MOS

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Christian asked this question today. Specifically, in his case for Bug 26749785 – PERF_DIAG: NEED TO HAVE MORE CONTROL IN DICTIONARY FOR AUTO_STATS_ADVISOR_TASK. Several of his customers suffer from this issue, and they repeatedly need to ask for backports or merge patches. I have seen this several times as well. Anyway, he is not only one who asked: Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Why is the fix for bug nnn not included in any RU?

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash

Inclusion criteria

In order to be able to include a bug fix into an MRP, CSPU or RU, it has to be …

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AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials

In this blog post series AutoUpgrade Patching – From Zero to Hero – Part 2: MOS Credentials will be our topic for today. If you are tired of going through MOS notes over and over again to identify the most important fixes and fetch them, you need to automate it. But in order to automate the download, you need to infuse your MOS credentials into the AutoUpgrade keystore. Let’s do this together now.

AutoUpgrade Patching - From Zero to Hero - Part 2: MOS Credentials

Create directories

Before we really start, you should define a few directories at first. In my case, I copied the newest version of AutoUpgrade into /Users/mdietric/TEMP/AU. …

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How do you check whether a list of bug fixes is included in an RU?

Today, a customer sent me a workaround for the misbehavior they were seeing with the Conflict Checker Tool in the Support portal. They use oradiff to check whether a given fix they have a one-off right now is included in a future Release Update (RU). This works nicely, but I have a recommendation for an even easier check (thanks Rodrigo!).

Ask ORAdiff …

I am using this specific customer case as an example. Of course, this will work with your list of fixes as well. Let’s assume that this is the list of one-off …

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The October 2025 Release of AutoUpgrade (25.6) is available

It’s October – and while the leafs keep falling on the northern hemisphere, the October 2025 Release of AutoUpgrade (25.6) is available. Get it now – and find the list of features and fixes below.

How to download it?

As usual, that’s very simple. You either download it via the well-known

or you fetch it directly from oracle.com with curl, wget or by just clicking on the big button.

What’s new?

Again, a lot. 25.6 release has a significant and important number of enhancements. It includes the …

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AutoUpgrade patching – getting started with Connor McDonald

AIOUG OC Yatra 2025 is over, and I somehow recovered as well. As I wrote here, it was (again) an incredible experience with all those wonderful people (you!!) and those crazy speakers (us!) – and I learned a lot again. Still, I had no clue that Database and Developer evangelist and video wizard Connor McDonald would react to my friendly nagging 🙂

Have you used AutoUpgrade before?

If you say “No, not really“, then this video is for you. See how Connor dives into AutoUpgrade which he had never used before.…

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The August 2025 version of AutoUpgrade (25.4) is available

This time the AutoUpgrade team did magic and included so many great new features and useful enhancements into the new version of AutoUpgrade. So, please note: The August 2025 version of AutoUpgrade (25.4) is available for download. You should refresh your current versions, especially when you use it for patching, and especially if you attempt to do in an RAC (Real Application Clusters) environment.  But read more below.

How to download it?

As usual, that’s very simple. You either download it via the well-known

or you fetch …

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The May 2025 version of AutoUpgrade (25.3) is available

Many of you know it and downloaded it already. But just in case you are not aware yet, let me give you a quick summary since the May 2025 version of AutoUpgrade (25.3) is available for download.

How to download it?

That’s very simple. You either download it via the well-known

or you fetch it directly from oracle.com with curl, wget or by just clicking on the big button.

 

What’s new?

Well, 25.3 is a one-fix-only release, the real change was in 25.2 released a week …

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Download AutoUpgrade directly from oracle.com

We were promising this for a long while, and thanks to Bill’s persistence and hard work we finally can offer you something which will make your DBA life easier: The ability to Download AutoUpgrade directly from oracle.com.

What does this mean?

You know that you can download a new version of AutoUpgrade from My Oracle Support via MOS Note:2485457.1 – Download AutoUpgrade. This was the case since day 1, and even before we released AutoUpgrade together with Oracle Database 19c about 5.5 years ago. We used the note already in the …

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AutoUpgrade’s Patching: The feature you waited for

Over the almost past 6 years since we unleashed it, AutoUpgrade changed Oracle Database upgrades significantly. But we’ve been asked so many times about one missing feature. And now it is available. Still in V.1, not feature complete (yet). And we know that you have wishes and desires. Stay with us, it’s going to improve rapidly. So, let us kick off AutoUpgrade’s Patching: The feature you waited for.

AutoUpgrade's Patching: The feature you waited for

Photo by Ashim D’Silva on Unsplash

Wait a bit … AutoUpgrade Patching??

Yes, you are right. AutoUpgrade can patch your database from home A to home B for a longer …

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Can you use the UEK7 Linux kernel, or may you get some trouble?

Writing about a topic I have not much knowledge with is … no fun 🙂 But let me share this with you as one of my most trusted customers, Peter Lehmann, tested this and got trapped. The information being available was not crystal clear, and Peter‘s database did not start anymore when HUGEPAGES were enabled. So, the question is: Can you use the UEK7 Linux kernel, or may you get some trouble?

