New Feature Announcements (2023)

December 2023

Feature	Description
Disable and Enable Automatic Backups	By default, automatic backups are enabled for an Autonomous Container Database (ACD). However, you can now disable them while provisioning the ACD, and enable them anytime later. Once the automatic backups are enabled you can not disable them for an ACD. You can set the backup retention period for the backups between 7 to 95 days. Refer to the following for more information: Create an Autonomous Container Database Edit Autonomous Container Database Backup Settings
Ability to scale up or scale down an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster	You can add resources to or remove them from an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC). This is called Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster vertical scaling. This ability lets you scale up or scale down an AVMC by modifying the following resources: Number of CPUs per VM Number of Autonomous Container Databases (ACDs) Database storage For instructions, see Manage Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster Resources.

Feature

Description

Disable and Enable Automatic Backups

By default, automatic backups are enabled for an Autonomous Container Database (ACD). However, you can now disable them while provisioning the ACD, and enable them anytime later. Once the automatic backups are enabled you can not disable them for an ACD. You can set the backup retention period for the backups between 7 to 95 days.

Refer to the following for more information:

Ability to scale up or scale down an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster

You can add resources to or remove them from an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC). This is called Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster vertical scaling.

This ability lets you scale up or scale down an AVMC by modifying the following resources:

Number of CPUs per VM
Number of Autonomous Container Databases (ACDs)
Database storage

For instructions, see Manage Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster Resources.

November 2023

Feature	Description
Doc Update: Hardened Security Configuration Features	We have added a new section to describe the strategies implemented by Autonomous Database to provide standard, hardended security configurations for your Autonomous VMs (Client VMs). Refer to Configuration Management in Autonomous Database for details.
Enable Autonomous Data Guard and add standby databases on an Autonomous Container Database.	On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can enable Autonomous Data Guard and add a standby Autonomous Container Database (ACD) to Autonomous Container Databases (ACD) provisioned already. For more information, see Enable Autonomous Data Guard on Autonomous Container Database.
Oracle Real Application Testing (RAT): Database Replay	You can use Oracle Real Application Testing Database Replay to capture workload from an on-premises or other cloud service database and replay it on an Autonomous Database instance. This enables you to compare workloads between an on-premises database or other cloud service database and an Autonomous Database. You can also capture workload from an Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure and replay it on the same or any other Autonomous Database. This can be useful in scenarios where you want to test a patch or upgrade before applying it on your production database. See Using Oracle Real Application Testing for more information.

Feature

Description

Doc Update: Hardened Security Configuration Features

We have added a new section to describe the strategies implemented by Autonomous Database to provide standard, hardended security configurations for your Autonomous VMs (Client VMs).

Refer to Configuration Management in Autonomous Database for details.

Enable Autonomous Data Guard and add standby databases on an Autonomous Container Database.

On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can enable Autonomous Data Guard and add a standby Autonomous Container Database (ACD) to Autonomous Container Databases (ACD) provisioned already.

For more information, see Enable Autonomous Data Guard on Autonomous Container Database.

Oracle Real Application Testing (RAT): Database Replay

You can use Oracle Real Application Testing Database Replay to capture workload from an on-premises or other cloud service database and replay it on an Autonomous Database instance. This enables you to compare workloads between an on-premises database or other cloud service database and an Autonomous Database.

You can also capture workload from an Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure and replay it on the same or any other Autonomous Database. This can be useful in scenarios where you want to test a patch or upgrade before applying it on your production database.

See Using Oracle Real Application Testing for more information.

