AutoUpgrade

September 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

It’s time again – and the new September 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available for download to you.

Where to download it?

As usual, the MOS Note: 2485457.1 offers you access to the new release, and to the previous versions of the tool as well. This new version will show the following version information:

java -jar autoupgrade.jar -version

build.version 23.4.230921
build.date 2023/09/21 14:43:05 -0400
build.hash 165be072
build.hash_date 2023/09/21 13:05:52 -0400
build.supported_target_versions 12.2,18,19,21
build.type production
build.label (HEAD, tag: v23.4, origin/stable_devel, stable_devel)

This version will be also included in the Jan 2024 RU, 19.22.0, but not …

Continue reading...

Going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023

One year ago I’ve had the pleasure to visit India for the YATRA 2022 tour. I couldn’t do all 6 tour stops and had to skip Delhi and Hyderabad. But this year I will be there for all 6 cities. So I am going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023. And I hope to see YOU there, will I?

Going to India: Oracle Community Yatra (OCYatra) 2023

Why you need to get your ticket NOW?

I guess, most of you in the area have tickets already. Just in case if you didn’t purchase one yet, it’s time to do so. It is not expensive but be …

Continue reading...

June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

It’s time to exchange your AutoUpgrade tools with the most recent one when you plan to do upgrades or use it for patching already. The June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available for download from MOS Note:2485457.1. And in case you are still using DBUA for unknown reasons, please read this blog post, too.

Where to download?

As usual, please download the newest version of AutoUpgrade via MOS Note:2485457.1 – Download AutoUpgrade.

June 2023 version of AutoUpgrade is available

What does this version improve?

New Features

  • BUG-34010941 – Incorparated the Health check package to identify database dictionary inconsistencies
Continue reading...

DBUA Deprecation and future Desupport in Oracle Database 23c

Daniel pointed me to Tim Hall’s blog post about deprecated and desupported features in Oracle Database 23c. And his first bullet point mentioned is the DBUA Deprecation and future Desupport in Oracle Database 23c. Since Daniel and I agree that this needs a bit more explanation, we would like to share more background information with you.

Deprecated vs Desupport?

At first, let me refresh an old topic. What does deprecated mean, and what is the difference to desupport? A long while ago I wrote this blog post about it, and nothing …

Continue reading...

Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches

From all my quarterly blog posts you know that I patch usually in-place for space and other reasons. And you may have similar reasons when you patch. But it is not ideal – and just speaking about risk and downtime, you should always patch out-of-place. So let me show you how Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches works.

What do I need?

Actually, this is not complicated at all. And if you never done it this way, give it a try now please.

  • Base release Oracle Database 19.3.0 image
  • opatch 37 from
Continue reading...

March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available

It’s download time again. So please refresh the AutoUpgrade release you are using with the new one since the March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available now for download.

Where to download?

As usual, please download the newest version of AutoUpgrade via MOS Note:2485457.1 – Download AutoUpgrade.

March 2023 release of AutoUpgrade is available

 

What does this version improve?

A lot.

Really, a lot of things got improved.

You’ll find the change.log for tracking purposes at the bottom of the note. I’d wish everybody would do such a transparent change tracking as the AutoUpgrade team does. This makes …

Continue reading...

ORA-13516 “CATPROC not valid” during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0

I thought I could relax this week using my leftover vacation days from 2022. But this issue is triggering me since some of you mailed me already. Maybe this blog post can prevent others from being trapped by this issue: ORA-13516 “CATPROC not valid” during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0. And as a prolog, you will NOT see the below issue when you started your database in NORMAL mode for the execution of datapatch.

 

What is the symptom?

Regardless of whether you patch to Oracle Database RU 19.18.0 manually or with …

Continue reading...

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Mid-of January. It’s patching time again. So let me show you the quarterly exercise of Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches. Let’s see this time if I will have to remove my Data Pump Bundle Patch and the 19.17.0 MRP2 at first when I patch in-place.

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Photo by karokrasinska on Unsplash

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...

Oracle Cloud World 2022 – Database Upgrade and Patching Labs

Oh … it’s just a few weeks left until Oracle Cloud World 2022 will start on Oct 17, 2022 in Las Vegas. If you have some final doubts whether you should go or not, let me tell you that it’s like Oracle Open World just under a different name. And in a different place. But with the same cool people and many great talks. Take the chance to meet the developers, their managers and the product managers behind the features you daily use – or miss. We’ll be there – and this is YOUR chance now to sign up for …

Continue reading...