Where it all starts

Peter set up a new cluster with Oracle Linux 8.8 using an UEK7 kernel. And as …

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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
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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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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 …

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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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Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux

Some of you may have seen the alert already released yesterday. And thanks to Peter Lehmann again for alerting me. When you logon to MyOracle Support, you will find it simply in the alert section to the left. On Jan 25, 2023, this Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux has been released.

Important alert for Oracle Database and GI RU 19.18.0 on Linux

Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

 

What is the situation?

Due to an issue described in MOS Note: 2923428.1 – LMON trace file with repeated entries of “Submitting asynchronized dump request” the Release Updates (RU) 19.18.0 for the Oracle Database and …

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Patching all my environments with the April 2022 Patch Bundles

Easter time is patching time. And since I was hiking and biking every day the last week up in the Northern Italian mountains, this blog post is coming with a slight delay. But better late than never. Time to show you my usual exercise, this time Patching all my environments with the April 2022 Patch Bundles.

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 …

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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 …

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Some very important MOS Notes when you upgrade and patch

Today, I would like to publish only a short blog post with some hints to MyOracle Support (MOS) notes we find quite helpful. The idea of all these notes I will list below is to help you finding the right patches before you upgrade or patch to Oracle 19c. So see our collection of Some very important MOS Notes when you upgrade and patch below.

Why do you need patch bundles?

At first, it is always our recommendation to upgrade to the most recent Release Update (RU). This is currently Oracle 19.11.0 while I’m …

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This MOS note is not available anymore??!?

Let me craft a very short Tuesday evening blog post as this happened quite often to me. We promote a MOS note, either via our blogs or in our Virtual Classroom seminars and workshops. And when you try to access it, the note is gone. Plus, MyOracle Support (MOS) gives you no indication why it has disappeared or what has happened.

One of the many cases …

Chris commented on the blog here saying:

Hello Mike,

Unfortunately document “MOS Note: 2720807.1 – Oracle Database 19c Important Recommended One-off Patches” is not available anymore as

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Why do you need a password to download older patch bundles?

A customer raised this question recently: Why do you need a password to download older patch bundles? The customer wanted to download a PSU from July 2020 on the MyOracle Support (MOS) platform but this wasn’t possible without a password.

Why do you need a password to download older patch bundles?

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Why is there an extra password required?

In MOS Note: 888.1 – Master Note for Database Proactive Patch Program we documented the following:

1.4 Policy to obtain older Oracle Database Bundles, Updates & Revisions

Through our review of customer Service Requests (SRs), we find that customers frequently run into issues because they have unknowingly downloaded

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Why is the 19.9.0 Release Update not available yet for MY platform?

I’ve had a week off and tried to relax and stay away from work topics (which worked quite well this time). The downside is 300+ emails in the inbox. And I spotted several ones already asking: Why is the 19.9.0 Release Update not available yet for MY platform?

Details for Patch 123456789 not found.

At first, this is not a uncommon question. And the root cause is two-fold. As you know from my quarterly blog posts such as Patching all my environments with the October 2020 Patch Bundles, these notes are important:

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datapatch and OPatch documentation and MOS note

Did you ever ask yourself whether there is documentation available for OPatch and for datapatch? It is not easy to find. And you won’t find it under “Database” in the Oracle Bookshelf. So today I would like to guide you in this short blog post to the datapatch and OPatch documentation and MOS note.

OPatch? Datapatch?

Just to recap: You use OPatch (or opatchauto) to apply the binaries to an Oracle installation. As a result, you change the second or the third number of the release from Oracle 19.5.0 to Oracle 19.8.0. But …

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Oracle 12.2.0.1 – Clarification for Limited Error Correction Support

A few weeks ago, you read the announcement of the availability of Limited Error Correction Support for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1. But many of you had some questions right away. I could answer most of them easily. But it was clear to us that there was more information needed. Hence, we published more information for Oracle 12.2.0.1 – Clarification for Limited Error Correction Support.

Oracle 12.2.0.1 - Clarification for Limited Error Correction Support

Photo by Alfred Aloushy on Unsplash

What has been announced in April 2020?

Just a few weeks ago we announced the availability of Limited Error Correction Support for Oracle 12.2.0.1 after November 2020. You could find …

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List of PREUPGRADE checks executed by preupgrade.jar

List of PREUPGRADE checks executed by preupgrade.jar

Most of you may not care about the checks our Pre Upgrade Check tool preupgrade.jar does. But some may. Especially in cases where you plan to run a command line upgrade unattended via a script. Therefore this List of PREUPGRADE checks executed by preupgrade.jar may help you.

List of PREUPGRADE checks executed by preupgrade.jar

As a result of a joint initiative between our Upgrade Development team and the Support group dealing with upgrade-related SRs we released this MOS Note:

Purpose of the new MOS note is to give you a complete list …

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Download Assistant for RUs, RURs, BPs, PSUs, Patch Sets and Releases

How often did I launch a search in MyOracle Support (MOS) for a specific Bundle Patch or Patch Set Update. And usually the MOS search results don’t get me what I’m looking for no matter how clever I search. But there was relief. A MOS Note combined all PSUs and BPs and much more into table format including the links. But what if there would be a Download Assistant for RUs, RURs, BPs, PSUs, Patch Sets and Releases?

I did blog about the previous magic note a while back:
Where is the Jan 2017 PSU for Oracle Database 11.2.0.4?…

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