October 2023

Feature	Description
Documentation Update: Interactive graphic for Key Security Features	You can now refer to Security Features in Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for complete information about the key security features supported by Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure. This document comes with a clickable graphic representing the building blocks for the key security features of the Autonomous Database. You can also click the block you are interested in exploring further.
DST Time-Zone file update for an Autonomous Container Database.	You can now choose to include or exclude a time-zone file update along with your quarterly automatic maintenance patches, either while provisioning an Autonomous Container Database (ACD) or for an existing ACD. Updating the time-zone file would require a complete downtime for the ACD and the associated Autonomous Databases. The downtime is dependent on the amount of data that is time-zone sensitive. You can also schedule an on-demand maintenance to update RU (Release Update) along with the time-zone file or just the time-zone file for an ACD. Refer to Schedule a Quarterly Maintenance Update for instructions.
Rolling and Non-Rolling Maintenance methods to update an Autonomous Container Database.	You now have the option to choose between rolling or non-rolling maintenance methods to apply quarterly automatic maintenance patches. You can configure the maintenance method while provisioning an Autonomous Container Database (ACD) or for an existing ACD. The non-rolling maintenance method involves a full system downtime. See Service Maintenance Types for more information and Update Autonomous Container Database Maintenance Preferences for detailed instructions.
Documentation Update: Steps to configure CMU with Microsoft Active Directory on Exadata Cloud@Customer without using Oracle Object Store service.	Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure documentation is now updated with a new section that demonstrates how to configure CMU with Microsoft Active Directory on Exadata Cloud@Customer without using Oracle Object Store service. See Use Microsoft Active Directory with Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for details.
New compute model: ECPU	You can configure your Autonomous Database resources using a new compute type called ECPUs. An ECPU is an abstracted measure of compute resources. ECPUs are based on the number of cores elastically allocated from a pool of compute and storage servers. For more information about the compute models supported by Autonomous Database, see Compute Models in Autonomous Database.
Enhanced support for resource usage tracking on Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer	On Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can monitor and track your Exadata resource allocation and usage across Autonomous Exadata VM Clusters (AVMC) and Autonomous Container Databases (ACD) with enhanced granularity and new visuals on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console, in real-time. This release lets you get a comprehensive and clear picture of the compute and storage resources' allocation and usage at the AVMC and ACD levels from their Details page on the OCI console. Depending on your choice, you can view this information in a graphical or table view. Understanding and knowing these details can help you optimize your resource allocation to Autonomous Databases and efficiently forecast your capacity needs. For the exact list of the resource details you can monitor from the AVMC and ACD Details page and what they mean, refer to Plan and Monitor Capacity.

September 2023

Feature	Description
X10M systems available on Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments.	When you create Autonomous Database deployments on Exadata Cloud@Customer, you can now deploy to X10M Exadata Database Machine systems. For details about the capacities and characteristics of the X10M systems supported by Autonomous Database, see Exadata X10M Systems.
Limit Operator's Access to a Specific Customer-Approved Autonomous Container Database (ACD)	Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure lets you restrict Oracle operator access to a specific Autonomous Container Database (ACD) in an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC) in the diagnostic and maintenance cages. With this restriction enabled, you receive an approval request with the details to which the operators are requesting access. Once you review and approve the access request, the operators will get SQL access to only those approved ACDs. Refer to Auditing Oracle Operator Activities to know more about about Oracle operator access control.
Parallel Replicat in Integrated Mode	Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure supports Parallel Replicat in integrated mode, that is, you can also create (or add) and configure parallel replication in your environment. See Using Parallel Replicat for more information. Note: Parallel Replicat is not supported for overprovisioned Autonomous Databases, that is, databases provisioned with less than 1 OCPU.
Documentation Update: Troubleshooting Guide	To help troubleshoot problems you might encounter with Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure, Troubleshooting Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure is added to our documentation.

August 2023

Feature	Description
Enhanced support for tracking resource usage on Oracle Public Cloud.	On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can monitor and track your Exadata resource allocation and usage across Autonomous Exadata VM Clusters (AVMC) and Autonomous Container Databases (ACD) with enhanced granularity and new visuals on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console, in real-time. This release lets you get a comprehensive and clear picture of the compute and storage resources' allocation and usage at the AVMC and ACD levels from their Details page on the OCI console. Depending on your choice, you can view this information in a graphical or table view. Understanding and knowing these details can help you optimize your resource allocation to Autonomous Databases and efficiently forecast your capacity needs. For the exact list of the resource details you can monitor from the AVMC and ACD Details page and what they mean, refer to Plan and Monitor Capacity.
Database In-Memory Column Store support for Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure	You can enable Database In-memory for your Autonomous Database by allocating a percentage of its System Global Area (SGA) to the In-Memory column store (IM column store). You can enable or disable Database In-memory while or after provisioning the database with at least 4 OCPUs enabled. Scaling down the CPU count to less than 4 OCPUs later automatically disables it. You can also enable Database In-Memory on databases cloned from a database instance or backup, irrespective of whether the clone source has Database In-memory enabled. Please see Database In-Memory for the requirements and guidelines to use this feature with Autonomous Database. Refer to Enable or Disable Database In-Memory or Create an Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for detailed instructions.

