About Oracle Database AutoUpgrade

The AutoUpgrade utility identifies issues before upgrades, deploys upgrades, performs postupgrade actions, and starts the upgraded Oracle Database.

The AutoUpgrade utility is designed to automate the upgrade process, both before starting upgrades, during upgrade deployments, and during postupgrade checks and configuration migration. You use AutoUpgrade after you have downloaded binaries for the new Oracle Database release, and set up new release Oracle homes. When you use AutoUpgrade, you can upgrade multiple Oracle Database deployments at the same time, using a single configuration file, customized as needed for each database deployment.

With the January 2019 Release Updates (DBJAN2019RU) and later updates, AutoUpgrade support is available for Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2) and Oracle Database 18c (18.5) target homes. For both Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2) and Oracle Database 18c (18.5) target homes, you must download the AutoUpgrade kit from My Oracle Support Document 2485457.1.

In Oracle Database 19c (19.3) and later target Oracle homes, the autoupgrade.jar file exists by default. However, before you use AutoUpgrade, Oracle recommends that you download the latest Autoupgrade version, which is available form My Oracle Support Document 2485457.1.

Note:

AutoUpgrade is available for Oracle Database Enterprise Edition, and Oracle Database Standard Edition. It is not available for Oracle Database Express Edition.

Preventing Issues: Analyze and Fixup Modes

Before the upgrade, in Analyze mode, the AutoUpgrade utility performs read-only analysis of databases before upgrade, so that it can identify issues that require fixing. You can run the utility during normal database operations without affecting performance. In Fixup Mode, the AutoUpgrade utility detects and identifies both fixes that require manual intervention, and fixes that the AutoUpgrade utility can perform during the upgrade deployment phase.

Simplifying Upgrades: Deploy and Upgrade Modes

In Deploy phases, the AutoUpgrade utility modifies the databases you indicate in your configuration file. It enables you to call your own custom scripts during the upgrade to configure databases. In many cases, the AutoUpgrade utility can perform automatic fixes to databases during the upgrade process without requiring manual intervention.

Deploy and Upgrade Postupgrade Checks and Fixes

After an upgrade completes with either Deploy or Upgrade modes, AutoUpgrade performs postupgrade checks. It provides a process where you can enable your custom scripts to be run on each of the upgraded databases, in accordance with the configuration instructions you provide in the AutoUpgrade configuration file, and also can run automatic postupgrade fixups as part of the postupgrade process. In Deploy mode, AutoUpgrade also confirms that the upgrade has succeeded, and moves database files such as sqlnet.ora, tnsname.ora, and listener.ora from the source home to the target home. After these actions are complete, the upgraded Oracle Database release is started in the new Oracle home.