8 New Features in 21c Release Updates

• Release Update 21.4 Features
  
• Release Update 21.5 Features
  
• Release Update 21.6 Features
  
• Release Update 21.7 Features
  
• Release Update 21.8 Features
  
• Release Update 21.9 Features
  
• Release Update 21.10 Features
  
• Release Update 21.11 Features
  
• Release Update 21.12 Features
  
• Release Update 21.13 Features
  
• Release Update 21.14 Features
  
• Release Update 21.15 Features
  
• Release Update 21.16 Features
  

Release Update 21.4 Features

There are no new features for the 21.4 release update.

Release Update 21.5 Features

There are no new features for the 21.5 release update.

Release Update 21.6 Features

There are no new features for the 21.6 release update.

Release Update 21.7 Features

• Data Guard per Pluggable Database
  

Data Guard per Pluggable Database

Data Guard per Pluggable Database enables Data Guard asynchronous physical standby protection at the pluggable database level as an alternative to Data Guard at the container database level. This flexibility allows switchover and failover operations to be handled at a finer granularity, if desired, with the option to fail over a single PDB instead of all PDBs running within a container database.

While the ability to configure Oracle Data Guard at the CDB level allows a single configuration to be applied to all of the PDBs running within it, Data Guard per Pluggable Database provides a more granular level of control, allowing for better consolidation, workload distribution, and isolation.

Related Topics

• Oracle® Data Guard

Release Update 21.8 Features

There are no new features for the 21.8 release update.

Release Update 21.9 Features

There are no new features for the 21.9 release update.

Release Update 21.10 Features

There are no new features for the 21.10 release update.

Release Update 21.11 Features

There are no new features for the 21.11 release update.

Release Update 21.12 Features

• AutoUpgrade Release Update (RU) Upgrades
  
• AutoUpgrade Sets Parallelism Based on System Resources
  
• AutoUpgrade Supports Upgrades with Keystore Access to Databases Using TDE
  
• AutoUpgrade Unplug-Plugin Upgrades to Different Systems
  
• REST APIs for AutoUpgrade
  

AutoUpgrade Release Update (RU) Upgrades

AutoUpgrade supports the option of using AutoUpgrade to perform out-of-place Oracle home Release Update patching.

For an out-of-place patch of Oracle Database using AutoUpgrade, AutoUpgrade moves the source database that you want to patch to a new Oracle Database Oracle home, and then patches the database binaries in that target Oracle home with the Release Update that you select. With this option, you can use AutoUpgrade at any time that you want to move the database to a new Oracle home, either as part of a planned upgrade or as part of a patch plan. In a patch operation, AutoUpgrade performs the patch using the following workflow:

1. AutoUpgrade recognizes that the source database and the target Oracle Database are the same base release.
2. AutoUpgrade skips the upgrade steps.
3. AutoUpgrade patches the target database using the Release Update.

Related Topics

• AutoUpgrade Patching

AutoUpgrade Sets Parallelism Based on System Resources

AutoUpgrade automatically evaluates system resources and makes an intelligent decision as to how many upgrade jobs can run simultaneously.

AutoUpgrade uses the CPU_COUNT value and system process parameters to determine available system resources, and calibrates both the number of upgrades that can run at a time and the number of parallel threads for each upgrade. Upgrades that exceed a safe threshold are put in a queue so that they can be run as system resources become available.

Related Topics

• tune_setting

AutoUpgrade Supports Upgrades with Keystore Access to Databases Using TDE

AutoUpgrade enhances support for databases that use transparent data encryption (TDE) by enabling keystore generation.

AutoUpgrade now enables you to provide passwords to an external key manager generated and maintained by AutoUpgrade. With this configuration, AutoUpgrade supports unmanned or automated operations of TDE-enabled databases. AutoUpgrade can open the source database keystore without prompting for the keystore password, and enroll the target database into the TDE external keystore for key management, so that the target database can start automatically.

Related Topics

• Upgrades and Transparent Data Encryption

AutoUpgrade Unplug-Plugin Upgrades to Different Systems

You can now use the Oracle Database AutoUpgrade Unplug/Plug method to unplug a PDB from one system and plug into a different system and upgrade.

In earlier releases, AutoUpgrade supported unplug/plug/upgrades on the same server, but it was not possible to unplug a PDB from one server, plug it into a different system, and then upgrade the PDB. With this feature, you can now migrate and upgrade the PDB in a single operation, including migrations to the cloud.

Related Topics

• Unplug-Plug Relocate Upgrades With AutoUpgrade

REST APIs for AutoUpgrade

To facilitate safe and secure remote use of the AutoUpgrade for Oracle Database upgrades, AutoUpgrade now provides REST APIs (ORDS and OCI).

The Oracle REST Data Services (ORDS) database API is a database management and monitoring REST API embedded into Oracle REST Data Services. The Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) REST API is enabled by configuring the REST Adapter connection to use the OCI Signature Version 1 security policy. You can now use these features to run AutoUpgrade upgrades remotely over SSH.

Related Topics

• C AutoUpgrade REST APIs

Release Update 21.13 Features

There are no new features for the 21.13 release update.

Release Update 21.14 Features

There are no new features for the 21.14 release update.

Release Update 21.15 Features

There are no new features for the 21.15 release update.

Release Update 21.16 Features

There are no new features for the 21.16 release update.