why upgrade

Upgrade to Oracle Database 12c: We don’t insist :-)

It’s so funny – for years I discuss with customers minimal downtime upgrade strategies back and forth, up and down. I saw DBAs really hunting to save a few seconds potential downtime – and I always take this serious as there is usually a real reason behind that. Just to learn a few days later by repeating experience that my work Windows7 laptop goes down to apply upgrades … and this takes looooooooong …. sometimes it takes a lengthy +30 minutes of quiet time. Whereas my OL6 VBox image applies upgrades in the background and needs a simple restart to …

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Why people don’t patch and upgrade?!?

Please see the JAPANESE version of this blog post here!!

Discussing the topic “Why Upgrade” or “Why not Upgrade” is not always fun. Actually the arguments repeat from customer to customer. Typically we hear things such as:

  • A PSU or Patch Set introduces new bugs
  • A new PSU or Patch Set introduces new features which lead to risk and require application verification
  • Patching means risk
  • Patching changes the execution plans
  • Patching requires too much testing
  • Patching is too much work for our DBAs
  • Patching costs a lot of money and doesn’t pay out

And to be very honest sometimes it’s …

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Very cool videos about Upgrade to Oracle 12c

Sometimes it is by far easier to watch a few short videos instead of reading an entire book 🙂

So enjoy watching Roy talking about Upgrades and Migrations to Oracle Database 12c in short videos covering also the new Upgrade and Migration features in Oracle Database 12c.

A set of five short videos discussing new features and enhancements to database upgrades in Oracle Database 12c.

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Why upgrade?

Why Upgrade?

Simple question, isn’t it? Paul from Sogeti in the Netherlands did ask this via email last week. He told me that it’s difficult to convince customers who only look at an database as the backend to their application. If one is looking only from the apps perspective on the whole topic a database upgrade might be something totally useless simply costing time, effort and money.

These facts might convince one or the other customer:

#1:
Oracle support period will end soon or has ended.

As there are tons of customers still on 10.2 the have left now …

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