Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

Oracle 12.2.0.1 Support extended with Limited Error Correction Support

There was sort of a rumor already as some customers sent mail to me last week whether we may extend the support period for Oracle 12.2.0.1. And thanks to my friend, Robert Pastijn, who alerted me minutes ago, you can find this information now as well in the single source of truth, MOS Note:742060.1.

Oracle 12.2.0.1 Support extended with Limited Error Correction Support

Photo by Francisco Gonzalez on Unsplash

Limited Error Correction announced for 12.2.0.1 Database

There are three important bullet points in the Patching End Dates table for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1:

  • Error Correction / Patching is available until Nov 30, 2020
  • Limited Error Correction (Sev 1 and
Continue reading...

More Information about RU and RUR patches for Oracle 12.2

More Information about RU and RUR patches for Oracle 12.2The first RU (Release Update) for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 has been released. And Oracle Support provides some very helpful documents to explain the implication of the new RU (Release Update) and RUR (Release Update Revision) patches.

More Information about RU and RUR patches for Oracle 12.2

First of all, these are the most important MOS notes to have a look at:

Continue reading...

Oracle 12.2.0.1 – June 2017 Bundle Patch is available for Linux

After the removal of the first Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 Bundle Patch in May, the June 2017 Proactive Bundle Patch on Linux got released now:

What’s inside?

The Proactive Bundle Patch 12.2.0.1.170620 contains the June Database Bundle Patch and the June Grid Infrastructure Patch Set Update.

BP June 2017

Proactive Bundle Patch – June 2017 – Linux – Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

More information about previous and future BPs?

First of all, the well known schedule for BPs (and of course PSUs) will be kept – so please expect the next Proactive Bundle …

Continue reading...

New version of preupgrade.jar (build 5) is available

There’s a new and improved version of the preupgrade.jar (build 5 – May 2017) available for download from MyOracle Support:

The same note will get you access also to the most recent builds of preupgrd.sql for upgrades to Oracle Database 12.1 and utlu112i.sql for the unlikely event you’ll have to upgrade a database to Oracle 11.2.0.4.

Please always exchange the version getting installed by default with the version we offer via MOS Note:884522.1 as the downloadable version is usually much newer and improved over the one getting deployed …

Continue reading...

Alert.log: New timestamp format in Oracle 12.2

Timestamp Format Change

There’s an interesting change in the alert.log since Oracle Database 12.2.0.1: The format of the timestamps has changed.

If you compare the timestamps in Oracle 12.1 vs Oracle 12.2 you’ll recognize the change immediately:

Oracle 12.1 Oracle 12.2
Wed Feb 08 15:39:29 2017
Database mounted in Exclusive Mode
Lost write protection disabled
Completed: ALTER DATABASE   MOUNT
Wed Feb 08 15:39:29 2017
ALTER DATABASE OPEN
Wed Feb 08 15:39:29 2017
Ping without log force is disabled.
Starting background process TMON

2017-05-29T14:09:17.064493+02:00
Database mounted in Exclusive Mode
Lost write protection disabled
Completed: ALTER DATABASE   MOUNT
2017-05-29T14:09:17.252853+02:00
ALTER DATABASE OPEN
Continue reading...

Does DBCA execute “datapatch” in Oracle 12.2?

Does the Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) execute “datapatch -verbose” in Oracle 12.2 when you create a new database?

Does DBCA in Oracle 12.2 execute datapatch when you create new database? I was curious if this misbehavior from the previous release has been fixed. Good news: It got fixed with Oracle Database 12.2.0.1. The DBCA does execute “datapatch -verboseautomatically now when you create a new database. In the previous release this did not happen – you had to execute it manually after creating a new database.

Quick Test Scenario

I …

Continue reading...

Issue with 2k and 4k db_block_size – ORA-1450 when upgrading to Oracle 12.2.0.1

Recently we got alerted by a customer and a colleague from Italy about an issue with the upgrade from Oracle 12.1.0.x to Oracle 12.2.0.1 if – and only if – your database got created with 2k or 4k db block size.

Problem

If your database got created with 2k or 4k db block size, and you attempt an upgrade from any upgrade-supported Oracle version to Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 the upgrade – regardless of DBUA or catctl.pl – will fail with an ORA-1450: maximum key length (1478) exceeded.

Analysis

In the catupgrd0.log – regardless of using the DBUA or …

Continue reading...

Oracle 12.2.0.1 Bundle Patch 12.2.0.1.170516 DBBP on Linux x86-64 is available [not anymore]

All credits go to Ricardo Maeda as I knew that we’ll release a Bundle Patch for Oracle 12.2.0.1 sometime this week – but I couldn’t find it linked from the usual MOS notes. And please don’t ask my why that is.

