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

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

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.

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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 4

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

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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 27

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

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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 9

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.

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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 …

Cleaning up older patch artifacts – improving opatch performance

Posted on May 16, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 18

This blog post is about a feature not only I but you did ask for actually for a long time. Cleaning up older patch artifacts – improving opatch performance. Both in one opatch release. And opatch 12.2.0.1.37 from April 2023 has it.

Cleaning up older patch artifacts - improving opatch performance

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A little bit of history

One of the longest journey I had ever done in my long time in Oracle was helping customers to find a voice for patch cleanup. Oracle 19c is a long term support release. Many customers upgraded to it already. And you apply patches on a regular …

Virtual Classroom Seminar 16: Release and Patching Strategy for Oracle 19c and 23c

Posted on May 8, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation Release Schedule Workshop 9

There are just two days left to sign up for our Virtual Classroom Seminar 16: Release and Patching Strategy for Oracle 19c and 23c. We’ll talk to you on Wednesday, May 10 at 16:00h CET.

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What’s the topic?

We’ll try to cover everything for your best release and patching strategy with Oracle Database 19c of course, but also moving forward to Oracle Database 23c. Our big focus will be several aspects of patching. You’ll hear us talking not only about standard database patching but especially about patching in RAC environments.

We’ll put together a …

Datapatch may be slower when Traditional and Unified Auditing are on

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Auditing Flaws and Pitfalls 7

I wrote several times especially about Unified Auditing in the past. It is a very efficient and useful way to audit operations in the database. But you need to be a bit careful about what’s on, and what isn’t. Now we recently had a customer case where it was clearly proven that Datapatch may be slower when Traditional and Unified Auditing are on. But how can this happen?

Datapatch may be slower when Traditional and Unified Auditing are on

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Recapping Traditional Auditing

At first, I am neither a security not an auditing expert. But I played quite a bit with Unified Auditing over the …

Oracle Database World in London – THE event in April 2023

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Conference Workshop 7

You may have heard or seen – or even registered already – for the regional Oracle Cloud World in London on April 19, 2023 already. But were you aware that the “event to be at” happens just the next day on April 20? It will be Oracle Database World in London – THE event in April 2023.

When and where will it happen?

April 20, 2023, a Thursday will be the day to mark in your calendar. We’ll meet you at Oracle Database World, the regional database event to be at in London this year at the …

Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release is available

Posted on April 4, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle Database 23c 5

Yesterday at the regional Oracle Cloud World (OCW) in Singapore it got announced: Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release is available for download from now on.

Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release is available

Where can you download it?

That is most likely the most important link you are looking for. You can download the Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release from here: Download Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release. You will download an RPM.

Please note that Oracle Database 23c on Linux requires your OS to be either OL8 or RHEL8.

You can find the preinstall package here:

Release 8

And my colleague Gerald Venzl

Virtual Classroom Seminar #15: Data Pump Best Practices on April 5, 2023

Posted on March 23, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Best Practice Data Pump Workshop 4

We are quite busy these days. And I am lagging behind in answering your comments on the blog. So please be patient, nothing will be lost. Meanwhile, we work hard on the slides for our next Virtual Classroom Seminar #15: Data Pump Best Practices on April 5, 2023.

Virtual Classroom Seminar #15: Data Pump Best Practices on April 5, 2023

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What will be the topic?

Data Pump Best Practices and Real World Scenarios tells you already what we are planning to do. After we had a “Data Pump Deep Dive with Development” seminar last year (time flies so quickly), we decided that we should tackle …

A patch (RU, OJVM, 32-bit) is not available yet – where will I find information?

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 2

A longer while ago I wrote a blog post about the topic that a patch (RU, OJVM, 32-bit) is not available yet – where will I find information? But I wrote it too specific. And it is even hard for me to find my older blog post. Since several of you mailed me the past weeks with a variety of questions regarding patch availability I decided to write down my thoughts – but this time in a more generic way. And I hope it is helpful.