Feature

Description

Enhanced support for tracking resource usage on Oracle Public Cloud.

On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can monitor and track your Exadata resource allocation and usage across Autonomous Exadata VM Clusters (AVMC) and Autonomous Container Databases (ACD) with enhanced granularity and new visuals on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console, in real-time.

This release lets you get a comprehensive and clear picture of the compute and storage resources' allocation and usage at the AVMC and ACD levels from their Details page on the OCI console. Depending on your choice, you can view this information in a graphical or table view.

Understanding and knowing these details can help you optimize your resource allocation to Autonomous Databases and efficiently forecast your capacity needs.

For the exact list of the resource details you can monitor from the AVMC and ACD Details page and what they mean, refer to Plan and Monitor Capacity.

Database In-Memory Column Store support for Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure

You can enable Database In-memory for your Autonomous Database by allocating a percentage of its System Global Area (SGA) to the In-Memory column store (IM column store).

You can enable or disable Database In-memory while or after provisioning the database with at least 4 OCPUs enabled. Scaling down the CPU count to less than 4 OCPUs later automatically disables it.

You can also enable Database In-Memory on databases cloned from a database instance or backup, irrespective of whether the clone source has Database In-memory enabled.

Please see Database In-Memory for the requirements and guidelines to use this feature with Autonomous Database.

Refer to Enable or Disable Database In-Memory or Create an Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for detailed instructions.

July 2023

Feature	Description
Cross region Autonomous Data Guard configuration for Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer.	On Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can specify an Exadata Infrastructure and Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster that is in a different region from the primary database's Exadata Infrastructure and Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster. This choice provides the highest level of protection against disasters, including a catastrophic loss of external network connectivity or power to an entire region. For more details about Autonomous Data Guard and related concepts, refer to Protect Critical Databases from Failures and Disasters Using Autonomous Data Guard.
Clone a database instance or its backup across regions and Exadata Infrastructure resources.	On Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can: Clone an Autonomous Database, with or without Autonomous Data Guard, to an Autonomous Container Database, with or without Autonomous Data Guard, on another Exadata Infrastructure in the same or a different region. In the case of Autonomous Databases with Autonomous Data Guard, you can clone only from the primary database. Create a new Autonomous Database from a backup on the same or another Exadata Infrastructure in the same or a different region. In the case of Autonomous Databases that use Autonomous Data Guard, create a new database instance from either primary or standby database backups in the same or a different region. For step-by-step instructions, see: Clone an Autonomous Database Instance Clone Autonomous Database from Backup

Feature

Description

Cross region Autonomous Data Guard configuration for Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer.

On Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can specify an Exadata Infrastructure and Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster that is in a different region from the primary database's Exadata Infrastructure and Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster.

This choice provides the highest level of protection against disasters, including a catastrophic loss of external network connectivity or power to an entire region.

For more details about Autonomous Data Guard and related concepts, refer to Protect Critical Databases from Failures and Disasters Using Autonomous Data Guard.

Clone a database instance or its backup across regions and Exadata Infrastructure resources.

On Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can:

Clone an Autonomous Database, with or without Autonomous Data Guard, to an Autonomous Container Database, with or without Autonomous Data Guard, on another Exadata Infrastructure in the same or a different region. In the case of Autonomous Databases with Autonomous Data Guard, you can clone only from the primary database.
Create a new Autonomous Database from a backup on the same or another Exadata Infrastructure in the same or a different region. In the case of Autonomous Databases that use Autonomous Data Guard, create a new database instance from either primary or standby database backups in the same or a different region.

