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Patching recommendations: Which route is the best? RUs, MRPs, n-1??

Be aware, this is a longer Monday blog post. Upfront, I am not the master of patching. And I clearly see that many of you struggle with the current situation. Not only regarding Oracle software but I guess, this extends to almost every software or OS. Since I get asked almost daily about the ideal approach, and since we discuss these topics internally across the tech teams as well, I thought I would share here my personal Patching recommendations: Which route is the best? RUs, MRPs, n-1??

Patching recommendations: Which route is the best? RUs, MRPs, n-1??

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Prelude

Two important things I’d like to …

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Posted on September 8, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Optimizer Patch Recommendation 3

Christian asked this question today. Specifically, in his case for Bug 26749785 – PERF_DIAG: NEED TO HAVE MORE CONTROL IN DICTIONARY FOR AUTO_STATS_ADVISOR_TASK. Several of his customers suffer from this issue, and they repeatedly need to ask for backports or merge patches. I have seen this several times as well. Anyway, he is not only one who asked: Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Inclusion criteria

In order to be able to include a bug fix into an MRP, CSPU or RU, it has to be …

GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen

Posted on September 4, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich ASM / RAC / GI Flaws and Pitfalls Oracle Database 19c 4

Thanks to Peter Lehmann who always alerts me about findings and encounters he had in his test and production RAC cluster environments. Peter dropped me an email the other day, and I share his suspicion that this may effect many in the coming weeks operating RAC environments. If you don’t have a RAC, you may not see this happening with GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen.

GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen

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What happens?

It took me a bit of searching, and Peter collected a lot of information already.

Two months after patching GI …

Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshops in Warsaw and Prague on Sep 7 and 8

Posted on September 3, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Workshop 0

Quick blog post today since we still have a few remaining seats open and available for next week for the Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshops in Warsaw and Prague on Sep 7 and 8, 2026. Your chance to sign up now and grab your slot. And if you are at POUG, too, then we may meet before already.

Upgrade / Migration / Patching Workshops in Warsaw and Prague on Sep 7 and 8

Photo by Iwona Castiello d’Antonio on Unsplash

When and where?

We will deliver two workshops next week, Monday in Warsaw, Poland, and Tuesday in Prague, Czech Republic. It’s full day workshops – and you better stay till the end …

Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP?

Posted on September 2, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 0

This question came up by a customer, and it was referring to the FAQ MOS note for MRPs. In brief, it was stated that you could apply a higher RU into a home where an MRP up to MRP3 had been installed in the previous home. So the question raised to me was: Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP as it was mentioned in the FAQ document?

Can I apply an RU to a home with an MRP?

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Which note, and what’s the statement?

The FAQ2283 – Introducing Monthly Recommended Patches (MRPs) and FAQ stated the following under Q18:

Q18:

How to rollback an MRP

Posted on September 1, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 0

You know, I am not a fan of in-place patching. Actually, I think everyone should always patch out-of-place. But I know that for instance EBS with a 19c database requires in-place patching, and out-of-place will be supported only with 26ai for EBS. Therefore, in relation to an exercise I did over the weekend, let me share how to rollback an MRP.

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What is an MRP?

Very briefly, it stands for Monthly Recommended Patch – thus MRP. And it co-exists with CSPUs. I described the difference here. Read more if you are interested.

CPU, CSPU,

More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs

Posted on August 24, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

There are questions coming in from time to time, and I see that not everything can be always covered in an FAQ document. But we try our best. And sometimes, there are questions even I need to think twice before I answer. Here is the newest for More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs.

More clarifications on RUs, MRPs and CSPUs

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What do you need to read before?

Don’t even read further if you haven’t read already:

The latter MOS FAQ is incredibly …

ORA-600 [] and ORA-8103 errors can happen after TTS Import into 19c

Posted on August 19, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation Transportable 1

This is not a new finding – and it is a very rare error. But you may only find it days, months or even years after a TTS migration has been completed. You may see a rare corruption issue, and it may sleep in your database. The error pattern would be: ORA-600 [<objdchk>] and ORA-8103 errors can happen after TTS Import into 19c when you query certain data sets. A customer of ours has encountered this a two years after an xTTS migration in an archival database. And since my team works with a lot of large migrations, I think

LAOUC 2026: Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich User Groups Workshop 0

In a week from now I should arrive in Asuncion, Paraguay, if all goes well. It it time for the Latin America Oracle User Group tour 2026 – and it has been started already going from north to south. I will participate in three stops at LAOUC 2026: Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay. And I am looking forward to see you soon.

