need to run root.sh again after RU patching

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

With the Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory – July 2023 – you may have spotted a change in the Database Release Update READMEs: You may need to run root.sh again after RU patching. Why is that?

You may need to run root.sh again after RU patching

Photo by Mario Häfliger on Unsplash

Let us have a quick look

I verified this with the 19.20.0 README on Linux. But I guess this applies to the other READMEs as well. Please bare in mind that this applies to the Database RUs only, not to Grid Infrastructure. You can find this new paragraph in it:

3.3.5 Update Permissions for extjob

Going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023

Posted on July 17, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 0

One year ago I’ve had the pleasure to visit India for the YATRA 2022 tour. I couldn’t do all 6 tour stops and had to skip Delhi and Hyderabad. But this year I will be there for all 6 cities. So I am going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023. And I hope to see YOU there, will I?

Going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023

Why you need to get your ticket NOW?

I guess, most of you in the area have tickets already. Just in case if you didn’t purchase one yet, it’s time to do so. It is not expensive but be …

Oracle Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS

Posted on July 11, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Linux Operating System 9

Oracle isn’t always evil. And I personally never understood why not everyb0dy is on Oracle Linux (OL) already. It’s free, it gets extremely well maintained. And some issues my customers saw with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) were fixed with OL literally more than a year before RHEL did. No blame to anybody – but that is my experience when customers tell me about issues over the past two years. But what is the future of Oracle Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS? And why am I writing this blog post?

Oracle Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS

Photo by Brigitta Schneiter on

Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available

Posted on July 5, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle Database 19c Release Schedule 16

I knew it would come – but we couldn’t tell you. And there were some rumors for a longer time. Anyhow, last week at the end of June 2023 Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available for download and in the Oracle Cloud. In case you wonder why I write “Arm” – I learned last week that the writing has been changed a while ago from ARM to Arm.

Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available

Where can you download it?

It is available for download already.

Oracle Database 19c(19.19) for Linux Arm (aarch64)
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/oracle-database-software-downloads.html#19c
19c Client(19.19) and Instant Client 19c(19.19) for Linux on Arm (aarch64)

June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

Posted on July 3, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 2

It’s time to exchange your AutoUpgrade tools with the most recent one when you plan to do upgrades or use it for patching already. The June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available for download from MOS Note:2485457.1. And in case you are still using DBUA for unknown reasons, please read this blog post, too.

June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

Photo by Jason Hudson on Unsplash

Where to download?

As usual, please download the newest version of AutoUpgrade via MOS Note:2485457.1 – Download AutoUpgrade.

What does this version improve?

New Features

BUG-34010941 – Incorparated the Health check package to identify database dictionary inconsistencies

DBUA Deprecation and future Desupport in Oracle Database 23c

Posted on June 21, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade DBUA Deprecated / Desupported 14

Daniel pointed me to Tim Hall’s blog post about deprecated and desupported features in Oracle Database 23c. And his first bullet point mentioned is the DBUA Deprecation and future Desupport in Oracle Database 23c. Since Daniel and I agree that this needs a bit more explanation, we would like to share more background information with you.

Photo by Ajeet Mestry on Unsplash

Deprecated vs Desupport?

At first, let me refresh an old topic. What does deprecated mean, and what is the difference to desupport? A long while ago I wrote this blog post about it, and nothing …

Virtual Classroom Seminar 17: From SR to Patch

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 4

This is your chance to sign up to our Virtual Classroom Seminar 17: From SR to Patch – Insights into the Oracle Database Development process. It will happen Thursday, June 22 at 16:00h CET. As usual, this is free of charge. It is your unique chance to get insights into our database development process. We lift the curtain for a bit, and tell you what’s happening behind the scenes. Don’t miss this chance.

Photo by Steven Van Elk on Unsplash

Why and how register?

This is the seminar telling you what happens behind the scenes. We will tell …

Patch Download Assistant has now MRPs as well

Posted on June 16, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

You gave feedback – we discussed it, and Muthu implemented it right away. This will be a shorter blog post about one of our most favorite MOS notes, MOS Note: 2118136.2 since the Patch Download Assistant has now MRPs as well.

Patch Download Assistant has now MRPs as well

Photo by Ben Pattinson on Unsplash

What is the Download Assistant all about?

We call MOS Note: 2118136.2 – Assistant: Download Reference for Oracle Database/GI Update, Revision, PSU, SPU(CPU), Bundle Patches, Patchsets and Base Releases one of our top 5 MOS notes because it is so handy. You need to download an RU? 3 clicks later you download it. …

Zero Downtime Upgrade of Timezone Data in Oracle 21c and 23c?

Posted on June 6, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Best Practice Oracle Database 21c Oracle Database 23c Time Zone - DST 2

There is a feature in Oracle Database 21c I planned to write about for a very long time: Zero Downtime Upgrade of Timezone Data in Oracle 21c and 23c. This sounds very promising – but let us take a closer look together in this blog post.

Photo by Bruno Figueiredo on Unsplash

Time Zone Upgrade?

There is of course an ongoing discussion whether and when you should upgrade the DST version of your database to a current value. Since we all live in a more and more globalized world, this topic becomes more and more important. Even more important …

Choose your desired time zone version (DST) upgrade

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Time Zone - DST Transportable 6

This morning I received a very reasonable question from a customer who has a time zone mismatch between source and target database. And he wants to transport into a PDB on Exadata. Even though, this sounds trivial at first sight, unfortunately it isn’t. But a bug fix done recently for a German automotive customer is very handy here. So let me show you how you can Choose your desired time zone version (DST) upgrade.

Choose your desired time zone version (DST) upgrade

Photo by Vince Veras on Unsplash

Where does the problem start?

In this particular – and not unusual case – the customer wants to migrate …

Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches

Posted on May 23, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 61

From all my quarterly blog posts you know that I patch usually in-place for space and other reasons. And you may have similar reasons when you patch. But it is not ideal – and just speaking about risk and downtime, you should always patch out-of-place. So let me show you how Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches works.

Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches

Photo by Stefano Ferretti on Unsplash

What do I need?

Actually, this is not complicated at all. And if you never done it this way, give it a try now please.

Base release Oracle Database 19.3.0 image
opatch 37 from

Patching process changes with MRPs

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 10

I blogged about the Monthly Recommended Patches (MRP) several times before. And due to the feedback you and we had given, a few things got changed. The main change is from having the MRP bundled as a system patch making opatchauto a requirement. See below what Patching process changes with MRPs were implemented recently.

Photo by Karthik Sreenivas on Unsplash

Before …

As you could read already in:

the introduction of the MRPs added one major flaw: They’ve been built as system patches which made …

Where it all starts

When, who, where?

Monitor Data Pump progress during impdp

What object types are left?

Certification Tab

How to find the important notes?

Why would you want to know?

Where to download it?

When will it happen?

All you need, day by day

Who’s speaking and HOL’ing?

What has been announced?

Where can you find the updated information?

What is ORAdiff?

Let us have a quick look

3.3.5 Update Permissions for extjob

Why you need to get your ticket NOW?

Where can you download it?

Where to download?

What does this version improve?

New Features

Deprecated vs Desupport?

Why and how register?

What is the Download Assistant all about?

Time Zone Upgrade?

Where does the problem start?

What do I need?

Before …

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