Patch

Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy

Posted on October 19, 2023 by Best Practice Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 4

When I came back from vacation a few weeks ago (or was it almost 2 months ago??) I learned that we have added some Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy. The clarifications are mainly about how long you will be able to request a single fix for a given Release Update (RU). Take this not as a constraint but a motivation to argue internally to not stay on too old Release Updates.

Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy

Photo by Saul Macias on Unsplash

 

How to find the important notes?

It is not easy to find this important note in MOS, …

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Your UPGRADE and MIGRATION program at OCW23

Posted on September 4, 2023 by OOW 4

Are you coming to Oracle Cloud World 2023 and to Oracle DatabaseWorld at CloudWorld? Then you should read on since this may be your upgrade and migration program at OCW23. We are desperately looking forward to see and meet you in 2 weeks in Las Vegas. Don’t forget to add the talks you’d like to visit to your schedule as some of the rooms have limited capacity. And at least one of our labs is already sold out.

https://www.oracle.com/database/upgrades/#rc30p2

Who’s speaking and HOL’ing?

Speakers and your lab hosts will be:

  • Roy Swonger
  • Mike Dietrich
  • Daniel Overby Hansen
  • Rodrigo Jorge
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Virtual Classroom Seminar 17: From SR to Patch

Posted on June 20, 2023 by Workshop 4

This is your chance to sign up to our Virtual Classroom Seminar 17: From SR to Patch – Insights into the Oracle Database Development process. It will happen Thursday, June 22 at 16:00h CET. As usual, this is free of charge. It is your unique chance to get insights into our database development process. We lift the curtain for a bit, and tell you what’s happening behind the scenes. Don’t miss this chance.

Why and how register?

This is the seminar telling you what happens behind the scenes. We will tell …

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Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches

Posted on May 23, 2023 by AutoUpgrade Patch Recommendation 61

From all my quarterly blog posts you know that I patch usually in-place for space and other reasons. And you may have similar reasons when you patch. But it is not ideal – and just speaking about risk and downtime, you should always patch out-of-place. So let me show you how Patching to Oracle 19.19.0 out-of-place with additional patches works.

What do I need?

Actually, this is not complicated at all. And if you never done it this way, give it a try now please.

  • Base release Oracle Database 19.3.0 image
  • opatch 37 from
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Patching process changes with MRPs

Posted on May 22, 2023 by Patch Recommendation 10

I blogged about the Monthly Recommended Patches (MRP) several times before. And due to the feedback you and we had given, a few things got changed. The main change is from having the MRP bundled as a system patch making opatchauto a requirement. See below what Patching process changes with MRPs were implemented recently.

Before …

As you could read already in:

the introduction of the MRPs added one major flaw: They’ve been built as system patches which made …

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

Posted on March 7, 2023 by Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 2

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

Posted on March 1, 2023 by AutoUpgrade 17

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

Posted on February 28, 2023 by Flaws and Pitfalls Optimizer Patch Recommendation 18

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

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 18

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

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 46

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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MRP3 for Oracle 19.17.0 adds an interesting surprise

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Flaws and Pitfalls Patch Recommendation 9

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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Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Patch Recommendation 30

Mid-of January. It’s patching time again. So let me show you the quarterly exercise of Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches. Let’s see this time if I will have to remove my Data Pump Bundle Patch and the 19.17.0 MRP2 at first when I patch in-place.

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Photo by karokrasinska on Unsplash

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 directly when you provision a new home with OUI…

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RUs contain now all available DST patches

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Patch Recommendation Time Zone - DST 8

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

Posted on December 21, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 16

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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Patching all my environments with the October 2022 Bundle Patches

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 56

Oh yes, it is patching time (again). And this time I somehow missed the slot since the quarterly critical patch updates got released right during Oracle Cloud World. Since I didn’t want to stretch the hotel WiFi too much – and since I wouldn’t have had enough time to install and write-up this blog post, I do it now with a week of delay. So as usual every quarter, follow me for patching all my environments with the October 2022 Bundle Patches.

As usual, an important annotation upfront: I patch in-place due to …

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Patching News: RURs are gone – long live MRPs

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 24

Sorry for the headline using TLAs (three letter acronyms). But I was tempted – and those of you being interested in Oracle Database patching my quickly realize that there are some Patching News: RURs are gone – long live MRPs.