Paraguay

🇵🇾 August 26 | Paraguay | Oracle Users Group Paraguay (OUGPY)

Yeah, you beat us Germans at the world cup, and luckily, I did not watch it since I was traveling abroad. Congratulations 🙂 In reverse, I …

New AutoUpgrade version 26.5 is available (plus 26.4)

Posted on August 13, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 32

I totally forgot to announce the 26.4 version of AutoUpgrade. And now, the new AutoUpgrade version 26.5 is available (plus 26.4) already. The AutoUpgrade Development team did an amazing job in shortening the release cycle. This way, we can deliver quick fixes faster to you. When you study the list of enhancements and fixes carefully, some of you will say: Great, this is what I was waiting for.

Photo by julien Tromeur on Unsplash

Download AutoUpgrade

As I described already in AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade, you have several ways to fetch …

Transportable Tablespaces fails with ORA-01647 – TABLESPACE IS READ-ONLY

Posted on August 5, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Transportable 2

This is a blog post I wanted to write a long time ago – and I missed it. Today, my best buddy Jony Safi shared an issue from a customer migration he had been pulled in the other day. I read the SR, and it dawned me that others may have seen this error as well. As a result, Transportable Tablespaces fails with ORA-01647 – TABLESPACE IS READ-ONLY – and there are two ways to solve this. Let me add ORA-6512 and ORA-1647 in case you search without the trailing zero.

Transportable Tablespaces fails with ORA-01647 - TABLESPACE IS READ-ONLY

Photo by Ben Harritt on Unsplash

What is the

Long-Term Release Updates are paused

Posted on July 17, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 2

Since several customers asked me about it, I realized that I have never blogged about LTRUs – and as of now, Long-Term Release Updates are paused. Let me explain what the concept meant, where you can find information about it and what it would mean in your environment.

Photo by Alex Boyd on Unsplash

Long-Term Release Update

The idea is smart for those customers who can’t move forward on Release Updates (RU) as quickly as we recommend it. Which means: apply them quarterly. Long-Term Release Updates (LTRU) seemed to be a good approach. You take an LTRU, and then we …

Join us in Bengaluru and Hyderabad for SANGAM 2026

Posted on July 16, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Conference 0

Many of you may have seen the social media posts already. But just in case you were in doubt, please get your ticket asap and join us in Bengaluru and Hyderabad for SANGAM 2026 this weekend. AIOUG (All India Oracle User Group – or more modern, AI Oracle User Group) is organizing the biggest and best Oracle conference in the APAC region with world-class speakers.

Still not convinced yet?

I understand, it will be on Saturday and Sunday. Your weekend.

But guess what: It’s our weekend, too.

Don’t waste time relaxing on your sofa – join us, come by, …

Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events

Posted on July 15, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Flaws and Pitfalls Oracle AI Database 26ai Patch Recommendation 0

This issue is caused by an internal change, and we hit this now with two very large customer upgrades recently. Therefore, I would like to point to a fix, a workaround and the following RU in case you see your Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events.

Upgrade to 26ai may hang due to block checking events

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What would you see?

This issue can happen with cloning, PDB refreshable clones or just a copy or restore of your database for the subsequent upgrade to Oracle AI Database 26ai. It is not dependent on AutoUpgrade but since AutoUpgrade is the only …

CDB upgrades – explaining catctl_options

Posted on July 13, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade catctl.pl Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Performance Tuning 0

When you upgrade your entire CDB with AutoUpgrade, there is a parameter which allows you some tuning or tweaking. And I often see some misunderstanding here. Therefore, for CDB upgrades – explaining catctl_options is my focus today.

CDB upgrades - explaining catctl_options

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catctl_options – what it is meant for

This AutoUpgrade config file parameter allows you to set specific settings, mostly for tuning, but also to override some defaults. In the documentation you will find the whole list of options. You can set it in your AutoUpgrade config file, e.g.:

upg1.catctl_options=-T

catctl_options in CDB upgrades

Here, …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples

Posted on July 9, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 13

Let me take off into the 4th part of this blog post series: AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples. I’d like to show you some of the most common examples and use cases we came across. And of course, I will add some additional (and hopefully useful) information on top.

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 4: Download Examples

The patch parameter

At first, in my previous blog post I used patch1.patch=RECOMMENDED (by the way, upper/lowercase does not matter). But I didn’t explain the whole extent and possibilities of the patch parameter to you.

Here’s a list of the most important parameter …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 3: Download Patches

Posted on July 8, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 46

You completed Part 1 and Part 2 of this blog post series already? Then you are ready for AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 3: Download Patches. Let us start simple, and then increase the scope to fetch the patches for various operating system platforms in your local patching folder.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 3: Download Patches

Which download?

Strange headline – but you’ll see what I mean. At first, we need to clarify the various download options for patches.

