The other day I received a question from a colleague about the risk of having GI and database both not being on the same RU. And a long while ago I blogged about it. We recommend that you keep it in synch. But you don’t have to. At the same time I received a wish from Ernst Leber to post something on the blog he and his colleague had trouble with when upgrading to 19c in a RAC environment. AutoUpgrade hung. But he titled his email with “not an AutoUpgrade problem!”. Still I agree, it is worth to write …
Continue reading...Upgrade to Oracle 19c on Exadata with AutoUpgrade
This will be a short but very important blog post for those of you with Exadata systems. Then you should Upgrade to Oracle 19c on Exadata with AutoUpgrade.
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Why is this important?
Until a week ago, the database upgrade MyOracle Support (MOS) note showed the process using the DBUA. And we had plenty of customers asking us why AutoUpgrade isn’t mentioned there. Our team worked already with some of you, and we knew that AutoUpgrade works perfectly fine and takes over some manual actions.
But our MAA team wanted a perfect solution. They …
Continue reading...Bug Fixing Support for Oracle 18c ends June 30, 2021
Time flies so quickly. I remember when we had intense discussions with a very large automotive customer whether they should use Oracle 18c, or rather wait for Oracle 19c. They went straight to Oracle 19c. But I know that many customers out there are still on Oracle 18c. So this date coming up in less than 3 weeks is very important for you. Bug Fixing Support for Oracle 18c ends June 30, 2021.
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Oracle Database 18c
I quickly checked on my blog. On March 20, 2018 I wrote When will Oracle Database 18c …
Continue reading...Welcome onboard at Oracle: Rodrigo Jorge
We are thrilled to announce that as of June 7, 2021 we have a new member in our Product Management team: Rodrigo Jorge joins our group as Product Manager for Database Cloud Migrations, Upgrade and Patching. Many of you may know Rodrigo already. He “was” an Oracle ACE Director until June 6, presented at many conferences and user group events – and he has an excellent technical blog. We are really excited to welcome Rodrigo at Oracle.
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Who is Rodrigo?
Rodrigo is joining us from Accenture / Enkitec. He’s very well known in Unplug / Plug / Upgrade with AutoUpgrade
When we launched AutoUpgrade, it could upgrade non-CDBs and CDBs with all PDBs. Soon after, it learned to upgrade a non-CDB and plug it into an existing CDB as a new PDB. And then, as next step, we added Unplug / Plug / Upgrade with AutoUpgrade. In this case you have a PDB (or hopefully more than one), and you’d like to upgrade one or many PDBs by moving them to a new CDB with a higher database version.
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Test Setup
As test setup I use our Hands-On Lab.
I will …
Continue reading...Some very important MOS Notes when you upgrade and patch
Today, I would like to publish only a short blog post with some hints to MyOracle Support (MOS) notes we find quite helpful. The idea of all these notes I will list below is to help you finding the right patches before you upgrade or patch to Oracle 19c. So see our collection of Some very important MOS Notes when you upgrade and patch below.
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Why do you need patch bundles?
At first, it is always our recommendation to upgrade to the most recent Release Update (RU). This is currently Oracle 19.11.0 while I’m …
Continue reading...This MOS note is not available anymore??!?
Let me craft a very short Tuesday evening blog post as this happened quite often to me. We promote a MOS note, either via our blogs or in our Virtual Classroom seminars and workshops. And when you try to access it, the note is gone. Plus, MyOracle Support (MOS) gives you no indication why it has disappeared or what has happened.
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One of the many cases …
Chris commented on the blog here saying:
… Continue reading...Hello Mike,
Unfortunately document “MOS Note: 2720807.1 – Oracle Database 19c Important Recommended One-off Patches” is not available anymore as
Messaging Gateway – Upgrade can’t find mgwu122.sql
Thanks to Christian Ballweg from Optiz Consulting who brought this issue to my attention. I haven’t seen it before since I haven’t installed it but you may encounter this if you have the Messaging Gateway – Upgrade can’t find mgwu122.sql.
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What is the Messaging Gateway?
Actually I steal this from the documentation:
… Continue reading...Messaging Gateway enables communication between applications based on non-Oracle messaging systems and Oracle Database Advanced Queuing.
