Update a Database Home

This topic provides the details and procedure to update a Database Home.

Before you begin, review the following:

• During an update, lifecycle operations on the VM Cluster and its resources are temporarily unavailable.
• The precheck does not affect the availability of the Database Home, and all resources remain operational.
• Oracle recommends that you run the precheck operation for an update before applying it.
• Updates are applied to the Database Home in a rolling manner, one node at a time.
• During the update, each database in the Database Home is stopped and restarted. This process might result in temporary service disruption.
• For Oracle AI Database, updates are available for the four most recent versions, N through N-3. For example, if an instance uses 19c and the latest available 19c version is 19.10.0.0, then 19.10.0.0, 19.9.0.0, 19.8.0.0, and 19.7.0.0 are available for Oracle AI Database updates. You can use any of these updates, but Oracle recommends that you use the latest update.

Prerequisites

• The /u01 directory on the database host file system has at least 15 GB of free space for update processes.
• Oracle Clusterware is up and running on the VM Cluster.
• All nodes of the VM Cluster are up and running.

Procedure

Perform the following steps in the Console.

1. On the Data Infrastructures list page, select the Data Infrastructure that you want to work with. If you need help finding the list page or the Data Infrastructure, see List Data Infrastructures.

2. On the Data Infrastructure details page, select the VM Cluster tab to view the list of all VM Clusters.
3. On the VM Clusters tab, select the VM Cluster that you want to work with.

4. On the VM Cluster details page, select the Database Homes tab to view the list of all Database Homes.

5. On the Database Homes tab, select the Database Home that you want to work with.

6. On the Database Home details page, select the Updates tab.

7. Review the list of available updates for the Database Home.

   • Use the Compartment filter to specify the compartment that contains the Software Image.

   • Use the Type filter to specify the type of Software Image.

     • Oracle-published images are generally available Oracle Software Images that you can use to update the Database Home.

     • Custom images are database Software Images that you created in advance.

   • Use the Region filter to access the Software Images created in a different region.

8. From the Actions menu for the update you are interested in, select one of the following actions:

   • Precheck: Checks for any prerequisites to ensure that the update can be applied successfully.
   • Apply Database Home update: Opens the Apply Database Home update panel. In the panel, provide the following details.
     • Advanced options: Expand to provide additional details.
       • Datapatch options: Select one of the following datapatch options.
         • Run datapatch on the databases: Applies the datapatch operation to all databases that run from the Database Home being updated. This is the default option.
         • Skip datapatch on the databases: Skips datapatch execution on all databases that run from the Database Home being updated.
         • Skip datapatch for closed PDBs only: Skips datapatch only for Pluggable Databases that are in a closed state during the update.
     • Select Apply to apply the selected update.
   • Copy OCID: Copies the OCID to the clipboard.

The list of available updates displays the state of the operation. While the precheck is running, the update status shows Checking. While an update is being applied, the update status shows Applying, and the Database Home and database statuses show Updating. If the update completes successfully, the update status changes to Applied, and the Database Home and database statuses change to Available. You can view more details about an individual update operation in Update History.