You may have read my previous blog post about patching all my environments to the January 2022 patch bundles. But since I do this in a very simple non-RAC, non-GI environment, I may not see issues you may have encountered. Some people commented – and I would like to share Some additional information regarding the Oracle 19.14.0 RUs . Still, please, this is NOT a collection of all open issues. I just see this blog post as a summary of the issues I have seen and heard so far.
Can I cleanup the previous Patch Bundles with opatch?
Today I will step on mined territory. Can I cleanup the previous Patch Bundles with opatch? Or can I just wipe out the old ones? That is a question which will bring people with temper quickly close to explosion. But let me start step by step, especially for those of you who aren’t familiar with this topic.
The secret directories
You L O V E secrets, don’t you? No? Well … then let me start with a secret which isn’t a secret to most people making it even more obscure.
When you install a patch with opatch or opatchauto, …
Continue reading...Patching all my environments with the January 2022 Patch Bundles
It’s patching time. When I checked an SR and had a quick discussion with a customer yesterday, Peter reminded me that it’s patching day. And at about 20:00h CET the new patch bundles appeared on MOS. So let me show you again Patching all my environments with the January 2022 Patch Bundles for 11.2.0.4, 12.2.0.1, 19c and 21c.
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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 …
Continue reading...How to get access to download older Oracle versions?
Today a friend asked me whether I know where to download Oracle 10g. Not a typo where I mixed 9 and 0 on my keyboard. So what if … How to get access to download older Oracle versions?
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What’s on oracle.com and eDelivery
In the Software Delivery Cloud (formerly known as eDelivery) you will find the following base releases of the Oracle database:
And the other source for downloads is oracle.com. But there you currently will be able to download Oracle Database 19c and Oracle Database 21c.
But there is no sight …
Continue reading...Goodbye 2021, welcome 2022 – and some thoughts
The second pandemic year is ending – and a new year starts. It’s time to say Goodbye 2021, welcome 2022 – and some thoughts …
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Goodbye 2021
This was kind of a strange year, wasn’t it? It least for me it was. As for many of you, a lot of things were quite similar to 2020 when the pandemic took off. For me this meant zero business related travel. Which was not very amusing on one side since I really miss customers, colleagues, my team – and those Oracle nerds out there. I’ve got …
Continue reading...Patching all my environments with the October 2021 Patch Bundles
My calendar has no error or NLS conversion issue – I was just way to busy the past two months with seminars. But today a colleague asked me whether my 21.4 install reports a 21.3 Build Label in the trace files. And this reminded me that I should now finally apply the patch bundles from October 2021 to our Hands-On Lab environment. So again, another blog post about Patching all my environments with the October 2021 Patch Bundles.
As usual, an important annotation upfront: I patch in-place due to space issues. But in reality, you …
Continue reading...Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 and GI are certified on OL8 and RHEL8
No worries, this isn’t a blog post from the vault. And I haven’t accidentally published something from the past just today. It is real. Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 and GI are certified on OL8 and RHEL8.
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What has been certified?
Thanks to my colleagues and a large customer in the UK, I received an email asking whether I have seen this information already on MOS. I haven’t. I knew that there were discussions but I had no actual date for the 12.2.0.1 certification on OL8 on my radar.
So in brief, these Linux 8 releases …
Continue reading...Virtual Classroom Seminars 10-12: Videos and Slides are available
Thanks to all of you for participating in our last 3 web seminar session. And since some of you had to leave earlier in one of the Virtual Classroom Seminars 10-12: Videos and Slides are available for download and on-demand viewing.
No registration is required – you can watch all of our seminars anytime.
And as usual, our workshops are free of buzz words and explain only technical topics. The presenters Roy Swonger, Daniel Overby Hansen, Rodrigo Jorge, Bill Beauregard and myself, we all love to talk about technical topics, show and share demos and put …
Continue reading...Virtual Classroom Seminar 12: Migrating Very Large Databases on Dec 9, 2021
It looks to me that every possible event in 2021 happens in October/November/December 2021. No complaint from my side – but just in case you wonder about so little update activity on our blogs since weeks. We are just so busy in delivering virtual seminars. Which is good – but it requires lots of effort on our side as we want to deliver decent quality and real tech content. And now, since the year is almost at its end, it is time for our final Virtual Classroom Seminar 12: Migrating Very Large Databases on Dec 9, 2021 this year.
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New AutoUpgrade version 20211115 (Nov 2021) available for download
Yesterday at DOAG conference I announced it already in our Upgrade and Migration Round Table – and just a few hours later my team mates made the New AutoUpgrade version 20211115 (Nov 2021) available for download.