Oracle Database Advanced Queuing provides propagation between two Oracle Database Advanced Queuing queues to enable e-business (HTTP through IDAP). Messaging Gateway extends
ORA-1422 and ORA-6512 from SYS.DBMS_STATS in Post Upgrade
Ernst Leber sent me an email today. He hit an error at a customer upgrading to Oracle 19.9.0 on Exadata with AutoUpgrade. ORA-1422 and ORA-6512 from SYS.DBMS_STATS in Post Upgrade were signaled – and he better flashed back to the Guaranteed Restore Point. He found even a MOS note but still had questions. So time to blog about it in case you hit this error sequence as well.
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What happens, and when does it happen?
At first, this is not an AutoUpgrade issue. You may see the same error stack in the post upgrade …
Continue reading...Why do you need a password to download older patch bundles?
A customer raised this question recently: Why do you need a password to download older patch bundles? The customer wanted to download a PSU from July 2020 on the MyOracle Support (MOS) platform but this wasn’t possible without a password.
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Why is there an extra password required?
In MOS Note: 888.1 – Master Note for Database Proactive Patch Program we documented the following:
… Continue reading...1.4 Policy to obtain older Oracle Database Bundles, Updates & Revisions
Through our review of customer Service Requests (SRs), we find that customers frequently run into issues because they have unknowingly downloaded
New parameters and features in Oracle Database 19.11.0
As usual, as soon as I apply the newest RU, I do also a quick check for New parameters and defaults in Oracle Database 19.11.0.
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New Parameters in Oracle 19.11.0
Based on customer feedback, there is one really big improvement since this RU release. Not only new features but also parameter changes get listed. You will find them in the 19c New Features Guide.
In this RU you will find only 1 new parameter:
- drcp_dedicated_opt
The description says “Turn on/off dedicated optimization for DRCP” – and the default is “YES
Oracle 19c Installation with 19.11.0 RU, OJVM and some other fixes
In an previous blog post we showed how to install and patch in one single action. And as I use this technique all the time when I setup new homes, would like to show you an Oracle 19c Installation with 19.11.0 RU, OJVM and some other fixes. The purpose of this blog post is mainly to demonstrate again how you can install and patch in one action. But also to help you avoiding a pitfall when you apply the OJVM RU from April 2021.
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What do we need?
At first, let us …
Continue reading...Patching all my environments with the April 2021 Patch Bundles
Oh well, time flies. And it is April 2021, and hence I will start Patching all my environments with the April 2021 Patch Bundles. In my case, this will be 19.11.0 and 12.2.0.1 Release Updates. But there will be an additional blog post for the OJVM bundle, too.
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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…
Continue reading...Data Pump Super Patch for Oracle 19.10 and newer
Just a few days we released a Data Pump Super Patch for Oracle 19.10 and newer. “Newer” refers to the fact that once 19.11.0 will be available, this merge patch I’m writing about will be available as well right away (sorry, got delayed a bit). And if you work with Data Pump, you may want to consider this performance patch collection.
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Why do you need this patch?
Many customer will know the issue that adding changes with datapatch may take a long time as soon as dpload.sql is involved. And this …
Continue reading...Where are AutoUpgrade error codes documented?
I know, I didn’t blog for a while due to seminar preparations and holidays. But as I’m going through the open comments on the blog trying to answer them, I came across a question regarding the strange UPG error codes, AutoUpgrade is printing sometimes. And of course, where are AutoUpgrade error codes documented?
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The UPG errors
Once AutoUpgrade hits an error condition, it prints an error code such as UPG-1400 or UPG-1303. And often, this error code is not very meaningful. In the comments section, somebody asked where to fine more information about these …
Continue reading...Oracle 19c on Windows may flood your trace file directory
Oh … it’s Windows week here. And all this even though since I didn’t install Oracle on Windows for quite a while. But of course I’m fully aware that many of you out there operate Oracle on Windows. In this particular case thanks to Joël for the pointer to this issue. Oracle 19c on Windows may flood your trace file directory.
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What happens?
In every release of Oracle 19c, at least until 19.10.0 BP, you may find out that every few minutes a trace file gets written into the %ORACLE_BASE%\diag\..\..\trace directory. And all …
Continue reading...ORA-12638 on Windows only from Oracle 19.10.0 onwards
You like unexpected changes and surprises, don’t you? And especially those which aren’t in the patch notes or the docs. I blogged about such changes a few weeks ago. And thanks to the people reading this blog, I learned now about another change with Oracle 19.10.0 on the Windows platform. You may receive now an ORA-12638 on Windows only from Oracle 19.10.0 onwards.
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What has been changed?
So at first, thanks to Ernst and Marcus for bringing this to my attention. This is an issue which happens on MS Windows only.
