Database

Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23

Thanks for using this blog post. It will be your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23. You will find the slide decks to download, the coming talks, the HOL as well as the survey links and other important sources. We wil update it every day throughout the conference. If you have questions, please use the “Comment” option below the blog post. And we won’t post content BEFORE the session but instead AFTER the sessions.

Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Guide for OCW23

All you need, day by day

Please find – grouped day by day – each of our talks with the survey links and …

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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 …

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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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Oracle Database World in London – THE event in April 2023

You may have heard or seen – or even registered already – for the regional Oracle Cloud World in London on April 19, 2023 already. But were you aware that the “event to be at” happens just the next day on April 20? It will be Oracle Database World in London – THE event in April 2023.

Oracle Database World in London - THE event in April 2023

When and where will it happen?

April 20, 2023, a Thursday will be the day to mark in your calendar. We’ll meet you at Oracle Database World, the regional database event to be at in London this year at the …

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A patch (RU, OJVM, 32-bit) is not available yet – where will I find information?

A longer while ago I wrote a blog post about the topic that a patch (RU, OJVM, 32-bit) is not available yet – where will I find information? But I wrote it too specific. And it is even hard for me to find my older blog post. Since several of you mailed me the past weeks with a variety of questions regarding patch availability I decided to write down my thoughts – but this time in a more generic way. And I hope it is helpful.

Why are patches missing?

At first, I …

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Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle 19c

Christian Pfundtner pointed me to the fact that my old blog post about the Statistics Advisor from 2017 may not be up to date anymore. And he further pointed out that some of his clients still suffer from issues with the tool. Hence, let me refresh the topic with Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle 19c. And thanks to Christian for the pointers.

 

Overview

At first, I won’t rewrite the entire blog post but instead focus on recent findings. Therefore, you may please want to read my previous blog post about the …

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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 …

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Hide and Seek with RU 19.18.0

One and a half weeks ago we released the Database and Grid Infrastructure Release Updates (RU) 19.18.0. You could read on the blog how to apply it, and you could read also about an alert. So far, all was more or less transparent but apparently sort of an Hide and Seek with RU 19.18.0 has happened. So let me shed some light.

Heads Up!

I am just the messenger trying to bring some light into the topic. Neither is our team responsible nor do we have any sort of control on this process. I …

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RUs contain now all available DST patches

At first, Happy New Year everybody. There was silence on the blog for some weeks but I took an extended longer time off. Well, and once you return, there are some emails in your inbox which need some work. You’ll see several new blog posts getting published in the coming days. Back to normal, yesterday night RU 19.18.0 among other patch bundles has been released. And there’s a huge fantastic surprise in it: RUs contain now all available DST patches.

 

What’s the story?

There are some good news. We discussed this internally …

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OCW 2022 – Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Track to Success

Will you come to Oracle Cloud World (tcfkaOOW = the conference formerly known as Oracle Open World) 2022 in Las Vegas in the week from October 17-20, 2022? Then we hope to see you there. And we certainly hope to meet you. So in case you are looking for our technical talks and sessions at OCW 2022 – Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Track to Success.

OCW 2022 – Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Track to Success

 

Your Upgrade / Migration / Patching Track at OCW2022

As usual our promise stands.

Zero marketing. Just pure tech.

And we our proud to have lots of real

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Binary patching is slow because of the inventory

The headline of this blog post may sound a bit cryptic: Binary patching is slow because of the inventory. But actually this seems to be one of the main causes when your binary patching gets slower and slower with every patch you apply.

The more you patch, the worse it gets

Well, this is a tough headline. But you may have read my blog posts about my quarterly patching experience. It actually started with the July 2021 RU in my 19c environment when I wrote:

At least in my environment, both checks with the

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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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Virtual Classroom Seminar 12: Migrating Very Large Databases on Dec 9, 2021

It looks to me that every possible event in 2021 happens in October/November/December 2021. No complaint from my side – but just in case you wonder about so little update activity on our blogs since weeks. We are just so busy in delivering virtual seminars. Which is good – but it requires lots of effort on our side as we want to deliver decent quality and real tech content. And now, since the year is almost at its end, it is time for our final Virtual Classroom Seminar 12: Migrating Very Large Databases on Dec 9, 2021 this year.

Virtual Classroom Seminar 12: Migrating Very Large Databases  on Dec 9, 2021

Photo

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Should you enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE?

Today, Paul mailed me asking a question we internally discussed many times in the past weeks: Should you enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE? And there is no easy simple answer. But I can give a recommendation based on my experience from many projects.

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – a quick recap

Just in case you haven’t dealt with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE recently, here is a quick recap.

