Clusterware

GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen

Thanks to Peter Lehmann who always alerts me about findings and encounters he had in his test and production RAC cluster environments. Peter dropped me an email the other day, and I share his suspicion that this may effect many in the coming weeks operating RAC environments. If you don’t have a RAC, you may not see this happening with GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen.

GI 19.31 and 19.32: trace file flooding in mgmtca.trc can happen

Photo by Giovanna Gomes on Unsplash

What happens?

It took me a bit of searching, and Peter collected a lot of information already.

Two months after patching GI …

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Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat – welcome Micronaut

Anil Nair wrote it in his MAA Blog Post on April 28: “Oracle is simplifying the software stack by replacing Apache Tomcat application server with Micronaut framework.”. And since some of you asked already, let me give you a bit more information about this change in 19.30 and 19.31 with Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat – welcome Micronaut.

Grid Infrastructure: Bye Tomcat - welcome Micronaut

Photo by Hayrullah Gozcu on Unsplash – and I know, the jet in the picture isn’t an F-14 Tomcat 🙂 

It happens automatically

At first, no action is needed from your side. This behavior change happens automatically.

It is the …

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OCW 19.28 contains a tiny behavior change with DB_UNIQUE_NAME

A colleague brought this to my attention the other week. And since the blog serves also as my partial memory, I wanted to put this out quickly. It is not a big deal, and most of you will never see this or be affected by it. Still, some may need to be aware that OCW 19.28 contains a tiny behavior change with DB_UNIQUE_NAME.

What has happened?

In the Oracle Clusterware (OCW) Release Update (RU) 19.28 and onward you will find a fix for Bug 34966087 – AH: CRS: FAIL START ACTION IF DB …

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Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available

I knew it would come – but we couldn’t tell you. And there were some rumors for a longer time. Anyhow, last week at the end of June 2023 Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available for download and in the Oracle Cloud. In case you wonder why I write “Arm” – I learned last week that the writing has been changed a while ago from ARM to Arm.

Oracle Database 19c on Arm platform is available

Where can you download it?

It is available for download already.

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MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise

You may have read my previous blog posts about MRPs (Monthly Recommended Patches). And today I did a quick check with Rodrigo. We both were a bit surprised to have the MRP3 for 19.17.0 add a lot of fixes to a standard RDBMS installation. So we were investigating a bit further. As a teaser, read on to see that MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise.

 

How did we find out?

The MRP3 for Oracle Database 19.17.0 got released just a week ago. You can navigate to it via MOS …

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Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 and GI are certified on OL8 and RHEL8

No worries, this isn’t a blog post from the vault. And I haven’t accidentally published something from the past just today. It is real. Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 and GI are certified on OL8 and RHEL8.

Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 and GI are certified on OL8 and RHEL8

Photo by Derek Oyen on Unsplash

What has been certified?

Thanks to my colleagues and a large customer in the UK, I received an email asking whether I have seen this information already on MOS. I haven’t. I knew that there were discussions but I had no actual date for the 12.2.0.1 certification on OL8 on my radar.

So in brief, these Linux 8 releases …

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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 …

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ORA-29702 – and your instance does not startup in the cluster anymore

This is the right blog post for a Friday 13th. And please forgive me – I wanted to put this on the blog earlier as two of my customers hit this weeks ago already. But it must have fallen through the cracks. Still, now it is hopefully not too late to tell you what you should do if you hit ORA-29702 – and your instance does not startup in the cluster anymore. Especially when you tested a database upgrade – and after a restore, the database doesn’t want to start, no matter what you try.

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Which database version can be used with Grid Infrastructure 19c?

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.

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 …

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Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database’s?

A long while ago I blogged about whether you should keep your patch versions between Grid Infrastructure and Databases Homes in synch, or not. And today, Daniel dropped me a note mentioning that this old blog post may need an update for 18c/19c. He’s right. And as I’ve had trouble finding my old blog post, I title this one a bit more obvious: Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database’s?

Does your GI RU/RUR patch level has to match your database's?

Photo by Vincent van Zalinge on Unsplash

Before Oracle Database 18c

Since Oracle 18c we move from a 5-number release schema to a 3-number one. …

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GI Patch 28553832 may be needed before you upgrade to 19c

Thanks to my colleague Sebastian Alasino who works in the MAA team out of the UK. Sebas highlighted this issue to. And I’d like to share it with you when you attempt to upgrade Grid Infrastructure to Oracle 19c. If you have the Docker RPM  installed and you were lazy on patching, then GI Patch 28553832 may be needed before you upgrade to 19c.

GI Patch 28553832 may be needed before you upgrade to 19c

Photo by Daniel Frank on Unsplash

What is the issue?

If the Docker Engine RPM is installed and your GI version is 12.1.0.2, 12.2.0.1 or 18c below a certain patch level, the CSSD demon fails to …

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AutoUpgrade and Data Guard, RAC, Restart and non-CDB to PDB

I need to bring this blog post forward about AutoUpgrade and Data Guard, RAC, Restart and non-CDB to PDB. Initially I planned to write this a bit later. But some of you had questions or were wondering why AutoUpgrade hasn’t done certain tasks. Hence, I’d like to clarify what AutoUpgrade can do, what it can’t and what you’ll have to do at the moment.

I refer to the AutoUpgrade tool as of July 2019. In later versions, one or the other restriction may be lifted. I will blog about it then as well.

AutoUpgrade and Data Guard, RAC, Restart and non-CDB to PDB

AutoUpgrade – Step-by-step

  1. The new AutoUpgrade
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Oracle 12.2.0.1 RESTART: Make sure you’ve patched your Oracle 12.1.0.2 homes

Oracle 12.2.0.1 RESTART: Make sure you've patched your Oracle 12.1.0.2 homesThis blog post title sounds a bit weird, doesn’t it? Oracle 12.2.0.1 RESTART: Make sure you’ve patched your Oracle 12.1.0.2 homes. Why the heck should you patch your 12.1.0.2 database homes upfront?

Oracle 12.2.0.1 RESTART: Make sure you’ve patched your Oracle 12.1.0.2 homes

Well, there’s an interesting issue happening. When you work with Oracle Grid Infrastructure, no matter if you operate a cluster or “just” use Oracle Restart, you’ll have to upgrade GI to Oracle 12.2 first before you can manage 12.2 databases with it. That’s not new. It’s a well understood rule.

Now guess you operate Oracle RESTART (SIHA …

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Keep your patch versions between Grid Infrastructure and Databases Homes in synch

Keep your patch versions between Grid Infrastructure and Databases Homes in synchI’ve had some interesting discussions with Anil Nair, our RAC Product Manager and a customer in the past days. The customer was looking for a definite statement that they can have a higher version of Patch Set Updates (PSUs) or Proactive Bundle Patches (BPs) in the Database homes than in the Grid Infrastructure home managing the resources.

For Oracle Database 18c, 19c and onward, please read instead:

Can you have different PSU/BP versions between Database and GI homes?

Yes, you can have a higher version PSU …

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Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) database now mandatory in Oracle GI 12.1.0.2

During the installation of Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.1 you’ve had the an option to choose YES/NO to install the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) database MGMTDB – but as of Oracle 12.1.0.2 Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) database now mandatory in Oracle GI 12.1.0.2:

Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) database now mandatory in Oracle GI 12.1.0.2

GIMR database now mandatory in Oracle GI 12.1.0.2

With Oracle Grid Infrastructure 12.1.0.2 this choice has become obsolete and the above screen does not appear anymore. The GIMR database has become mandatory.

What do we stored in the GIMR?

In addition please see the …

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