Intel uses AutoUpgrade to upgrade from Oracle 11.2.0.4 to 19c

Funny, I was traveling recently with RAC PM Anil Nair – but he forgot to tell me that this cool story has been published just a few days before we took of for YATRA 2022 to India: Intel uses AutoUpgrade to upgrade from Oracle 11.2.0.4 to 19c. I know that Anil is simply so busy – and my surprise was huge.

What’s the story?

Gagan Singh, Enterprise Architect at Intel, shared it with me last week. The goal was to upgrade from Oracle 11.2.0.4 to Oracle 19c with the least amount of downtime

Continue reading...

DOAG Conference 2022 is next week already

I’m scared – time flies so quickly. Yesterday evening I returned from vacation, and this morning I spoke to Daniel and we both realized: There is only one week to go since DOAG Conference 2022 is next week already. Yes, in September 2022. Not as usually in November – September it will be this year. And we hope to see you there next week in my hometown, Nürnberg for another great DOAG conference.

DOAG Conference 2022 is next week already

Tuesday

Tuesday will be a theme day this year – and we’ll have two talks there. We? Yes, Daniel and I will do all sessions together this …

Continue reading...

Why you simply can’t upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c

It’s time for a Monday morning rant. I receive more and more questions which all start similar. “My customer is on Oracle 11g and/or 12c, and want to know whether the next long term support release …“. Now let me clarify Why you simply can’t upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c. And why you MUST upgrade to Oracle Database 19c.

Why you simply can't upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

What is the intention?

After a lot of discussions across many regions, especially in JAPAC during the past weeks I realized that there is a reason for all …

Continue reading...

A new version of AutoUpgrade has been released

Yes, we did it again. A new version of AutoUpgrade has been released. With important fixes.

A new version of AutoUpgrade has been released

Download the May 2022 version

So it is time to update your AutoUpgrade and download the most recent version.

A new version of AutoUpgrade has been released

Changes / Fixes / Enhancements

As usual, we document the changes and fixes as well as the enhancements in the change log you’ll find in MOS.

At first, this is the new build:

build.version 22.3.220503
build.date 2022/05/03 11:55:20 -0400
build.hash 9e84e228
build.hash_date 2022/05/03 11:37:00 -0400
build.supported_target_versions 12.2,18,19,21
build.type production
20 bug fixes since v22.2 release
Tag: V22.3
Description: 
Continue reading...

Virtual Classroom Seminar #14: AutoUpgrade 2.0 on May 5, 2022

If you finally want to see all the cool new features of AutoUpgrade 2.0 (the 2.0 is just a marker we use to say: We improved it significantly!), the please sign up to Virtual Classroom Seminar #14: AutoUpgrade 2.0 on May 5, 2022.

Virtual Classroom Seminar #14: AutoUpgrade 2.0 on May 5, 2022

Photo by Alex Knight on Unsplash

What are we going to talk about?

The development team invested a lot of resources to implement some of the most wanted features in AutoUpgrade. Spoiler: One feature is still missing but will be released very soon. In this Thursday’s Virtual Classroom Seminar we will talk about:

  • PDB and non-CDB
Continue reading...

AutoUpgrade 2.0 has been released – and got reuploaded

Many of you have used AutoUpgrade for your database upgrades already. Just a few days ago I received some almost enthusiastic comments which made me very very happy. And if you thought it can’t get any better, no worries: AutoUpgrade 2.0 has been released – and got reuploaded.

Why AutoUpgrade 2.0?

As you know, we don’t do marketing but just talk tech. But you may have also recognized that we slowed down in our agile release cycle for AutoUpgrade. The simple reason for this long period of silence was that we’ve had a …

Continue reading...

New AutoUpgrade version 20211115 (Nov 2021) available for download

Yesterday at DOAG conference I announced it already in our Upgrade and Migration Round Table – and just a few hours later my team mates made the New AutoUpgrade version 20211115 (Nov 2021) available for download.

How to download AutoUpgrade?

Always download the most recent version of AutoUpgrade via MOS Note: 2485457.1 – AutoUpgrade Tool.