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Why are patches missing?

At first, I …

March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available

Posted on March 1, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade 14

It’s download time again. So please refresh the AutoUpgrade release you are using with the new one since the March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available now for download.

March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available

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Where to download?

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

What does this version improve?

A lot.

Really, a lot of things got improved.

You’ll find the change.log for tracking purposes at the bottom of the note. I’d wish everybody would do such a transparent change tracking as the AutoUpgrade team does. This makes …

Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle 19c

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Optimizer Patch Recommendation 18

Christian Pfundtner pointed me to the fact that my old blog post about the Statistics Advisor from 2017 may not be up to date anymore. And he further pointed out that some of his clients still suffer from issues with the tool. Hence, let me refresh the topic with Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle 19c. And thanks to Christian for the pointers.

Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle 19c

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Overview

At first, I won’t rewrite the entire blog post but instead focus on recent findings. Therefore, you may please want to read my previous blog post about the …

ORA-13516 “CATPROC not valid” during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 18

I thought I could relax this week using my leftover vacation days from 2022. But this issue is triggering me since some of you mailed me already. Maybe this blog post can prevent others from being trapped by this issue: ORA-13516 “CATPROC not valid” during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0. And as a prolog, you will NOT see the below issue when you started your database in NORMAL mode for the execution of datapatch.

ORA-13516 "CATPROC not valid" during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0

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What is the symptom?

Regardless of whether you patch to Oracle Database RU 19.18.0 manually or with …

Hide and Seek with RU 19.18.0

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 44

One and a half weeks ago we released the Database and Grid Infrastructure Release Updates (RU) 19.18.0. You could read on the blog how to apply it, and you could read also about an alert. So far, all was more or less transparent but apparently sort of an Hide and Seek with RU 19.18.0 has happened. So let me shed some light.

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Heads Up!

I am just the messenger trying to bring some light into the topic. Neither is our team responsible nor do we have any sort of control on this process. I …

Suppress nasty error messages and traces during datapatch

Posted on January 31, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 4

A few days ago I published my quarterly blog post in the series of Patching all my environments … And I mentioned that datapatch took a bit longer for 19.18.0 than usual. In the alert I’ve had nasty error messages or warnings. And Walter (thanks!) commented immediately with some advice.

Suppress nasty error messages and traces during datapatch

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What are these messages?

Actually, I saw them before already. Since I always create CUSTOM databases with a template I spotted those warnings the first time when I was wondering why DB creation took so abnormally long with Multitenant. I discovered KGL Heap …

MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 9

You may have read my previous blog posts about MRPs (Monthly Recommended Patches). And today I did a quick check with Rodrigo. We both were a bit surprised to have the MRP3 for 19.17.0 add a lot of fixes to a standard RDBMS installation. So we were investigating a bit further. As a teaser, read on to see that MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise.

MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise

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How did we find out?

The MRP3 for Oracle Database 19.17.0 got released just a week ago. You can navigate to it via MOS …

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 26

Mid-of January. It’s patching time again. So let me show you the quarterly exercise of Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches. Let’s see this time if I will have to remove my Data Pump Bundle Patch and the 19.17.0 MRP2 at first when I patch in-place.

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

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As usual, 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. Please see this blog post about how to apply the RU directly when you provision a new home with OUI…

Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux

Posted on January 25, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 59

Some of you may have seen the alert already released yesterday. And thanks to Peter Lehmann again for alerting me. When you logon to MyOracle Support, you will find it simply in the alert section to the left. On Jan 25, 2023, this Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux has been released.

Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux

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What is the situation?