Anyhow, with patch 2579308 you’ll get access to the first BP for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1. There will be a first bigger Proactive Bundle Patch in July at the usual schedule – but this one is at least a start.

Plus in addition get the OPatch version 12.2.0.1.7 via patch 6880880.

The BP contains:

12.2.0.1.170516BP

First 12.2.0.1 Bundle Patch

Continue reading...

Unified Auditing – is it ON or OFF in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1?

Just a quick update to my blog post from September 2014:

Any changes in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1?

Yes. Significant changes happen to Unified Auditing in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1. Mostly internally as the mechanism used to dump the audit records in Oracle 12.1.0.x when Unified Auditing was on turned out to be very good for write performance, but not so good when you tried to read data. See my blog post from a few weeks ago how to deal with this performance implication and a potential patch:

Continue reading...

Upgrade Everything at Once – Multitenant Upgrade from Oracle 12.1 to 12.2

I did blog about this topic a while back.

Theory is nice but it’s a big difference when you do it the first time with a non-lab deployment at a customer with a real Multitenant database with almost 100 PDBs.Then you learn that neither the documentation nor my previous blog post contain all the necessary steps.

My test setup

I have a simple deployment of just 5 PDBs. But it will showcase with my limited compute capabilities how the process should work.

SQL> show pdbs

    CON_ID CON_NAME			  OPEN MODE  RESTRICTED
---------- 
Continue reading...

PGA_AGGREGATE_LIMIT enforces default since Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

The init.ora/spfile parameter PGA_AGGREGATE_LIMIT got introduced in Oracle Database 12.1.0.1.

As per documentation in Oracle Database 12.1 it got defined as:

PGA_AGGREGATE_LIMIT specifies a limit on the aggregate PGA memory consumed by the instance.“.

Furthermore the algorithm for its setting got described as:

By default, PGA_AGGREGATE_LIMIT is set to the greater of 2 GB, 200% of PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET, and 3 MB times the PROCESSES parameter. It will be set below 200% of PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET if it is larger than 90% of the physical memory size minus the total SGA size, but not below 100% of PGA_AGGREGATE_TARGET.”

Default

Continue reading...

What happens to PASSWORD_VERSIONS during an upgrade to Oracle 12.2?

I did blog a day ago about ORA-1017 connection issues in Oracle Database 12.2 once you would like to use the deprecated init.ora/spfile parameter SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON=FALSE:

But how can this change actually happen?

Let’s check how the PASSWORD_VERSIONS is set in a fresh Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 database with the January 2017 Proactive Bundle Patch applied to it:

SQL> select username, password_versions from dba_users order by 1;

USERNAME		       PASSWORD_VERSIONS
------------------------------ -----------------
ANONYMOUS
APPQOSSYS		       10G 11G 12C
AUDSYS			       10G 11G 12C
DBSNMP			       10G 11G 12C
DIP			       10G 11G 12C
GSMADMIN_INTERNAL	       10G 11G 12C
GSMCATUSER		       10G 
Continue reading...

Having some fun with SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON and ORA-1017

The init.ora/spfile parameter SEC_CASE_SENSITIVE_LOGON got deprecated since Oracle Database 12.1.0.1. This means, we don’t do any further developments to it, you shouldn’t change it from its default TRUE – and if you still do you’ll receive a nice warning during STARTUP of your database:

SQL> alter system set sec_case_sensitive_logon=false scope=spfile;

System altered.

SQL> startup force
ORA-32004: obsolete or deprecated parameter(s) specified for RDBMS instance
ORACLE instance started.

Recently a customer asked me if we’d changed the behavior of this parameter in Oracle Database 12c Release 2 as he receives now an ORA-1017: Invalid username or password error when …

Continue reading...

Hands-On Lab available: Upgrade to Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

Thanks to Roy – our Hands-On Lab “Upgrade, Migrate and Consolidate to Oracle Database 12.2” is now available for download from OTN.

Instructions and technical requirements are clearly documented on the OTN page as well. The lab is based on Virtual Box and can be easily imported upon download and unzip.

You can always access the lab via the blog’s top menu as well:

HOL Link on the Upgrade Blog

Hands-On Lab – Access via the Blog

Inside the lab you’ll find :

  • UPGR – an Oracle 11.2.0.4
Continue reading...

Non-CDB architecture still exists in Oracle Database 12.2.

I received a question whether the Non-CDB architecture still exists in Oracle Database 12.2.from 3 different colleagues in the past week:

“Does Oracle Database 12.2 still allow us to create non-CDB databases?”

