This will be a very short blog post today. But a colleague asked me this question just a few minutes ago: Which database version can be used with Grid Infrastructure 19c? And I realized that I neither put it on the blog yet nor did I bookmark it. But I answered this question several times already.

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Which database version can be used with Grid Infrastructure 19c?
There are 4 sources I did check:
- MOS Notes on MyOracle Support
- Oracle Documentation
- Certification Information on MyOracle Support
- Database Upgrade Blog
At first, I answered with MOS Note: 337737.1 – Oracle Clusterware (CRS/GI) – ASM – Database Version Compatibility, especially as the title of the note sounds like it would exactly answer the question.
But in this case, the colleague read the note carefully and replied:
“Fine – that’s for ASM only!”
And he is correct – MOS Note: 337737.1 says clearly: “This MOS note is only for ASM compatibility.”
I must have overlooked this detail. And even though I could argue with “you need to put your database into ASM anyway, and hence it does apply to the database as well as there is a column for DATABASE in the matrix”, I remembered that it is in the documentation as well.
The Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide has this information:
You can use Oracle Database 19c, 18c, Oracle Database 12c releases 1 and 2, and Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2.0.3 or later) with Oracle Grid Infrastructure 19c.
The Certification Information on MOS by the way does not provide this – and it isn’t intended to.
Annotation:
As my colleague Davide mailed me on right after the blog post, 11.2.0.3 is obviously not certified with OL7/RHEL7. Hence, I can’t tell you how realistic it is to have an 11.2.0.3 database in ASM 19c. Maybe this is possible on SLES. So be aware about this fuzziness.
And needless to say that you should upgrade your database(s) to Oracle 19c. But in case you’d like to mix different RU levels than, please read this blog post as well: Does your GI patch level need to match your database’s patch level?
Further Information and Links
- MOS Note: 337737.1 – Oracle Clusterware (CRS/GI) – ASM – Database Version Compatibility
- Upgrade Blog: Does your GI patch level need to match your database’s patch level?
- Oracle 19c Grid Infrastructure Installation and Upgrade Guide for Linux – Database Certification
–Mike
Hi Mike,
Maybe worth to note that if you use GI 19c with ASMFD, then you cannot create/install 11.2 databases, as mentioned at Doc 2341119.1.
Cheers,
Miguel Anjo
Thanks Miguel!
Cheers,
Mike
Thanks so much.
Hi Mike,
Is this also valid for db registration in listener as listener is part of ASM ?
Most of our databases have been migrated to 19c but for one of the last 11.2.0.4 database on our 19c RAC cluster we have this error:
The DBMS driver exception was: IO Error: Socket read timed out
I am not sure if the issue is on db/listener level, could also be coming from application server.
thanks,
els
Hi Els,
I’m not sure either about the error – but my 11g databases run perfectly will with a 19c listener.
You may please need to check with Support via an SR.
Cheers,
Mike
Hi Mike,
12 days ago a colleague opened SR 3-24285005571 for this issue.
We uploaded a listener trace file, asked to analyze that trace file, but we are still waiting for the results….
cheers,
Els
Hi Els,
increase the severity to Sev.1 (but “non 24×7”), then update the SR several times asking for feedback.
In addition, escalate the SR by writing it into the SR, and request a management callback within a given amount of time.
Sorry to hear that π
Mike
we have 19c GI and 12c RAC database/ Could you advice, which version of GI OCW patch we need to apply into 12c db home?
Hi Ed,
this may help you:
Oracle Support Document 2539751.1 (Patches to apply before upgrading Oracle GI and DB to 19c or downgrading to previous release) can be found at: https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=2539751.1
—
But ignore the recommendations for the database. They are incorrect.
Otherwise, please open an SR and check with Oracle Support.
Cheers,
Mike