Download patches directly from MOS/ARU by yourself
This usually means that you go to the various MOS notes, such as KB106822 /

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials

Posted on July 7, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 13

In this blog post series AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials will be our topic for today. If you are tired of going through MOS notes over and over again to identify the most important fixes and fetch them, you need to automate it. But in order to automate the download, you need to infuse your MOS credentials into the AutoUpgrade keystore. Let’s do this together now.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 2: MOS Credentials

Create directories

Before we really start, you should define a few directories at first. In my case, I copied the newest version of AutoUpgrade into /Users/mdietric/TEMP/AU. …

AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade

Posted on July 6, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 16

I was traveling the past two weeks, and I met a lot of customers who still “enjoy” navigating through MOS and searching for the right patches to download. This blog post series will give you ultimate relief, and it will ease your life as DBAs and sysadmins. You must patch more frequently – and this is the key solution for everyone. Let’s get us started with AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 1: Download AutoUpgrade today.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 1

Download the newest version of AutoUpgrade

Our first task is simple. You will find autoupgrade.jar in your ?/rdbms/admin directory since Oracle …

How to deal with statistics when you migrate?

Posted on June 11, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c SPA - SQL Performance Analyzer Statistics Workshop 0

Have you done migration projects in the past, or do you have some upcoming projects, and you wonder how you should treat all sorts of statistics in your database? What is the better option? Keep and migrate the existing ones? Regather them right away? A partial-move approach? How to deal with statistics when you migrate? Then this is for you. Sign up to our next Virtual Classroom Seminar on Thursday, June 18 at 14:00h CEST: Statistics and Migrations – Well-Kept Secrets Revealed

How to deal with statistics when you migrate?

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

What’s the topic?

Statistics and Migrations – Well-kept Secrets Revealed…

CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU – some clarifications

Posted on June 9, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 24

I just returned from a 2 week vacation in Asia this weekend. And I was following from a distance. On May 28, the first CSPUs got released, some MOS notes got published. There are a lot of patching options now. CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU – some clarifications may be needed.

CPU, CSPU, MRP, RU - some clarifications

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The Prelude

On May 4, 2026, I published this blog post Patch your database against AI cybersecurity threads following these two announcements:

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – what it shows, and what oradiff lists

Posted on May 26, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Optimizer Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c ORAdiff Parameters 2

I blogged multiple times about DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE, the package to work with the Fix Control Persistence (FCP) framework in the database. And we also gave recommendations over the years that you need to test carefully when you are going to enable the fixes while patching. But it is a good practice do enable them when you do upgrade testing, and also when you start creating new databases in a new environment. Just make sure you keep the settings equal across your environments. The other day I received a question from Dennis asking about DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – what it shows, and what oradiff …

Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat – welcome Micronaut

Posted on May 19, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Installation OCW Oracle AI Database 26ai Oracle Database 19c 10

Anil Nair wrote it in his MAA Blog Post on April 28: “Oracle is simplifying the software stack by replacing Apache Tomcat application server with Micronaut framework.”. And since some of you asked already, let me give you a bit more information about this change in 19.30 and 19.31 with Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat – welcome Micronaut.

Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat - welcome Micronaut

Photo by Hayrullah Gozcu on Unsplash – and I know, the jet in the picture isn’t an F-14 Tomcat 🙂

It happens automatically

At first, no action is needed from your side. This behavior change happens automatically.

It is the …

Does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?

Posted on May 15, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich JVM Patch Recommendation 8

Some of you had been trapped by ORA-1403 during patching to Oracle Database 19.30. I blogged about this in February this year, and I had to update the blog post a few times until we collected all the issues. The root cause got fixed and included in Release Update 19.31. But over the past days I received a good number of messages about the issue being there in 19.31 again. So, does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?. Yes, and no.

Does OJVM patching fail again with ORA-1403 in 19.31?

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Why do some see the error again?

First of …

RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again

Posted on May 13, 2026 by Mike.Dietrich Exadata / ODA Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 67

Since several people mailed me yesterday and this morning about Release Update 19.31 been not available for download from My Oracle Support, here is a the explanation about why RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again.

RU 19.31 has been put on hold and will be available soon again

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What has happened?

We released a MOS Note with detailed information: (KB888427) Oracle Database 19.31 Patch Hold Due to ORA-00600 Errors on Exadata 25.2:

Oracle Database 19.31 patches are currently on hold due to an issue affecting environments running Exadata Software Release 25.2.* and Oracle Database 19.31.

An updated version

Prelude

Inclusion criteria

What happens?

When and where?

Which note, and what’s the statement?

What is an MRP?

What do you need to read before?

Paraguay

Download AutoUpgrade

What is the

Long-Term Release Update

Still not convinced yet?

What would you see?

catctl_options – what it is meant for

catctl_options in CDB upgrades

The patch parameter

Which download?

Create directories

Download the newest version of AutoUpgrade

What’s the topic?

The Prelude

It happens automatically

Why do some see the error again?

What has happened?

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