Upgrade Checklist for Oracle Grid Infrastructure

Review this checklist before upgrading an existing Oracle Grid Infrastructure. A cluster is being upgraded until all cluster member nodes are running the new installations, and the new clusterware becomes the active version.

Table 11-1 Upgrade Checklist for Oracle Grid Infrastructure Installation

Check	Task
Review Upgrade Guide for deprecation and desupport information that may affect upgrade planning.	Oracle Database Upgrade Guide
Patch set (recommended)	Install the latest patch set release for your existing installation. Review My Oracle Support note 2180188.1 for the list of latest patches before upgrading Oracle Grid Infrastructure.
Install user account	Confirm that the installation owner you plan to use is the same as the installation owner that owns the installation you want to upgrade.
Create a Grid home	Create a new Oracle Grid Infrastructure Oracle home (Grid home) where you can extract the image files. All Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrades (upgrades of existing Oracle Clusterware and Oracle ASM installations) are out-of-place upgrades.
Remove the GIMR	If the Grid Infrastructure Management Repository (GIMR) was configured in the earlier release, then remove GIMR from the existing Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation. Run the `$Grid_home/crs/install/reposScript.sh -mode="Delete"` script from the new Oracle Grid Infrastructure home. If Oracle FPP Server was configured in the earlier release, then export the metadata using the `$Grid_home/crs/install/reposScript.sh -mode="Export"` script.
Operating System	Confirm that you are using a supported operating system, kernel release, and all required operating system packages for the new Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation.
OCR on raw or block devices	Migrate OCR files from RAW or Block devices to Oracle ASM or a supported file system. Direct use of RAW and Block devices is not supported. Run the `ocrcheck` command to confirm Oracle Cluster Registry (OCR) file integrity. If this check fails, then repair the OCR before proceeding.
Oracle ASM password file	Move the Oracle ASM password file from file system to Oracle ASM, before proceeding with the upgrade using the following ASMCMD command: `ASMCMD [+] > pwcopy --asm current_location_of_ASM_password_file_in_OS_directory +target_disk_group_name/orapwASM` Note: Set `compatible.asm` to at least 19.0.0.0, before moving the password file.
CVU Upgrade Validation	Use Configuration Verification Utility (CVU) to assist you with system checks in preparation for starting an upgrade.
Shut Down Single-instance Database	If you have a single-instance database on a cluster that uses Oracle ASM, then you must shut down the single-instance database before upgrading.
Unset Environment variables	As the user performing the upgrade, unset the environment variables $ORACLE_HOME and $ORACLE_SID. Check that the $ORA_CRS_HOME environment variable is not set. Do not use $ORA_CRS_HOME as an environment variable, except under explicit direction from Oracle Support. Refer to the Checks to Complete Before Upgrading Oracle Grid Infrastructure for a complete list of environment variables to unset.
Check system upgrade readiness with dry-run upgrade	Run Oracle Grid Infrastructure installation wizard, `gridSetup.sh`, in dry-run upgrade mode to perform system readiness checks for Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrades.
Back Up the Oracle software before upgrades	Before you make any changes to the Oracle software, Oracle recommends that you create a backup of the Oracle software and databases.
HugePages memory allocation	Allocate memory to HugePages large enough for the System Global Areas (SGA) of all databases planned to run on the cluster.