Release Update

Important clarifications to the Oracle Database Error Correction Policy

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

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How to find the important notes?

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

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

Posted on August 7, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

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?

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

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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

ORA-13516 “CATPROC not valid” during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0

Posted on February 24, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

ORA-13516 "CATPROC not valid" during datapatch or autoupgrade to 19.18.0

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What is the symptom?

Regardless of whether you patch to Oracle Database RU 19.18.0 manually or with …

Hide and Seek with RU 19.18.0

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

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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 …

Patching my environments with the January 2023 Bundle Patches

Posted on January 27, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich 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

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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…

RUs contain now all available DST patches

Posted on January 19, 2023 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

RUs contain now all available DST patches

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What’s the story?

There are some good news. We discussed this internally …

Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch – non-rolling but online?

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Data Pump Patch Recommendation 19

Yesterday I have blogged about an issue with the highly recommended Data Pump Bundle Patches. And today I would like to shed some light on how to Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch – non-rolling but online?

Apply the Data Pump Bundle Patch - non-rolling but online?

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Download the Data Pump Bundle Patch

You can download the correct Data Pump Bundle Patch from MOS Note: 2819284.1 – Data Pump Recommended Proactive Patches For 19.10 and Above. It’s just a few MB, and it is a generic patch with a separate download for the Windows platform. So far so good.

…

Applying the first MRP for Oracle 19.17.0

Posted on November 17, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 33

A few weeks ago I blogged about the fact that we retired the RURs, and instead release the MRPs (Monthly Recommended Patches). In my previous blog post about this topic you’ll find also an FAQ hopefully answering all the questions you may have (had). And now it is mid of November, so I can show you the process of applying the first MRP for Oracle 19.17.0.

Applying the first MRP for Oracle 19.17.0

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How do you get access to the MRPs?

At the moment while I write this, you can find the MRPs only in MOS Note: 888.1 -Primary …

Patching all my environments with the October 2022 Bundle Patches

Posted on November 9, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

Patching all of my environments with the October 2022 Bundle Patches

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

Patching News: RURs are gone – long live MRPs

Posted on October 26, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

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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.…

Patching most of my environments with the July 2022 Bundle Patches

Posted on July 21, 2022 by Mike.Dietrich 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.

Patching most of my environments with the July 2022 Bundle Patches

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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 …

Patching all my environments with the October 2021 Patch Bundles

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 20

My calendar has no error or NLS conversion issue – I was just way to busy the past two months with seminars. But today a colleague asked me whether my 21.4 install reports a 21.3 Build Label in the trace files. And this reminded me that I should now finally apply the patch bundles from October 2021 to our Hands-On Lab environment. So again, another blog post about Patching all my environments with the October 2021 Patch Bundles.

Patching all my environments with the October 2021 Patch Bundles

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As usual, an important annotation upfront: I patch in-place due to space issues. But in reality, you …

DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and disabling another fix

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Optimizer Patch Recommendation 6

Yes, DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE week it is. As I received so many good questions and input after my blog post whether you should enable _fix_controls with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE or not, now I can easily fill the rest of the week with new content. Today it will be about a customer’s question regarding DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE and disabling another fix.

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Disabling another fix

The setup is pretty simple. Stefan wanted to disable a different fix while he had all fixes from the most recent RU enabled on purpose. Sounds simple but has a dangerous pitfall.

This is what …

New parameters and features in Oracle Database 19.11.0

Posted on April 26, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Behavior Change Patch Recommendation 6

As usual, as soon as I apply the newest RU, I do also a quick check for New parameters and defaults in Oracle Database 19.11.0.

New parameters and features in Oracle Database 19.11.0

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New Parameters in Oracle 19.11.0

Based on customer feedback, there is one really big improvement since this RU release. Not only new features but also parameter changes get listed. You will find them in the 19c New Features Guide.

In this RU you will find only 1 new parameter:

drcp_dedicated_opt
The description says “Turn on/off dedicated optimization for DRCP” – and the default is “YES

Oracle 19c Installation with 19.11.0 RU, OJVM and some other fixes

Posted on April 22, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Installation Oracle Database 19c Patch Recommendation 40

In an previous blog post we showed how to install and patch in one single action. And as I use this technique all the time when I setup new homes, would like to show you an Oracle 19c Installation with 19.11.0 RU, OJVM and some other fixes. The purpose of this blog post is mainly to demonstrate again how you can install and patch in one action. But also to help you avoiding a pitfall when you apply the OJVM RU from April 2021.

Oracle 19c Installation with 19.11.0 RU, OJVM and some other fixes

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What do we need?

At first, let us …

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

Posted on March 2, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls 6

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.

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

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What happens?

Take …

You may need a one-off for DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 19.10.0

Posted on February 1, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Optimizer Patch Recommendation 22

It’s been a while since I blogged about the DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE – and to me, the package is still sort of a mystery. Ideally you can least and enable or disable behavior changing optimizer fixes per RU. And in Oracle 19.10.0, you will find a new surprise. So You may need a one-off for DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 19.10.0.

You may need a one-off for DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 19.10.0

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Quick Recap

Just in case you haven’t dealt with DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE yet or for a while, a quick recap.