Due to an issue described in MOS Note: 2923428.1 – LMON trace file with repeated entries of “Submitting asynchronized dump request” the Release Updates (RU) 19.18.0 for the Oracle Database and …

Rolling back or removing all patch SQL changes

Posted on January 20, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Microsoft Windows Single-/Multitenant 2

This is quite an interesting case I’ve had to scratch my head at first as well. Magnus mailed me the other day asking for a client since the PDB compatibility check errored out with a patch conflict. We discussed the topic but the most easiest workaround to me was Rolling back or removing all patch SQL changes from the PDB before unplug. And since I had to look up the command I’d rather put it on the blog in case you or I need it again one day.

Rolling back or removing all patch SQL changes

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What is the case?

I …

RUs contain now all available DST patches

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation Time Zone - DST 8

At first, Happy New Year everybody. There was silence on the blog for some weeks but I took an extended longer time off. Well, and once you return, there are some emails in your inbox which need some work. You’ll see several new blog posts getting published in the coming days. Back to normal, yesterday night RU 19.18.0 among other patch bundles has been released. And there’s a huge fantastic surprise in it: RUs contain now all available DST patches.

RUs contain now all available DST patches

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What’s the story?

There are some good news. We discussed this internally …

Applying the MRP from December 2022 to Oracle 19c

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 16

Well, couldn’t there be a nicer pre-Christmas present than the December 2022 Monthly Recommended Patches (MRP)? You know, I’m just kidding. But since I received the first questions from customers – and before I send an email internally – I wanted to try out Applying the MRP from December 2022 to Oracle 19c.

Applying the MRP from December 2022 to Oracle 19c

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Download the December MRP

Actually you need to access MOS Note: 888.1 -Primary Note for Database Proactive Patch Program since the link is not in MOS Note: 555.1 – Oracle Database 19c Important Recommended One-Off Patches even though it …

Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch – non-rolling but online?

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Data Pump Patch Recommendation 19

Yesterday I have blogged about an issue with the highly recommended Data Pump Bundle Patches. And today I would like to shed some light on how to Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch – non-rolling but online?

Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch - non-rolling but online?

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Download the Data Pump Bundle Patch

You can download the correct Data Pump Bundle Patch from MOS Note: 2819284.1 – Data Pump Recommended Proactive Patches For 19.10 and Above. It’s just a few MB, and it is a generic patch with a separate download for the Windows platform. So far so good.

…

Data Pump Bundle Patches: You may need to download and apply again

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Data Pump Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 22

The Data Pump Bundle Patches get released on top of every RU since over a year now. But a real issue with missing files got detected recently. So in case you had applied Data Pump Bundle Patches: You may need to download and apply again.

Data Pump Bundle Patches: You may need to download and apply again

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What is in the Data Pump Bundle Patch?

The Data Pump Bundle Patch is a convenient and very useful vehicle to apply Data Pump patches which are usually not included in a Release Update (RU). While RUs are per definitionem RAC-rolling and Standby-First, the Data Pump Bundle …

A change in Oracle 12.2 and 19c with MV Refresh Stats Collection

Posted on November 23, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Best Practice Upgrade / Migration 6

It’s not easy for me to put the topic into a searchable title for this blog post. The feature or change I will write about today came in actually with Oracle Database 12.2.0.1. But since many of you will move directly from Oracle 11.2.0.4 or 12.1.0.2 to 19c, the Long Term Support release, it may affect you as well. So let me explain a change in Oracle 12.2 and 19c with MV Refresh Stats Collection.

A change in Oracle 12.2 and 19c with MV Refresh Stats Collection

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A customer story

The local Support team asked me a few weeks ago whether I have heard …

Time Zone Upgrade?

Where does the problem start?

What do I need?

Before …

A little bit of history

What’s the topic?

Recapping Traditional Auditing

When and where will it happen?

Where can you download it?

What will be the topic?

Why are patches missing?

Where to download?

What does this version improve?

Overview

What is the symptom?

Heads Up!

What are these messages?

How did we find out?

What is the situation?

What is the case?

What’s the story?

Download the December MRP

Download the Data Pump Bundle Patch

What is in the Data Pump Bundle Patch?

A customer story

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