And as I get this question at every customer-facing workshop these days as well before being able to talk about Single/Multitenant – I think it is important to clarify it. The statement is misleading. And I can’t blame anybody about misreading it.

Is the non-CDB architecture still available/supported in Oracle Database 12.2?

I did blog about it a while ago – but Google is not always your …

Continue reading...

Upgrade to Oracle Database 12.2 and Converting it into an 12.2 PDB (plugin)

2 customers requested a bit more explanation on how to:
Convert and Plugin an Oracle 12.1 non-CDB database into an Oracle 12.2 container database

Cool, I like that 🙂 I will do this right away and use the approach to Upgrade first, then Plugin afterwards.

Upgrading an Oracle 12.1.0.2 database to Oracle 12.2.0.1

First the preupgrade.jar must be executed – please download always the most recent version from MOS Note:884522.1 as the version we publish is usually newer including important improvements (and fixes) than the version you’ll get with the release drop. We are working on including always the …

Continue reading...

Oracle Database 12.2 – Lifetime Support Policy updated

PLEASE SEE THIS BLOG POST FOR A MUCH NEWER AND UP-TO-DATE OVERVIEW:

https://mikedietrichde.com/2020/02/26/to-which-release-should-you-upgrade-to-revisited/

 


 

The Oracle Lifetime Support Policy brochure for tech products has been updated now as well in order to reflect the addition and availability of Oracle Database 12.2 on-premises:

Lifetime Support Policy – Oracle technology products

Lifetime Support Policy Oracle Database

Please note that this table and the brochure never makes a distinction between patch sets and base releases. For instance, the line talking about Oracle 11.2 does not say that Oracle Database 11.2.0.3 is out of any bug fixing support since Aug 27, 2015 – and Extended Support …

Continue reading...

Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 on-premises is now available, too

Yep – it’s available … Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 on-premises is available for download now not only on Exadata and SuperCluster but on Linux x86-64, SPARC and Intel Solaris. For other platform plans please see MOS Note:742060.1.

–Mike…

Continue reading...

Client Certification for Oracle Database 12.1.0.2/12.2.0.1

I’ve received a question about client certification for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 the other day.
And this reminded me on this very helpful MOS Note:

It spans the client interoperability back to the Oracle 9.2 days and is a very helpful resource.

Client Certification Oracle Database

And don’t forget that sometimes client software may need a patch as well. A customer I exchange emails with on a regular basis just upgraded the Database server to Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 and saw several strange errors with the JDBC client despite the fact that they …

Continue reading...

Oracle Database 12.2 for Exadata/SuperCluster available

Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 on-premises for Exadata and SuperCluster is now available for download from Oracle eDelivery/SoftwareCloud.

Connect to eDelivery and login.

Search for: “Oracle Database” and mark “Oracle Database Enterprise Edition …


.

Click on “Select Platforms” and select “Linux x86-64“, then hit “Continue“:

Once you accepted the license agreement you’ll be able to download the software:

Please be aware that the software can be installed on Oracle Exadata and Oracle SuperCluster ONLY. To take advantage of the full potential of Oracle Database
12c Release 2
you should …

Continue reading...

DBMS_QOPATCH does not work in PDBs (right now)

Thanks to Murthy who commented on this blog post and Jeannette Holland (SimCorp) who opened an SR resulting in an ER.

DBMS_QOPATCH in Multitenant

DBMS_QOPATCH will deliver useful information about installed patches only when executed within the CDB$ROOT. It has been designed this way for security reasons in Oracle Database 12.1 but I can easily see a need to check for installed patches within a PDB as well.

Testcase

I “borrowed” this test case from Jeannette’s SR:

SQL> COLUMN NAME FORMAT A8

SQL> SELECT NAME, CON_ID, DBID, CON_UID, GUID FROM V$CONTAINERS ORDER BY CON_ID;

 NAME     CON_ID DBID       CON_UID    GUID
 -------- 
Continue reading...

Release Dates Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 on-prem – Extended Support Waiving for Oracle 11.2.0.4 / 12.1.0.2

Yesterday night the most important MOS Note:742060.1 got updated with the planned release date for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 on-premises.

In addition, the dates for Waived Extended Support for Oracle Database 11.2.0.4 and 12.1.0.2 got extended as well.

Please see:

In summary:

  • Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 for Exadata and SuperCluster is supposed to be released soon.
  • Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 for Intel Linux x86 and Solaris platforms (SPARC and Intel) is supposed to be released soon after the Exadata/SuperCluster releaseFOR EXACT DATES PLEASE SEE MOS Note: 742060.1.
  • The Free (Waived) Extended
Continue reading...