With this procedure, you can list the available patches to turn on or off at will:

SQL> set serveroutput

No RURs for 12.2.0.1 – and Oracle 11.2.0.4 left Extended Support

Posted on January 26, 2021 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation Release Schedule 0

Last week I blogged about the quarterly patching fun when applying the Release Updates to my environments. But I completely forget to mention and explain a few things. There are No RURs for 12.2.0.1 – and Oracle 11.2.0.4 left Extended Support.

No RURs for 12.2.0.1 - and Oracle 11.2.0.4 left Extended Support

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No Release Update Revisions for Oracle 12.2.0.1

Thanks to my friend Rodrigo Jorge who messaged me on the weekend. He goes way deeper with applying the quarterly patches and highlights the differences. And he recognized and blogged already about the fact that there are no RURs available for Oracle 12.2.0.1.

And …

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

Posted on November 9, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 0

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?

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

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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:

JDK patching happens with every RU since January 2020

Posted on April 22, 2020 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 27

A while ago, a customer asked me whether he needs to apply JDK patches separately. He discovered that the JDK in the $ORACLE_HOME is quite outdated. But there was no clear answer available. And the MOS Note he pointed me to, seemed to be quite incomplete. But times have changed. And JDK patching happens with every RU since January 2020.

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JDK who?

JDK stands for Java Development Toolkit. As the Wikipedia article explains, “the JDK includes a private JVM and a few other resources to finish the development of a Java Application”. …

Oracle Database 19c (19.3.0) for Linux is available for download

Posted on April 25, 2019 by Mike.Dietrich Oracle Database 19c 20

Oracle Database 19c (19.3.0) for Linux is available for download as of now from OTN and eDelivery. For those of you who started with Oracle Database 19.2 already, the Updates (RU) 19.3.0 for the database and GI are available as well for Linux and Solaris.

Oracle Database 19c on premises for Linux

You can download Oracle Database 19.3.0 on-prem for Linux now from the usual sources:

The download offering includes the zip, the RPM for the database, and Grid Infrastructure, the Client and more.

Oracle Database 19c (19.3.0) for Linux is available for download

The other ports will follow soon.

Oracle 19c Documentation

And of course …

In case you miss DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 12.2

Posted on February 11, 2019 by Mike.Dietrich Flaws and Pitfalls 0

Strange things happen sometimes. I got alerted by a customer before Christmas about package DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE missing after applying a Release Update. I’ve had a conversation with Nigel Bayliss, the Optimizer PM – but Nigel hasn’t heard of such things either. We both investigated but couldn’t reproduce the issue. But after the end-of-the-year holidays I received similar messages from other customers. In case you miss DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 12.2, then this blog post should help you.

In case you miss DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE in 12.2

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What is DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE?

I blogged about this package in the past already several times:

Fixes for Adaptive Features are included

Does OJVM patching require a specific Database Release Update?

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Mike.Dietrich JVM 0

This question came up several times in the past days: Does OJVM patching require a specific Database Release Update? People mentioned that there’s a significant difference between the OJVM Patch Readme between Oracle 12.2.01 and Oracle 18.4.0.

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What’s the point?

In the OJVM (Oracle Java Virtual Machine) Patch Readme for Oracle Database 12.2.0.1 a sentence clarified that you can combine different states of OJVM and Database patch bundle with each other. Your database home could have been patched with the April 2018 Update, whereas you decided to apply the October 2018 OJVM patch.

The …

Why Release Update Revisions (RUR) are tricky

Posted on November 8, 2018 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 12

A while ago we introduced Release Updates (RU) and Release Update Revisions (RUR). And despite the fact that not only we but also well known external experts such as Ludovico Caldara recommend to stay with Release Updates and simply ignore the Revisions, some people use them. There may be reasons for doing so. But in this blog post I will explain why Release Update Revisions (RUR) are tricky.

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Differences between Updates and Revisions?

I tried to explain the differences between Updates and Revisions a while ago – and also compare them to PSUs and …

July 2018 Update, Revision, BPs, PSUs – delays and other issues

Posted on July 20, 2018 by Mike.Dietrich Patch Recommendation 7

This is a Friday morning blog post. And actually I had no intention to write it. I don’t mean it offensive. But yesterday I received an interesting email from Frits Hoogland from Enkitec/Accenture. Frits asked me about the July RUR and some unlogic things on MOS. Once I had answered his email, the next question came in. Hence, I thought I need to write something about our July 2018 Update, Revision, BPs, PSUs – delays and other issues.

From being on stage at last year’s DOAG Conference for a “Patching Forum” I know that things aren’t as …

Release Update

How to find the important notes?

Let us have a quick look

3.3.5 Update Permissions for extjob

What is the symptom?

Heads Up!

What’s the story?

Download the Data Pump Bundle Patch

How do you get access to the MRPs?

RURs are gone?

Disabling another fix

New Parameters in Oracle 19.11.0

What do we need?

What happens?

Quick Recap

No Release Update Revisions for Oracle 12.2.0.1

Details for Patch 123456789 not found.

JDK who?

Oracle Database 19c on premises for Linux

Oracle 19c Documentation

What is DBMS_OPTIM_BUNDLE?

What’s the point?

Differences between Updates and Revisions?

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