I’ve had so many discussions with customers and partners, and also with colleagues in the past weeks and months about the support time frames for Oracle Database 12.2. Now I checked the blog, and I found so many posts about support periods. And I wrote a similar blog post already 1.5 years ago. I think it’s time to summarize all that. And give you some guidance as well about to which release should you upgrade to? Revisited …
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Overview
Basically there are 2 sources to learn about Support time frames for the database release:
- Oracle Lifetime Support Policy for Technology Products
- MOS Note:742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases
The problem here: While the first one, the Lifetime Support Policy, looked as the more official document, it had never differed between patch sets or releases within a release family. I’ve had already a lot of discussions with customers in the Oracle 11.2 days. When you read the line for 11.2, you may get the impression that Extended Support applies to 11.2 generally.
Lifetime Support Policy 8.1.7-11.2
But it doesn’t as I wrote multiple times on this blog. The column Extended Support Ends applies to Oracle 11.2.0.4 only. The Extended Support (which got waived) for Oracle 11.2.0.3 ended on August 27, 2015.
But let’s do a Fast Forward into Oracle 12.2.
Here, a big break happened. We changed the release naming but weren’t clear or explicit with analogies to previous releases. It turned out that not only you but also software vendors and even some colleagues took Oracle 18c and Oracle 19c as brand-new, independent release as it would have been Oracle 10.2, Oracle 11.1 and Oracle 11.2.
Once we realized that, we added “Oracle 18c is nothing different than Oracle 12.2.0.2” and “Oracle 19c is the same as Oracle 12.2.0.3 – and it is the terminal patch set in the old terminology” to it. But it was too late. The asterisk in the Lifetime Support Policy for the 12.2 row didn’t lead everybody to check the more important MOS Note:742060.1. By then end of October 2019, a distinction and clarification in the Lifetime Support Policy brochure got added for Oracle 12.2.0.1, Oracle 18c and Oracle 19c. And today, it is crystal clear I guess:
Lifetime Support Policy – Screenshot: Feb 22, 2020
Update:
Lifetime Support Policy – Screenshot: April 20, 2020
Especially the clarification that Oracle 19c is the terminal patch set for 12.2, and 12.2.0.1 and 18c get no Extended Support is very important.
Update June 10, 2020:
As you can read here, Premier Support for Oracle Database 19c got extended by 13 months.
Lifetime Support Policy – Screenshot: June 10, 2020
Important addition as of April 15, 2020:
Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 gets an additional 16 months of Limited Error Correction Support until end of March 2022.
I call MOS Note:742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases the single-source-of-truth as it was more clear on these dates.
MOS Note: 742060.1 – Screenshot: Feb 22, 2020
Update:
MOS Note: 742060.1 – Screenshot: April 15, 2020
To which release should you upgrade to? Revisited …
But now Oracle Database 20c is available already as Preview. And I read the first tweets saying “Hey guys, I just finished upgrading to 12.2 ?!?!?” (which usually means 12.2.0.1).
Therefore, let me be very clear here:
- Oracle Database 19c (aka terminal patch set for Oracle 12.2 aka 12.2.0.3) will be under Premier Support as of now until end of April 2024
- Oracle Database 20c is the first release of a new release family – we call it an Innovation Release
- Innovation Releases
- will get a short time frame for bug fixing support – and won’t get Extended Support
You should upgrade to Oracle Database 19c. Period.
You may try out Oracle Database 20c in your development environments to start with exciting new functionalities. But the release you will target for production use will be the next long-term support release. As Oracle Database 20c is also the first CDB-only release, an upgrade to it may be a migration for most of you. And you may need to test a bit more than usual. Please see this longer blog post series for advice and guidance regarding a smooth transition.
Wait … I’m still on Oracle 11.2.0.4 and 12.1.0.2
I also know that many of you have still a good number of Oracle 11.2.0.4 and Oracle 12.1.0.2 databases live in production. As I noted above already, MOS Note:742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases gives you all the details:
MOS Note: 742060.1 – Screenshot: Feb 22, 2020
Please take note especially of the patching end dates for both releases in case you have NO Extended Support:
- Oracle Database 12.1.0.2: July 31, 2019
- Oracle Database 11.2.0.4: Dec 31, 2018
Since then, both releases are under Paid (or Waived under special conditions – see: MOS Note:742060.1 for details) Extended Support.
Further Information and Links
I try to collect all the important links and blog posts in this section but I may have missed one or another.
- Oracle Lifetime Support Policy for Technology Products
- MOS Note:742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases
- Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 – Limited Error Correction Support until Mar 31, 2022
- Jun 17, 2020: Oracle Database 19c Premier Support extended by more than 1 year
- Feb 17, 2020: Oracle Database 20c – The first CDB-only Release
- Jul 22, 2019: Database Migration from non-CDB to PDB – An Overview
- Dec 19, 2019: Extended Support for Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 extended
- Oct 10, 2019: Market Driven Support for Oracle Database 11.2.0.4 available
- Apr 12, 2019: Extended Support Fee waived for EBS customers for 12.1 and 11.2
- Jan 30, 2019: How long will Oracle Database 12.2 be supported?
- Dec 14. 2018: Premier Support Extension for Oracle 19c – and more
- Oct 18, 2018: To which release should you upgrade to? Plus: Extended Support
- Oct 16, 2018: Current Support Status for Oracle Database Releases
- Jul 30, 2018: Clarification Support Periods for Oracle 12.2 and 18c
- Mar 7, 2017: Lifetime Support Policy has been updated
- Jan 27, 2017: Release Dates Oracle 12.2 on-prem – Extended Support Waiving for 11.2.0.4/12.1.0.2
–Mike