With below procedure, you can list the available potentially behavior changing optimizer fixes in the current patch bundle – and you can turn them on or off at will:

SQL> set serveroutput on;
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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 …

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Workaround for sdoloadj.sql errors with Datapatch in 19.9.0 and 19.10.0

The other week a customer from my hometown alerted me about an issue they saw when applying the 19.9.0 RU. A long sequence of errors in the datapatch run, all of them signaled from sdoloadj.sql. They opened an SR. And Support had an – understandable – recommendation the customer didn’t want to implement: Install JAVAVM. But thanks to my PM mate, Hans Viehmann (Mr Spatial), here is a simple Workaround for sdoloadj.sql errors with Datapatch in 19.9.0 and 19.10.0. And it may even apply to later releases, too.

What happens?

Take …

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Check your Unified Auditing Policies after upgrading to Oracle 19c

This may become a longer blog post. One of the customers I work with for many years contacted me a few weeks ago. After upgrade to 19c, it looked like as if some Unified Auditing Policies weren’t correct anymore. It started as a tiny issue, but thanks to the customer who analyzed down to the bones, it seems to be bigger than we thought at the beginning. So you may Check your Unified Auditing Policies after upgrading to Oracle 19c as well.

Check your Unified Auditing Policies after upgrading to Oracle 19c

Photo by Felix Luo on Unsplash

Unified Auditing

Actually a lot of my customers use Unified Auditing these …

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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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Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog – DOHDATABASE.com

You may have realized that you will find mostly on-prem database upgrade and migration topics covered on my blog. Which doesn’t mean that you can’t use most of these techniques to migrate to the cloud either. But it’s really hard to write about everything in full detail. Hence, today I’d like to introduce you to Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog – DOHDATABASE.com. And no, I was never a fan of this American boyband from the 80s and 90s 😉

Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog - DOHDATABASE.com

Find Daniel’s blog at: https://dohdatabase.com

DOHDATABASE … huh?

Cloud Migrations: The New Kid on the Blog - DOHDATABASE.com

Daniel Overby Hansen

As you may have read a …

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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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Do you need to license Java for AutoUpgrade?

Actually this question came up internally. I did have no doubt that you don’t have to license Java in order to use AutoUpgrade. But a colleague had such doubts. So let’s clarify: Do you need to license Java for AutoUpgrade?

Do you need to license Java for AutoUpgrade?

Photo by nousnou iwasaki on Unsplash

Or phrased in a different way: “Since Java 8 requires a Java subscription now. Does autoupgrade come with a license?

Do you?

Of course, No!

But where do the doubts come from? Actually this link here does not list the “Oracle Database” as a product. But there is this MOS Note

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Do we offer patched Gold Images already?

Internally we can use a Gold Image service at Oracle. I can download a zip with 19.6.0 included. But externally for you as customers, the download of 19.6.0 required that you download 19.3.0 at first, then apply 19.6.0 on top of it. But a day ago, a tweet by my Belgium friend Philippe Fierens caught my attention. Do we offer patched Gold Images already?

Do we offer patched Gold Images already?

Photo by Sergey Pesterev on Unsplash

What is a Gold Image?

Since Oracle 18c, the installation routine has changed to the better. You download zip file containing the Gold Image, you create a directory and

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AutoUpgrade Tips: Running two (or more) sessions in parallel

Our intention with the AutoUpgrade as the single tool to upgrade your databases was initially: You have one big config file for your databases. And you will use this file to upgrade your databases unattended. Ideally you run an “analyze” at first, then you schedule a “deploy” for overnight or the next weekend or whenever it is convenient for you. But sometimes people have different needs. In this particular case several people asked whether you can run multiple AutoUpgrade tools in parallel on the same server. Hence, I’d like to explain the first of more AutoUpgrade …

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Exadata Upgrade to OL7 and to Oracle 19c

This is just a short blog post to ensure I will find the necessary information when somebody asks me again.. In case you plan to do an Exadata upgrade to OL7 and to Oracle 19c, the below links are the most important ones you should start with.

Exadata Upgrade to OL7 and to Oracle 19c

Exadata Upgrade to OL7 and to Oracle 19c

–Mike…

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AutoUpgrade: Where do you find all the logfiles?

AutoUpgrade: Where do you find all the logfiles?In the previous blog posts you could read about how to create the configuration file, adjust it and tweak the init parameters for the AutoUpgrade tool. And then I described the different modes of it. In this blog post I’d like to give you some insights into AutoUpgrade: Where do you find all the logfiles?

AutoUpgrade: Where do you find all the logfiles?

AutoUpgrade – Step-by-step

  1. The new AutoUpgrade Utility – Download, documentation and supported versions
  2. Create and adjust the config file for AutoUpgrade
  3. Config file for AutoUpgrade – Advanced options
  4. Config file for AutoUpgrade – Tweaking init parameters
  5. AutoUpgrade: ANALYZE, FIXUPS, UPGRADE and DEPLOY modes
  6. AutoUpgrade:
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