Oracle 12.2

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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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

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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
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To which release should you upgrade to? Revisited …

I’ve had so many discussions with customers and partners, and also with colleagues in the past weeks and months about the support time frames for Oracle Database 12.2. Now I checked the blog, and I found so many posts about support periods. And I wrote a similar blog post already 1.5 years ago. I think it’s time to summarize all that. And give you some guidance as well about to which release should you upgrade to? Revisited …

To which release should you upgrade to? Revisited ...

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Unsplash

Overview

Basically there are 2 sources to learn about Support time frames for the database release:…

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Is Oracle Fail Safe 4.2.1 certified with Oracle Database 19c?

From time to time I get questions regarding the certification of Oracle Fail Safe. And just the other day, a customer asked: Is Oracle Fail Safe 4.2.1 certified with Oracle Database 19c? I briefly browsed my blog posts about Oracle Fail Safe from the past, and even though I mentioned that the certification for 4.2.1 on Oracle 12.2.0.1 may apply to later versions, I never updated it.

Is Oracle Fail Safe 4.2.1 certified with Oracle Database 19c?

Is Oracle Fail Safe 4.2.1 certified with Oracle Database 19c?

Yes, it is. But you may want to know where you can read and find this information.

The latest version of Oracle Fail …

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Oracle 12.2 and higher: Set _cursor_obsolete_threshold to old default

Sometimes development groups change default parameter settings because it fits well for a specific feature. This has happened with _cursor_obsolete_threshold in Oracle Database 12.2. But there’s now an official recommendation for Oracle 12.2 and higher: Set _cursor_obsolete_threshold to old default.

What is _cursor_obsolete_threshold?

First of all, this is obviously an underscore parameter. And usually the policy is: Don’t change underscore parameters unless either you clearly understand what you are changing. Or unless Oracle Support (or another Oracle authority) advises you to do.

Oracle 12.2 and higher: Set _cursor_obsolete_threshold to old default

Photo by Jakub Gorajek on Unsplash

We introduced this parameter in Oracle 11.2.0.3 for an issue of growing

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DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE Package in Oracle 12.2 and 18c

Yes, I did blog about the DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE package in earlier Oracle releases before. And I thought (and it was documented this way) that it will disappear in Oracle 12.2 and newer. But in fact you’ll find the DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE package in Oracle 12.2 and 18c. Most likely …

This is a very interesting case and you may see also my previous blog posts:

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE Package in Oracle 12.2 and 18c

First of …

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Cloning a PDB from Oracle 12.1 to Oracle 12.2

Is cloning a PDB from Oracle 12.1 to Oracle 12.2 possible?

A colleague raised this question recently. And a customer did ask me the same question a few days before at a user group conference. There are several ways to move a PDB from Oracle 12.1. to 12.2. But the documentation does not say explicitly if you can do a cloning operation between Oracle 12.1 and 12.2.

Please see also: Upgrade Testing – Online Clone a PDB to Oracle 19c

Cloning a PDB from Oracle 12.1 to Oracle 12.2

You can clone a non-CDB and make it a PDB but

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DOAG 2017 Conference – Upgrade Talks and More

DOAG 2017 - Upgrade Talks and More

Picture Source: https://2017.doag.org/de/home/

It’s November. November is DOAG time. Time really flies. And the German Oracle User Group Conference till kick off in a bit more than a week from now on. For me it’s like visiting a huge event where I know so many people: it’s almost like a friends& family meetup. Only strange thing: we all get older … 😉 I’m really looking forward to DOAG 2017 Conference from Nov 21-24, 2017.

And if you are not a German native speaker, don’t worry at all. Many talks get simultaneously translated into English. The translators are amazingly good. It’s …

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Differences between PSU / BP and RU / RUR

Since Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 we change our patching model as well, switching from Patch Set Updates (PSU) and Proactive Bundle Patches (BP) to Release Updates (RU) and Release Update Revisions (RUR). But what are actually the differences between PSU / BP and RU / RUR patch bundles? Is there any or is it just a renaming of well known patch bundles?

No change on MS Windows

First of all, let me say that there won’t be any changes on the Windows platform. If your preferred operating system is MS Windows then stop reading here. On Windows you’ll see …

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Lost AWR snapshots reappear again in Oracle 12.2 in Multitenant

Lost AWR snapshots reappear again in Oracle 12.2 in MultitenantWhat a strange topic. And I thought I never will blog about this. But as I have received the same question for the third time today, I think there’s a bit clarification needed. Lost AWR snapshots reappear in Oracle 12.2 in Multitenant pluggable databases.