When you …
Continue reading...Workaround for sdoloadj.sql errors with Datapatch in 19.9.0 and 19.10.0
The other week a customer from my hometown alerted me about an issue they saw when applying the 19.9.0 RU. A long sequence of errors in the datapatch run, all of them signaled from sdoloadj.sql. They opened an SR. And Support had an – understandable – recommendation the customer didn’t want to implement: Install JAVAVM. But thanks to my PM mate, Hans Viehmann (Mr Spatial), here is a simple Workaround for sdoloadj.sql errors with Datapatch in 19.9.0 and 19.10.0. And it may even apply to later releases, too.
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What happens?
Take …
Continue reading...Important Recommended Patches for Oracle Database 19c
It took a while – but now you can find a new MyOracle Support (MOS) Note with a list of Important Recommended Patches for Oracle Database 19c. It is actually a must-read, regardless whether you are upgrading or migration to 19c, or in case you are already on 19c.
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What do you get?
Please check MOS Note: 2720807.1 – Oracle Database 19c Important Recommended One-off Patches. It gives you a list of important fixes for Oracle Database 19c. In the initial version of the note you could select for each available Release …
Continue reading...Oracle Database 19.10.0 and Blockchain Tables and COMPATIBLE
Many of you recognized that we delivered a new feature with Oracle Database 19.10.0, the January 2021 Release Upgrade. So I’d like to put a few interesting things together from the upgrade and migration perspective regarding Oracle Database 19.10.0 and Blockchain Tables and COMPATIBLE.
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What are Blockchain Tables?
At first, I don’t want to repeat what other people have blogged and written about already. You may just go through the blog posts of Connor McDonald and Tim Hall and others to learn more about this cool feature.
… Continue reading...Virtual Classroom Series – Episode 2: Database Upgrade on Feb 18
If you haven’t signed up, there are less than 48 hours left to sign up now to our Virtual Classroom Series – Episode 2: Database Upgrade on Feb 18. We’ll cover everything you need to know for a smooth and successful database upgrade to Oracle 19c.
What’s the topic this time?
Upgrades.
What else? Haha!
No worries. We have a lot of fresh content and a full agenda. Our focus is to equip you with everything you need to know about upgrades – to make your next upgrade(s) the smoothest upgrade experience ever. We will cover mostly AutoUpgrade but …
Continue reading...Virtual Classroom Episode 8: Upgrade Internals and so much more
This is your final chance to sign up within the next hours to our Virtual Classroom Episode 8: Upgrade Internals and so much more We will run this session on Wednesday Feb 10 at 10:00h CET tomorrow. And in case you don’t know yet what to do on a ice-cold winter Wednesday morning, this is what you should do.
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Upgrades (But Were Afraid to Ask)
You see the agenda in the picture above. We will cover not only internals but also diagnosability, monitoring, troubleshooting, tipps, tricks, secrets, workarounds, gothas, dos and don’ts – …
Continue reading...New Parameters in Oracle 19.10.0 – and a default change
Oracle Database 19.10.0, the January 2021 Release Update (RU), does seem to change some well known rules. Especially when you have a closer look to a backported feature, Blockchain Tables. But I will write a bit more about this change next week. For now, let’s have a closer look at New Parameters in Oracle 19.10.0 – and a default change.
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New Parameters in Oracle 19.10.0
This is the list of new parameters in the January 2021 Release Update 19.10.0:
|
Default
|
||
|---|---|---|
| blockchain_table_max_no_drop | maximum idle retention minutes for blockchain table | NONE |
| container_data |
Sign Up Now: Database Release Strategy and Patching Best Practices on Feb 4 – 10am PST
Tomorrow we’ll start our new Virtual Classroom Web Seminar Series, this time for the Americas in a convenient 10am – noon Pacific Time zone. So this is your final change to Sign Up Now: Database Release Strategy and Patching Best Practices on Feb 4 – 10am PST.
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Why you want to participate?
Roy, Daniel and I will kick of this series with the Episode 1: Database Release Strategy and Patching Best Practices for a reason. We get a ton of question regarding both topics every day. Everybody wants to know about …
Continue reading...You may need a one-off for DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 19.10.0
It’s been a while since I blogged about the DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – and to me, the package is still sort of a mystery. Ideally you can least and enable or disable behavior changing optimizer fixes per RU. And in Oracle 19.10.0, you will find a new surprise. So You may need a one-off for DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 19.10.0.
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Quick Recap
Just in case you haven’t dealt with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE yet or for a while, a quick recap.
With this procedure, you can list the available patches to turn on or off at will:
SQL> set serveroutput… Continue reading...