For step-by-step instructions, see:

June 2023

Feature	Description
Documentation update to consolidate the performance tuning and monitoring features supported by Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure.	The existing documentation related to the high-performance features supported by Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure is improvised to provide comprehensive information in a single article. The new article has: An overview graphic to give you a bird's eye view of all the high-performance features and performance monitoring tools supported by the Autonomous Database. A detailed explanation of each feature and tool with cross-references to the related how-to guides, wherever appropriate. Refer to High Performance Features in Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for more information.
Base Shape support for Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure on Oracle Public Cloud.	Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure comes in different infrastructure shapes to support workloads of different sizes. In this release, the capability of Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure has been extended to support Base shape. See Resource Limits and Characteristics of Infrastructure Shapes for more information.
Use `DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ENABLE_EXTERNAL_AUTHENTICATION` to enable an external authentication scheme.	You can use `DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.ENABLE_EXTERNAL_AUTHENTICATION` to enable Kerberos, Microsoft Azure AD, or Identity and Access Management (IAM) Authentication as an external authentication scheme for your Autonomous Database. Refer to the following topics for detailed instructions: Enable Kerberos Authentication on Autonomous Database Configure the Oracle Autonomous Database for Microsoft Azure AD Integration Change External Identity Providers on Autonomous Database
Use Directories to Load Data with `DBMS_CLOUD` Procedures.	As an alternative to an object store location URI, you can now specify a directory with `DBMS_CLOUD` procedures to load or unload data from files in a directory, including directories created on attached network file systems. The following procedures support specifying files in a directory with the `file_uri_list` parameter: `DBMS_CLOUD.COPY_COLLECTION` `DBMS_CLOUD.COPY_DATA` `DBMS_CLOUD.CREATE_EXTERNAL_TABLE` The following procedures support specifying files in a directory with the `partitioning_clause` parameter: `DBMS_CLOUD.CREATE_EXTERNAL_TABLE` `DBMS_CLOUD.CREATE_HYBRID_PART_TABLE` Refer to DBMS_CLOUD for Objects and Files for more details.
Access Avro, ORC, and Parquet files in Object Stores.	You can now directly query and load data stored as Apache Avro, Apache Parquet, or ORC format files into Autonomous Database. You can also create external tables for Avro, Parquet or ORC format data files. Refer to the following topics for more details: DBMS_CLOUD Avro, ORC, and Parquet Support COPY_DATA Procedure for Avro, ORC, or Parquet Files CREATE_EXTERNAL_TABLE Procedure for Avro, ORC, or Parquet Files

May 2023

Feature	Description
Compartment quota support for Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer	Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer now supports the compartment quotas feature of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. Using this feature you can restrict, on a compartment by compartment basis, the availability of dedicated infrastructure resources in your tenancy. For more information, see Manage Resource Availability with Compartment Quotas . For general information about the compartment quotas feature, see Compartment Quotas.
Support for Autonomous VM Cluster node subsetting on Autonomous Database on Oracle Public Cloud.	On Oracle Public Cloud, you can now select the DB Servers while deploying a new Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC) resource. This option is available only while provisioning an AVMC resource, and you can not change the selection after creating the AVMC successfully. For more details, refer to Create Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster.
Monthly Infrastructure Security Maintenance Activity	Oracle schedules and performs monthly infrastructure security maintenance alongside quarterly maintenance. This maintenance activity is scheduled to be applied during a 21-day window that begins after the 15th of each month. You will receive notification of the proposed schedule at least 7 days before the start of the monthly maintenance window, and you can reschedule monthly maintenance to another date in the window if desired. These security patches are applied only in those months with critical security updates, including fixes for vulnerabilities with CVSS scores greater than or equal to 7. Please refer to Service Maintenance in Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure for more details. Note: The Infrastructure Security Maintenance implementation will be rolled out to different Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) regions in a phased manner.
Documentation Update: High Performance Features in Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure	The existing documentation explaining the High-Performance features supported by Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure is improvised and consolidated into a single article. This new article describes how to use the different performance monitoring and tuning features supported by Autonomous Database, referencing the related how-to guides. For more details, see High Performance Features in Autonomous Database.
Ability to bring your own certificates (BYOC)	On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can now seed your own security certificates with an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC) using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console. This feature lets you use your CA-signed server-side Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates while rotating the security certificates of your AVMC resource. Refer to Manage Security Certificates for an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster Resource for more details.
Ability to add storage to existing Exadata Infrastructure resource	You can now add additional storage servers to an existing Exadata Infrastructure resource and can create new Autonomous Exadata VM Clusters (AVMCs) using the newly added storage. In simple terms, you can scale your Exadata Infrastructure storage on-demand in an automated, elastic fashion. For more information on using this feature with Oracle Public Cloud deployments, see: Scale CPU cores within an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure instance Scale CPU cores in an Exadata Cloud Infrastructure cloud VM cluster or DB system Add compute and storage resources to a flexible cloud Exadata infrastructure resource Use the API to Manage Exadata Cloud Infrastructure Instance cloud-exadata-infrastructures For more information on using this feature with Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, see: Use the Console to Scale Infrastructure Compute and Storage Use the Console to Download Scale Infrastructure Compute and Storage Configuration File Use the Console to Activate New Database and Storage Servers Use the Console to Make Storage Capacity from New Server Available for VM Clusters Consumption Use the Console to View Details of Exadata Cloud@Customer Infrastructure with Scaled Compute and Storage Capacity

