Best Practices for Upgrading to Oracle Database 19c

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Best Practices for Upgrading to Oracle Database 19c

Mike Dietrich

Master Product ManagerDatabase Upgrade and Migrations@MikeDietrichDE

Roy F. Swonger

Vice PresidentDatabase Upgrade and Utilities@RoyFSwonger

Mike Dietrich

Master Product ManagerDatabase Upgrade and Migrations

Copyright © 2019 Oracle and/or its affiliates.

https://MikeDietrichDE.com

@MikeDietrichDE

Roy F. Swonger

Vice PresidentDatabase Upgrade and Utilities


@RoyFSwonger

Database Upgrade

Why you "want" to upgrade


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Lifetime Support Policy


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2027

Oracle 18

EXTENDED

EXTENDED

EXTENDED

Waived EXTENDEDOracle 11.2

Oracle 12.1

Oracle 12.2.0.1

Oracle 19

Paid Extended SupportPremier Support Waived Extended Support

▼

Oracle 12.2 Release Family?

• Includes:• Oracle 12.2.0.1• Oracle 18c (12.2.0.2)• Oracle 19c (12.2.0.3)

• MOS Note:742060.1 - The Single Source of TruthCopyright © 2019 Oracle and/or its affiliates.

2016

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Oracle 18

EXTENDED

12.2.0.1

Oracle 19

Security

Why you "must" patch and upgrade


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Security | What happens if you don't patch


Security | What happens if you don't upgrade


Security | Oracle Security Alerts - July 19


Database Upgrade

What you shouldn't do


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Don't do this | Outdated Versions


Don't do this | Outdated Versions


GA: 29-NOV-2006

Check

Before Upgrade

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Supportability | OS Certification


Supportability | OS Certification


Supportability | Application Certification


Database Upgrade | Supported Releases


11.2.0.4

12.1.0.2

12.2.0.119c

18c

https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/02/14/oracle-database-19c-requires-ol7-rhel7-or-sles12-or-newer/

https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/02/14/oracle-database-19c-requires-ol7-rhel7-or-sles12-or-newer/

Oracle 19c | Installation

• Gold Image• Create ORACLE_HOME directory• Download image• Unpack into ORACLE_HOME• ./runInstaller• root.sh


Exadata Upgrade | OL7 and Oracle 19c

• MOS Note: 2542082.119c Grid Infrastructure and Database Upgrade steps for Exadata


https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocumentDisplay?id=2542082.1

Download | Apply Release Updates (RU)


Recommendation


What is the recommended way to upgrade databases?

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Download | Get the latest autoupgrade.jar

• MOS Note: 2485457.1



Upgrade | AutoUpgrade


upg>

Job Console

11.2.0.412.1.0.2

12.2.0.1

18c

autoupgrade.jarMOS Note: 2485457.1

4MB

config.cfgautoupgrade.jar

12.2.0.118.5.0

19c

19c


And by the way …

• With Oracle 19c you can have 3 user-created PDBs without need for a Multitenant license!!!

• https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/09/17/3-pdbs-included-with-oracle-19c-and-desupport-of-non-cdbs-with-20c/


https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/09/17/3-pdbs-included-with-oracle-19c-and-desupport-of-non-cdbs-with-20c/

Upgrade | AutoUpgrade - non-CDB to PDB


autoupgrade.jarMOS Note: 2485457.1

4MB

config.cfg

upg>

Job Console

Oracle 19c

autoupgrade.jar

CDB

PDB$SEED

11.2.0.412.1.0.2

12.2.0.1

18c


Upgrade | Prefer doing it all by yourself?

• Download preupgrade.jar from MOS Note: 884522.1• Fixup scripts

• Run dbupgrade -l /tmp/logs• Resumable:� dbupgrade -R -l /tmp/logs



Upgrade 19c | Speed it up

• Check when dictionary stats have been gathered the last time

• Refresh stats a day before the upgrade


column OPERATION format a40set linesize 200

select to_char(max(END_TIME),'DD-MON-YY hh24:mi') LATEST, OPERATIONfrom DBA_OPTSTAT_OPERATIONSwhere OPERATION in ('gather_dictionary_stats', 'gather_fixed_objects_stats')group by operation;

Upgrade 19c | Make it run faster …

• Stats not gathered on several clustered indexes (bug 25286819)

• Wait … autoupgrade.jar does this for you already!


exec dbms_stats.gather_schema_stats('SYS');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_OBJ#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_FILE#_BLOCK#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_TS#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_USER#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_TOID_VERSION#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_MLOG#');exec dbms_stats.gather_index_stats('SYS','I_RG#');

Upgrade 19c | Effect of having good stats

• The larger the dictionary, the bigger the effect

• This example has been done with one of the tiny Hands-On Lab databases


Duration ReductionNo dictionary and fixed objects stats 15 min 55 sec

Gathered dictionary and fixed objects stats 14 min 10 sec 11 %

Gathered schema and cluster index stats 13 min 41 sec 3.4 % to previous

Total downtime saved 2 min 14 sec 14 % overall

APEX | Upgrade APEX upfront

• APEX upgrade• Not part of the database upgrade• MOS Note: 1088970.1 - Master Note APEX Upgrades