Magically …

Lost AWR snapshots reappear again in Oracle 12.2 in Multitenant

In a non-CDB database you have your local AWR data stored in the SYSAUX tablespace. Whenever you create an AWR snapshot:

exec dbms_workload_repository.create_snapshot;

You can query and of course evaluate it afterwards:

select con_id, snap_id, snap_level, to_char(begin_interval_time, 'dd/mm/yy hh24:mi:ss') BEGIN
from CDB_HIST_SNAPSHOT order by 
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Fallback Strategy: Flashback Pluggable Database

Fallback Strategy: Flashback Pluggable Database in Oracle 12.2Since Oracle Database 12.2 an important feature works now for pluggable databases as a Fallback Strategy: Flashback Pluggable Database in Oracle 12.2. This was missing in Oracle Database 12.1.

Actually I missed this feature a lot as I use “Flashback” almost everyday. And you could only rewind the entire deployment with a FLASHBACK DATABASE command.

Fallback Strategy: Flashback Pluggable Database

Fallback Strategy: Flashback Pluggable Database in Oracle 12.2Actually having the possibility to flashback a pluggable database without effecting the other PDBs is really important. Did you ever want to try out what happens if you TRUNCATE TABLE SYS.PROPS$? Give it a try – but set a

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Björn Bolltoft’s Blog: Oracle Database Managebility

I know, there are so many blogs out there. Some are good and helpful, others are driven by marketing messages only. But I believe this one will become a really good one in the Oracle universe: Björn Bolltoft’s Blog: Oracle Database Manageability.

Björn Bolltoft’s Blog: Oracle Database Managebility

First of all, let me say some words about Björn. I know Björn now for over 10 years. But he works even longer than I for Oracle. Björn joined Oracle Sweden in 1995. I bumped into Björn at our second Tech Challenge training. This is a hard-core training for geeks, …

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Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1The Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 is something I planned to write about for quite a while. Roy and I include this topic in the New Features section in our Upgrade / Migrate / Consolidate to Oracle Database 12.2 slide deck for some time. This blog post (in German only) by my former team mate Ulrike Schwinn inspired me to post something by myself.

Oracle Optimizer Statistics Advisor in Oracle Database 12.2.0.1

First of all you’ll find the feature documented in the Oracle Database 12.2 Database SQL Tuning Guide.

The advisor task (‘Statistics Advisor‘) …

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My thoughts about the new Oracle Database Release Schedule

Changes to a well-known release model mean a lot. I will give you some of my thoughts about the new Oracle Database release schedule.

My thoughts about the new Oracle Database Release Schedule

What are we changing?

In my own words we basically rename the patch sets and name them what they were since years: Full releases. This means, Oracle Database 12.2.0.2 will be Oracle 18. And Oracle 12.2.0.3 will be Oracle 19. And so on.

Therefore there won’t be any Oracle 12.2.0.2 anymore – and obviously no Oracle 13.1 followed by Oracle 13.2.

In addition we change from Proactive Bundle Patches (BP) to Release Updates (RU)

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News about the new Oracle Database Release Schedule

News about the new Oracle Database Release Schedule

Old release numbering

There are news about the new Oracle Database release schedule. Oracle updated MOS Note 742060.1 containing release information recently.

A few weeks ago we changed from PSUs and BPs to RURs (Release Update Revisions) and RUs (Release Updates) beginning with Oracle Database 12.2.

And now MOS Note 742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases is updated as well.

News about the new Oracle Database Release Schedule

From MOS Note 742060.1 – Release Schedule of Current Database Releases:

Release 12.2: New releases will be annual and the version will be the last two digits of the

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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:

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The first RU for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 is available

First RU is available for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1The first RU (Release Update) for Oracle 12.2.0.1 is available

Just in case the port you are looking for is not available right now please see the ETA dates in the link below.

Details of the July 2017 Critical Patch Advisory

Find the General Information about the July 2017 Critical Patch Advisory here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017-3236622.html

Find the Risk Matrix for the July 2017 Critical Patch Advisory here:
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017verbose-3236625.html#DB

The details about the Database are included in this document:
MOS Note: 2261562.1 – Patch Set Update and Critical Patch Update July 2017 Availability Document
Please find the “Missing patches” in section 2.2 …

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Customer Success: Swiss Mobiliar Insurance

In late 2014 I’ve got asked if I’d like to work with Swiss Mobiliar, the oldest Switzerland insurer, on their upgrade project to move almost 300 databases from Oracle 11.2.0.3 to 12.1.0.2.

Swiss Mobiliar 12c

Swiss Mobiliar – Insurance – 300 databases to Oracle 12c

How do such projects start?

Usually we ask the customer upfront to sign a non-binding reference agreement with us. This ensures that we can support a customer in such a project before, during …

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Having fun with PDB LOCKDOWN PROFILES

In Oracle Database 12.2 (available in the Oracle DBaaS Cloud) there’s a new functionality called “PDB LOCKDOWN PROFILES“. Actually the parameter came already in undocumented and not functional in Oracle Database 12.1.0.2 (see here).

PDB Lockdown Profiles

PDB Lockdown Profiles are meant as a granular way to restrict or enable access – mostly under the aspect of using the database in a highly shared environment but requiring security. The idea is to embed restrictions on-top of a grant, i.e. taking away certain things. As an example you could allow a user logged into a certain PDB …

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