April 2023

Feature	Description
Time Zone Handling in Calls to `SYSDATE` and `SYSTIMESTAMP`	The initialization parameter `SYSDATE_AT_DBTIMEZONE` parameter enables special handling in a session for the date and time value returned in calls to `SYSDATE` and `SYSTIMESTAMP`. Depending on the value of `SYSDATE_AT_DBTIMEZONE`, you see either the date and time based on the default Autonomous Database time zone, Coordinated Universal Time ‎(UTC)‎, or based on the time zone that you set in your database. See SYSDATE_AT_DBTIMEZONE for more information.
SCAN listener port and TLS authentication mode	On Oracle Public Cloud deployments, you can now: Choose a SCAN listener port for TLS and non-TLS from a range of available ports. Choose between one-way TLS and mTLS for database TLS certificates. See Create an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster for more details.
Access Network File System (NFS) or OCI File System Service (FSS) directories	You can now attach external NFS devices provided by the customer or OCI FSS using the `DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN` procedures. This allows you to load data from external file storage in your Virtual Cloud Network (VCN) or any other Network File System in on-premises data centers. Refer to the following for more information: Attach External File Storage to Autonomous Database Attach Network File Storage to Autonomous Database DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN Package
Base Shape support on Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments.	Oracle Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure comes in different infrastructure shapes to support workloads of different sizes. In this release, the capability of Oracle Exadata Cloud@Customer has been extended to support Base shape. See Resource Limits and Characteristics of Infrastructure Shapes for more information.
Bring your own certificates (BYOC)	You can now seed your own security certificates with an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC) on Exadata Cloud@Customer using the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console. This feature lets you use your CA-signed server-side Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) or Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates while rotating the security certificates of your AVMC resource. Refer to Manage Security Certificates for an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster Resource for details.