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How to download AutoUpgrade?
Always download the most recent version of AutoUpgrade via MOS Note: 2485457.1 – AutoUpgrade Tool.
Just click on this link in the MOS Note:
Why do you need a new version?
A good number of issues being logged to us via blogs, tweets, SRs and eMails can be solved with the current …
Continue reading...Virtual Classroom Seminar: Fallback Is Your Insurance – on Nov 11, 2021
No worries, I haven’t become lazy recently. But the past weeks were more busy than anything I have experienced so far. And I had a full week off and enjoyed the silence and absence from blogs and cell phones and email in the mountains. But now I’m back – and surprise, surprise – this week on Thursday we’ll have our 11th Virtual Classroom Seminar: Fallback Is Your Insurance – on Nov 11, 2021.
When will it happen?
Thursday, Nov 11, 2021 – 10:00h CET
What are we going to talk about?
Fallback and Rollback. How to secure your job. …
Continue reading...How Low Can You Go? Zero Downtime Operations on Oct 21, 2021
No idea what you should do this week’s Thursday morning at 10:00h CET? No worries, I know what you should do. You’ll attend our 10th Virtual Classroom Seminar: How Low Can You Go? Zero Downtime Operations on Oct 21, 2021, part of our Upgrade to Oracle Database 19c series.
Virtual Classroom Seminars?
It will be the 10th Episode of our Virtual Classroom Seminar series. If you attend one or many before, you know that we don’t do marketing but transport only tech content. And always things we tried out by ourselves beforehand or used them already in many …
Continue reading...Oracle Database 21c for Windows is available as EE, SE2 and XE
Oracle Database 21c for Windows is available as EE, SE2 and XE now for download following the Linux version with a few weeks of delay.
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Enterprise Edition and Standard Edition 2
Please find the download for Oracle Database 21c and Oracle Grid Infrastructure 21c for Windows here:
Express Edition
Regarding Oracle Database 21c XE, please see this blog post regarding the Linux version:
I just posted a few week ago.
Further Links and Information
Downloads
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/oracle-database-software-downloads.html
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/oracle21c-windows-downloads.html
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/xe-downloads.html
Documentation
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/21/ntdbi/
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/21/ntcli/
- https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/21/cwwin/
Related Blog Posts
… Continue reading...Upgrading a PDB with JVM may result in ORA-7445 joevm_invokevirtual
As you know, this blog is also my brain dump about Oracle topics. Since this one happened yesterday, mostly at night with the help of my team mates and the Java team, I’d like to write it down into this blog post: Upgrading a PDB with Java may result in ORA-7445 joevm_invokevirtual() as it is still fresh and may affect you as well. If you don’t have PDBs, if you don’t have Java (or JVM) in it or if you upgraded already to Oracle Database 19c, you can stop reading now.
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What
… Continue reading...Oracle Database 21c XE (Express Edition) for Linux
I haven’t blogged for a while. And I know, there are a lot of comments waiting in the queue to be approved and answered. But meanwhile, let me tell you that Oracle Database 21c XE (Express Edition) for Linux is available for download now.
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It’s been a while
Oracle XE (Express Edition) is the free version of the Oracle Database with almost full Enterprise Edition feature set but with some additional restrictions. The last version being available was Oracle 18.4. Now the 21c version is available for Linux.
If you wait for the Windows …
Continue reading...Which releases allow you to upgrade to Oracle Database 21c?
As I wrote before, the release you should upgrade to is clearly Oracle Database 19c. Unless you need to use one of the new features in Oracle 21c. But as you have seen in the past, some of them get backported to 19c as well. Still, in case you can’t resists or you love upgrades as much as we do, the question may be: Which releases allow you to upgrade to Oracle Database 21c?
Upgrade-supported Releases
The Database Upgrade Guide for Oracle 21c is your best friend here. Right at the beginning in the first chapter you will find this …
Continue reading...Pitfall: Upgrade to 21c fails when ORDIM is present but no SDO
You may have read my previous blog post about Upgrading a non-CDB to Oracle Database 21c. And I referred to a potential Pitfall: Upgrade to 21c fails when ORDIM is present but no SDO. In this blog post I would like to explain how to avoid this pitfall beforehand and explain what needs to be done.
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What’s the problem?
In my previous blog post I showed you the ideal and normal way. But during my tests I came across an issue I was not aware of – and I simply had no …
Continue reading...Upgrading a non-CDB to Oracle Database 21c with AutoUpgrade
Yesterday I wrote about the installation of Oracle Database 21c on Linux. But today it is time for Upgrading to Oracle Database 21c with AutoUpgrade.