Just click on this link in the MOS Note:AutoUpgrade Nov 2021

Why do you need a new version?

A good number of issues being logged to us via blogs, tweets, SRs and eMails can be solved with the current …

Continue reading...

Upgrading a PDB with JVM may result in ORA-7445 joevm_invokevirtual

As you know, this blog is also my brain dump about Oracle topics. Since this one happened yesterday, mostly at night with the help of my team mates and the Java team, I’d like to write it down into this blog post: Upgrading a PDB with Java may result in ORA-7445 joevm_invokevirtual() as it is still fresh and may affect you as well. If you don’t have PDBs, if you don’t have Java (or JVM) in it or if you upgraded already to Oracle Database 19c, you can stop reading now.

What

Continue reading...

Which releases allow you to upgrade to Oracle Database 21c?

As I wrote before, the release you should upgrade to is clearly Oracle Database 19c. Unless you need to use one of the new features in Oracle 21c. But as you have seen in the past, some of them get backported to 19c as well. Still, in case you can’t resists or you love upgrades as much as we do, the question may be: Which releases allow you to upgrade to Oracle Database 21c?

Upgrade-supported Releases

The Database Upgrade Guide for Oracle 21c is your best friend here. Right at the beginning in the first chapter you will find this …

Continue reading...

Pitfall: Upgrade to 21c fails when ORDIM is present but no SDO

You may have read my previous blog post about Upgrading a non-CDB to Oracle Database 21c. And I referred to a potential Pitfall: Upgrade to 21c fails when ORDIM is present but no SDO. In this blog post I would like to explain how to avoid this pitfall beforehand and explain what needs to be done.

Pitfall: Upgrade to 21c fails when ORDIM is present but no SDO

Photo by Sara Codair on Unsplash

What’s the problem?

In my previous blog post I showed you the ideal and normal way. But during my tests I came across an issue I was not aware of – and I simply had no …

Continue reading...

Upgrading a non-CDB to Oracle Database 21c with AutoUpgrade

Yesterday I wrote about the installation of Oracle Database 21c on Linux. But today it is time for Upgrading to Oracle Database 21c with AutoUpgrade.

Upgrading a non-CDB to Oracle Database 21c with AutoUpgrade

Photo by Arjun MJ on Unsplash

AutoUpgrade

You may have heard it already from us and other colleagues, but we can’t repeat it often enough: There is only one recommended tool to upgrade your databases – and this is AutoUpgrade.

In my 21c home, I’m checking the deployed version of AutoUpgrade at first:

[CDB3] oracle@hol:/u01/app/oracle/product/21/rdbms/admin
$ java -jar autoupgrade.jar -version
build.hash 57ab246
build.version 21.1.3
build.date 2021/04/21 13:32:13
build.max_target_version 21
build.supported_target_versions 12.2,18,19,21
build.type production

Now please …

Continue reading...

New version of AutoUpgrade (21.2) is available for download

As we often tell you, our Upgrade Development team is working hard to ensure an agile release cycle for AutoUpgrade. And the New version of AutoUpgrade (21.2) is available for download.

How to download?

As usual, you can (and should) always download the most recent version of AutoUpgrade from this MOS Note: 2485457.1. Usually the tool gets refreshed every 6-8 weeks. And the version you will download is guaranteed newer than the one you could get on disk.

New version of AutoUpgrade (21.2) is available for download

The fact the tool has a 21c versioning does not affect 19c upgrades. There …

Continue reading...

aioug Webinar Series July 2021: Database Upgrade and Migrations

Many people on the northern hemisphere will escape during July into the summer holidays. But we won’t. Instead, thanks to Sai Penumuru, we will give seven webinars for the aioug. And we are looking forward to talk to you soon at the aioug Webinar Series July 2021: Database Upgrade and Migrations.

aioug Webinar Series July 2021: Database Upgrade and Migrations

When will it happen?

This morning I looked into my calendar. And I realized: Wow, July 2021 is just a few days away. Roy will start with the first session on Friday, July 2. And then myself, Rodrigo, Daniel, Fred and Bill will …

Continue reading...

AutoUpgrade may run into a timeout when GI is lower than 19.10.0

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.

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...

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.

Test Setup

As test setup I use our Hands-On Lab.

I will …

Continue reading...