March 2023

Feature	Description
Autonomous Container Database Name	While provisioning an Autonomous Container Database (ACD), you can now set the container database name of your choice from the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) console. See Create an Autonomous Container Database for more details. In Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, container database name is used to name the Oracle Key Vault's (OKV) wallet. You can use this name to locate the OKV wallet associated with your Autonomous Container Database on your OKV console.
Kerberos Authentication Support	You can now use Kerberos to authenticate your Autonomous Database users. For detailed guidance on configuring Kerberos authentication, its prerequisites and limitations, refer to Authenticate Autonomous Database Users With Kerberos.
SQL Tracing for Database Session	You can now use SQL tracing to help you identify the source of an excessive database workload, such as a high load SQL statement in your application. See Use SQL Tracing on Autonomous Database for more information.
Password Profile Support for User-Defined Profiles	You can now create and alter user profiles on Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure with a Password Verification Function (PVF). See Manage User Profiles with Autonomous Database for more information.
Oracle Client for Microsoft Tools (OCMT)	You can now download and use Oracle Client for Microsoft Tools (OCMT), which is a graphical user interface (GUI) native Microsoft Software installer (MSI) that simplifies ODP.NET setup and Oracle database connectivity to multiple Microsoft data tools. Refer to Connect Power BI and Microsoft Data Tools to Autonomous Database for more details and instructions on using OCMT.
Simplified Requirements: Clone From a Backup	We have now removed the requirement of one available Autonomous Container Database (ACD) and lowered the initial resource requirements to 1 OCPU for cloning an Autonomous Database from a backup. Refer to Clone Requirements for more details.
Long-Term Backups	You can now create long-term backups on Autonomous Database with a retention period anywhere from 90 days to 10 years. If needed, you can also update the retention period of a long-term backup to a different value after creating it. Refer to Backup and Restore Autonomous Databases for more details.
Documentation Update: Backup and Restore Concepts	Our documentation is now reorganized to present all the concepts related to backup and recovery on a single page. Please refer to Backup and Restore Autonomous Databases for more details.

February 2023

Feature	Description
Updated documentation for `DBMS_CLOUD` package reference.	`DBMS_CLOUD` package reference is now updated with more procedures and functions. You can now refer to the following sections in Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure documentation for assistance with `DBMS_CLOUD` procedures and functions: DBMS_CLOUD for Access Management DBMS_CLOUD for Objects and Files DBMS_CLOUD REST APIs
Support to save resource configuration as a stack	While provisioning new Autonomous Database resources from the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure console, you can now save the resource configuration as a stack with the click of a single button. You can then use the stack to create the resource through the Resource Manager service. A stack is a collection of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure resources corresponding to a Terraform configuration. Each stack resides in the compartment you specify in a single region. You can then deploy the resources on a given stack across multiple regions. For more information, see stack. For instructions to use this feature with different Autonomous Database resources, see: Create an Exadata Infrastructure Resource Create an Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster Create an Autonomous Container Database Create an Autonomous Database
Support for Autonomous VM Cluster node subsetting on Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer	On Exadata Cloud@Customer deployments, you can now select the DB Servers while deploying a new Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster (AVMC) resource. This option is available only while provisioning an AVMC resource, and you can not change the selection after creating the AVMC successfully. For more details, refer to Create Autonomous Exadata VM Cluster.
Support for snapshot standby database in an Autonomous Data Guard setup	You can now convert a standby database to a snapshot standby database by changing the standby Autonomous Container Database (ACD) to a snapshot standby ACD. See Convert Physical Standby to Snapshot Standby for step-by-step instructions. A snapshot standby database allows read-write operations on its data while maintaining minimum or zero data loss based on the protection mode. It receives and archives, but does not apply, redo data from the primary database. A snapshot standby database is helpful when you need to use your standby database for read-write operations, for instance, to test a patch before applying it to the primary database. Refer to Snapshot Standby Database for the requirements and limitations of the snapshot standby database.
Ability to update Protection mode and Fast start failover lag time	You can now change the protection mode of an Autonomous Data Guard setup. You can also modify the Fast start failover lag limit to any value between 5 to 3600 seconds for a primary ACD with automatic failover in an Autonomous Data Guard setup. See Update Autonomous Data Guard Settings for detailed instructions.
Oracle Home version control	You can now choose the Oracle Home version while provisioning an Autonomous Container Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure. You have an option to choose between the latest Oracle Database version supported by Autonomous Database or its immediate predecessor. For example: Suppose the latest Oracle Database version supported by Autonomous Database is 19.18.0.1.0. Then, the Select base image drop-down on the Create Autonomous Container Database page lists 19.18.0.1.0 and 19.17.0.1.0. for you to choose. Refer to Create Autonomous Container Database for more details.
Ability to configure maintenance version of an Autonomous Container Database	You can now configure the maintenance type of an Autonomous Container Database to either Next RU or Latest RU to update to the next release update or the latest release update in the next maintenance window, respectively. Refer to Change the Maintenance Type of an Autonomous Container Database for more details.