AutoUpgrade
You may have heard it already from us and other colleagues, but we can’t repeat it often enough: There is only one recommended tool to upgrade your databases – and this is AutoUpgrade.
In my 21c home, I’m checking the deployed version of AutoUpgrade at first:
[CDB3] oracle@hol:/u01/app/oracle/product/21/rdbms/admin $ java -jar autoupgrade.jar -version build.hash 57ab246 build.version 21.1.3 build.date 2021/04/21 13:32:13 build.max_target_version 21 build.supported_target_versions 12.2,18,19,21 build.type production
Now please …
Continue reading...Installation of Oracle Database 21c on Oracle Linux
As you may have expected already since Oracle Database 21c is available for download on Linux, I will publish some additional posts this week. Today, I will give a quick insight into the installation process.
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CDB-only architecture
As you may or may not be aware, Oracle Database 21c is the first Oracle database release with CDB-only architecture. You can’t have a non-CDB in Oracle 21c anymore. Ah, wait a bit, didn’t I blog 1.5 years ago that Oracle Database 20c will be the first CDB-only release? True. But as you saw, there …
Continue reading...Oracle Database 21c is available for download on Linux
It took a while into 2021 – but now Oracle Database 21c is available for download on Linux.
Download Location
Please go to either oracle.com or edelivery:
- https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/oracle-database-software-downloads.html
- https://edelivery.oracle.com
On edelivery you need to search for “Oracle Database”:
On oracle.com you need to scroll down a bit:
Other OS Ports
As you can see in MOS Note: 742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases – Table 2, Oracle Database 21c will be available on Linux x86-64, Microsoft Windows x64 and HP-UX Itanium. It won’t be available on SPARC or Intel Solaris, neither will it …
Continue reading...DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and Out-Of-Place Patching
Well, you see, this is most likely my special DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE week. And since I receive quite a number of questions, it may be good to discuss here about DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and Out-Of-Place Patching?
Out-of-place Patching
When you patch out-of-place with a new home – which is clearly our recommendation – you may see another tiny pitfall with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE.
When you check DBA_DIRECTORIES, you will find two directories being related to DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE.
SQL> select directory_name, directory_path from dba_directories where directory_name like '%OPTIM%' DIRECTORY_NAME DIRECTORY_PATH -------------------- -------------------------------------------------- DBMS_OPTIM_LOGDIR /u01/app/oracle/product/19/cfgtoollogs DBMS_OPTIM_ADMINDIR /u01/app/oracle/product/19/rdbms/admin
You see the “19” in the …
Continue reading...DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and disabling another fix
Yes, DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE week it is. As I received so many good questions and input after my blog post whether you should enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE or not, now I can easily fill the rest of the week with new content. Today it will be about a customer’s question regarding DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and disabling another fix.
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Disabling another fix
The setup is pretty simple. Stefan wanted to disable a different fix while he had all fixes from the most recent RU enabled on purpose. Sounds simple but has a dangerous pitfall.
This is what …
Continue reading...Should you enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE?
Today, Paul mailed me asking a question we internally discussed many times in the past weeks: Should you enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE? And there is no easy simple answer. But I can give a recommendation based on my experience from many projects.
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DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – a quick recap
Just in case you haven’t dealt with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE recently, here is a quick recap.
With below procedure, you can list the available potentially behavior changing optimizer fixes in the current patch bundle – and you can turn them on or off at will:
SQL> set serveroutput on;… Continue reading...
We are hiring: Software Development Senior Director “Database Utilities”
This is the first time that I send out such a blog post. But since many of you read this blog, and a high number of people follow me on LinkendIn, maybe you’ll be interested as We are hiring: Software Development Senior Director “Database Utilities”. And it could be you!
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I can tell you by heart that you’d join one of the best teams in Oracle.
So please read the job description here – and if your profile matches plus you are looking for a new challenge, you should apply right away. You …
Continue reading...After patching, Spatial Index creation fails with ORA-13249
Thanks again to Peter Lehmann from T-Systems for highlighting this issue to me. After patching, Spatial Index creation fails with ORA-13249. And Peter’s customer was quite worried. But see what may have caused this, and how we fixed it.
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What happened?
Peter patched a system from 19.10.0 to 19.11.0. This database has undergone an upgrade from 12.2.0.1 to 19.7.0 before, then got patched to 19.9.0 before. The database has the Oracle Locator only but no Spatial installed. The patching including datapatch worked fine. All seemed to be good. Until the customer tried to …
Continue reading...
