Oracle

In-person Upgrade Workshops in Brussels and Utrecht

For a long time we haven’t met in person I guess. But I know very well that the audiences in Brussels, Belgium, and Utrecht, Netherlands, are very active. And it’s actually the best to meet for In-person Upgrade Workshops in Brussels and Utrecht in October – not via zoom 🙂 And this is your change to sign up if you haven’t already.

When will it happen?

Very simple – and you are just one click away:

Both events …

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You may need to run root.sh again after RU patching

With the Oracle Critical Patch Update Advisory – July 2023 – you may have spotted a change in the Database Release Update READMEs: You may need to run root.sh again after RU patching. Why is that?

Let us have a quick look

I verified this with the 19.20.0 README on Linux. But I guess this applies to the other READMEs as well. Please bare in mind that this applies to the Database RUs only, not to Grid Infrastructure. You can find this new paragraph in it:

3.3.5 Update Permissions for extjob

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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 Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS

Oracle isn’t always evil. And I personally never understood why not everyb0dy is on Oracle Linux (OL) already. It’s free, it gets extremely well maintained. And some issues my customers saw with Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) were fixed with OL literally more than a year before RHEL did. No blame to anybody – but that is my experience when customers tell me about issues over the past two years. But what is the future of Oracle Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS? And why am I writing this blog post?

Oracle Linux (OL), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) and CentOS

Photo by Brigitta Schneiter on

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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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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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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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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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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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Applying the MRP from December 2022 to Oracle 19c

Well, couldn’t there be a nicer pre-Christmas present than the December 2022 Monthly Recommended Patches (MRP)? You know, I’m just kidding. But since I received the first questions from customers – and before I send an email internally – I wanted to try out Applying the MRP from December 2022 to Oracle 19c.

 

Download the December MRP

Actually you need to access MOS Note: 888.1 -Primary Note for Database Proactive Patch Program since the link is not in MOS Note: 555.1 – Oracle Database 19c Important Recommended One-Off Patches even though it …

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Oracle Cloud World 2022 – Recap and Slides

This was a wonderful but very strenuous week, no doubt. Oracle Cloud World (OCW) 2022 happened in Las Vegas. New name, new city. And even though many agreed to prefer San Francisco with an Oracle Open World instead having such an event in Sin City, there were a lot of great things happening. So let me start my personal summary here, the Oracle Cloud World 2022 – Recap and Slides.

Oracle Cloud World 2022 - Recap and Slides

Our labs and talks

It was amazing to see you all in our 4 sessions, 4 labs and 2 lightning talks. Since the registration process was a bit …

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OC YATRA 2022 visiting 6 cities in India in July 2022

Yes, you read correctly in my blog post’s title: OC YATRA 2022 visiting 6 cities in India in July 2022. And it is already July. Just a few days to sign up – if you haven’t already. So please register here: https://www.aioug.org/ocyatra-2022

Just pick one of the six cities from the agenda page:

  • 23 July 2022, Saturday – Chennai
  • 24 July 2022, Sunday – Bengaluru
  • 26 July 2022, Tuesday – Mumbai
  • 28 July 2022, Thursday – Pune
  • 30 July 2022, Saturday – Delhi
  • 31 July 2022, Sunday – Hyderabad

And register yourself.

Please check out the awesome agenda with …

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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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How to speed up your database and GI patching

Several of you mailed me already and commented. And I know that I promised this blog post for weeks, if not longer. So let me try to explain How to speed up your database and GI patching. Since this blog post has a longer history, I’d say far over 6 months, it will be a bit longer than the usual posts. At when I started writing it, I decided to split it up into several pieces to make it more digestible but also to allow easier finding of certain topics. I hope it may help easing some recent patching …

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Migrating Flashback Data Archive (FDA) tables

This morning I received an email question from a customer asking whether there is support for the Migrating Flashback Data Archive (FDA) tables in Oracle 19c. And since this is not the first time I received this question, I thought it may be good to have a blog post about it.

What is Flashback Data Archive (FDA)?

Well, google it. Actually I was looking for a link in our documentation but to my surprise I found the usual suspects such as Tim Hall’s excellent oracle-base page – but not much in our own doc …

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Why you can’t stay on Oracle Database 11g forever

Oracle Database 11g? In 2022? Yes, I know – and you know too – there are Oracle 11g databases out there in production. And blindly I’d say: Too many. Of course, we are the “upgrade guys” trying to convince you to move to Oracle Database 19c. And I bet, for each of your 11g databases there’s a valid and legit reason why they haven’t upgraded yet. But there is one often neglected technical reason Why you can’t stay on Oracle Database 11g forever. So let me explain this below.

 

Oracle Database 11g?

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Oracle Fail Safe is desupported in Oracle Database 21c

You may wonder about this message out of the blue. I wrote a blog post about Oracle Fail Safe being deprecated in Oracle 19c a while ago. But a customer recently pointed me to the fact that I didn’t blog about the fact that Oracle Fail Safe is desupported in Oracle Database 21c.

Oracle Fail Safe is desupported in Oracle Database 21c

Photo by Thanos Pal on Unsplash

Deprecated? Desupported?

A very quick recap about what deprecated and desupported mean. In short, deprecated means “we don’t develop something further but it is still fully supported”. Whereas desupported means “it may still work or may be gone, and you …

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Virtual Classroom Seminar 13: Data Pump Extreme – Deep Dive with Development

We worked very hard in the past weeks to compile our newest Virtual Classroom Seminar 13: Data Pump Extreme – Deep Dive with Development for you. Now it’s time to sign up for Thursday, March 3, 2022.

Virtual Classroom Seminar 13: Data Pump Extreme - Deep Dive with Development

When will it happen?

Our 13th Virtual Classroom Seminar will happen this Thursday, March 3, 2022 at a hopefully convenient time for you:

14:00h CET – 13:00 BST – 10 a.m. EST – 7 a.m. PST – 20:00h IST

As usual, we will be available to all your Data Pump questions throughout the entire seminar. Just use the QA option of the zoom …

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What does datapatch do when you have different components in PDBs?

The last weeks, literally weeks, I have spent a lot of time with several patching topics. And in order to clean up my inbox a bit I will dump the learning into several blog posts. This one today will be about an interesting case I came across when a customer ran into problems with the runtime of datapatch in an ExaCC environment. Hence, today’s topic will be: What does datapatch do when you have different components in PDBs?

Annotation

If you are on 19.16.0 or higher, than you can safely ignore this blog post

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Adding the Oracle 19.14.0 OCW / GI bundle patch to my database home

Actually I planned for a different blog post this morning. But since I have a backlog of unanswered comments accumulated I came across this interesting question from Pedro. He wanted to know how he can patch the OCW component in his database home. So I thought I will show you the process of Adding the Oracle 19.14.0 OCW / GI bundle patch to my database home.

Is this necessary?

That’s a good question for a Monday morning. I think: No, that isn’t necessary for a “Database only” home where you don’t have or …

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