Patching News: RURs are gone - long live MRPs

Photo by Hu Chen on Unsplash

 

RURs are gone?

Andy Mendelsohn announced the MRPs (Monthly Recommended Patches) in October at DOAG Conference in Nuernberg already. Due to Oracle Cloud World bussiness, I’ve had no time to write about it yet. And the introduction of the MRPs means that we won’t produce RURs anymore after a transition grace period.…

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Certifying an application on a specific RU-only is wrong

Posted on September 14, 2022 by Best Practice Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 15

Well, there are still 80+ comments I need to answer and reply to on the blog. So please be patient – nothing gets deleted or ignored. But it happens that a topic crosses my inbox, and I need to blog about it right now. Today, it is a case where a customer asked me for advice, and mentioned on the side that they are going to 19.6.0 in OCI. In this relation I’d like to explain why Certifying an application on a specific RU- only is wrong.

What’s the story?

At first, …

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Two recent issues you may need one-off patches for

Posted on August 15, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 12

Uh … my blog counter tells me I have 57 unanswered comments in the queue at the moment. Forgive me, but July and August so far were really very busy months with some travel activity as well. And another proof that I’m not used to travel anymore: Last week I forgot the power adapter for my Mac at home and just realized it when I pulled out my Mac to do emails. Anyhow, this is a short Monday-vacation-time-blog post about two recent issues you may need one-off patches for since you otherwise may get trapped by them as well. Both …

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Why you simply can’t upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c

Posted on August 1, 2022 by Release Schedule 5

It’s time for a Monday morning rant. I receive more and more questions which all start similar. “My customer is on Oracle 11g and/or 12c, and want to know whether the next long term support release …“. Now let me clarify Why you simply can’t upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c. And why you MUST upgrade to Oracle Database 19c.

Why you simply can't upgrade from Oracle 11g or 12c to Oracle 23c

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

What is the intention?

After a lot of discussions across many regions, especially in JAPAC during the past weeks I realized that there is a reason for all …

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Patching most of my environments with the July 2022 Bundle Patches

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 42

It’s brutally hot out there. It must be July. And I sit in my cool basement office and start my quarterly patching journey hoping that you can enjoy the sun and the sea somewhere. It is time to do my usual exercise, this time Patching most of my environments with the July 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 directly …

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How to speed up datapatch – and much more information

Posted on May 30, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 18

Ok, I promised to write more about patching speed. And this blog post will be just the root post targeting datapatch speed. I will link also to blog posts I’ve written before but also share knowledge which may not be obvious at first stage. The overall topic will be How to speed up datapatch – and much more information.

.

What is datapatch

Let me start at the ground level and explain what datapatch is and why it exists.

When you are still on Oracle Database 11g, you may wonder what datapatch …

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Simple database installation with applyRU and applyOneOffs

Posted on May 17, 2022 by Installation Patch Recommendation 30

Some of you may remember my blog post from April 22, 2021 about issues I saw with the unattended installation using applyRU and applyOneOffs switches. The installation failed with a strange jox error when I passed on the OJVM bundle to my installation queue. But there is relief – finally, after almost one year. So let me give you some background, and of course show you the workaround for the Simple database installation with applyRU and applyOneOffs.

Simple database installation with applyRU and applyOneOffs

Photo by Xan Griffin on Unsplash

What has happened?

A longer while ago, we introduced the very convenient ability to install patches …

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Binary patching is slow because of the inventory

Posted on May 10, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 52

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

… Continue reading...

How to speed up your database and GI patching

Posted on May 9, 2022 by Patch Recommendation 12

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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Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 – End of Support and Patch Bundles

Posted on April 26, 2022 by Release Schedule 1

This will be a short blog post but since I received a number of messages yesterday after I published my usual Patching all my environments with the April 2022 Patch Bundles blog post I need to clarify a few things regarding Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 – End of Support and Patch Bundles.

Premier Support for Oracle 12.2.0.1

If you remember this, the Premier Support period for Oracle 12.2.0.1 ended on November 30, 2020.

Limited Error Correction Support for Oracle 12.2.0.1

Since many of you were still on Oracle 12.2.0.1 when the end of Premier Support …

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Mike Dietrich
Oracle Senior Director of Product Management for Database Upgrade, Migrations and Patching writing just another blog.

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