• APEX certification• Minimum APEX Version for Oracle 19c: APEX 18.2• MOS Note: 1344948.1 - APEX Database and Web Server Certification




Things to know

Best Practices and things to take care on


Testing | Typical Mistakes• Only 10% of real data used• Data sets artificially created • Tests done on a laptop• No testing tools used• Data from 6 months ago• No statistics refreshed

• Testing?? Waste of time!• Real experts fix it after go-live …


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Best Practice | COMPATIBLE Parameter

• When should you change COMPATIBLE?• 7-10 days after the upgrade

• Which value?• 11.2.0• 12.1.0• 12.2.0• 18.0.0• 19.0.0

• Change COMPATIBLE for RUs?• NEVER!


• Flashback to GRP• Downgrade

Multitenant | Silent Compatible Change

• Be aware when youunplug/plug betweendifferent environments• Default COMPATIBLE=19.0.0


Automatically

COMPATIBLE=12.2.0

COMPATIBLE=19.0.0

COMPATIBLE=19.0.0

CDB1

PDB$SEED

CDB2

PDB$SEED

Fallback | Guaranteed Restore Point

• COMPATIBLE must not be changed!


Pre Upgrade Environment Post Upgrade EnvironmentCREATE RESTORE POINT grptGUARANTEE FLASHBACK DATABASE;

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE

STARTUP MOUNT;

FLASHBACK DATABASE TO RESTORE POINT grpt;

SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE

STARTUP MOUNT;

ALTER DATABASE OPEN RESETLOGS;

DROP RESTORE POINT grpt;

UPGRADE

Fallback | Guaranteed Restore Point


Oracle 19c | Multimedia Removal• The Oracle Multimedia API gets removed during upgrade

• The Locator still exists and works• ORDIM component remains VALID in DBA_REGISTRY

• Recommendation• Check, if you use Oracle Multimedia• If not, you can remove it before upgrade

• More information• https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/02/18/oracle-multimedia-will-be-removed-in-oracle-database-19c/• MOS Note: 2347372.1 – Oracle Multimedia Statement of Direction• MOS Note: 2375644.1 – How To Migrate Data From Oracle Multimedia Data Types to BLOB columns


Oracle 19c | Streams Removal

• The Oracle Streams API gets removed during upgrade

• See:• https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/19/upgrd/behavior-changes-deprecated-

desupport-oracle-database.html#GUID-7E90C2D3-853A-45B2-AC6D-C9326798E82B


Oracle 19c | DBMS_JOB

• DBMS_JOB package is still supported• Grant the CREATE JOB privilege• During upgrade, for each job in DBMS_JOB a corresponding entry will be created with

DBMS_SCHEDULER• DBMS_JOB interface still works - but always creates a corresponding entry in the scheduler• The check in preupgrade.jar is only checking for inconsistencies or any issues


MOS Note: 2380601.1 - Database Preupgrade tool check list

Behavior Change 19c | Automatic SPM

• SQL Plan Management is "automatic" and enabled by default

• If you'd like to revert to 12.1 or 12.2/18c behavior:• https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/06/03/automatic-sql-plan-

management-in-oracle-database-19c/


https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/06/03/automatic-sql-plan-management-in-oracle-database-19c/

Health Check | hcheck.sql

• If your database is highly important, do a health check• hcheck.sql - Script to Check for Known Problems (MOS Note: 136697.1)


https://support.oracle.com/epmos/faces/DocContentDisplay?id=136697.1

More Recommendations

The Underscore Section


Oracle 19c | Symbolic links for directories

• UTL_FILE package symbolic link not supported in directory paths

• This affects DATA_PUMP_DIR as well - flagged in preupgrade.jar

• Revert to old behavior only if REALLY needed:• https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/07/15/behavior-change-in-oracle-18c-19c-no-symbolic-links-for-data-pump-directories/



https://mikedietrichde.com/2019/07/15/behavior-change-in-oracle-18c-19c-no-symbolic-links-for-data-pump-directories/

Oracle 19c | _cursor_obsolete_threshold

• MOS Note: 2431353.1High Version Counts for SQL statements (>1024) post upgrade To 12.2 and above causing database slow performance• Since Oracle 12.2.0.1, the old default of 1024 has been raised to 8192• This may lead to various drastic performance issues• Recommendation:

• Especially for non-CDBs, set it to the old default to avoid mutex concurrency issues:

_cursor_obsolete_threshold=1024



Oracle 19c | _exclude_seed_cdb_view

• Default is TRUE• This hides all objects in PDB$SEED• Can be very problematic after patching - you need to see everything!

• Recommendation: MOS Note 1940806.1• _exclude_seed_cdb_view=FALSE



Further Information

Finally …


Checklist

1. Check all certifications

2. Download 19c and apply the most recent Release Update

3. Download the most recent autoupgrade.jar

4. Upgrade your databases with AutoUpgrade

5. Browse the slides for more recommendations J






Questions?

Thank you for your attention!


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Best Practices for Upgrading to Oracle Database 19c