Upgrading Oracle Database

Fleet Patching and Provisioning provides two options for upgrading Oracle Database. Both options are performed with a single command.

The rhpctl upgrade database command performs a traditional upgrade incurring downtime. The rhpctl zdtupgrade database command performs an Oracle RAC or Oracle RAC One Node upgrade with minimal or no downtime.

You can use Fleet Patching and Provisioning to provision, scale, and patch Oracle Database 19c and later releases. You can also upgrade Oracle Databases from 19c and 21c to Oracle Database 23ai. Refer to Oracle Database Upgrade Guide for information about Oracle Database direct upgrade paths.

Note:

The version of Oracle Grid Infrastructure on which the pre-upgrade database is running can be up to two RUs lower than the version of the database to which you are upgrading. For example, if the Oracle Database version is 23.5, then the Oracle Grid Infrastructure version must be 23.3 and higher.

The destination for the upgrade can be a working copy already provisioned, or you can choose to create the working copy of gold image as part of this operation.

The pre-upgrade database can be running on a working copy (a managed home that was provisioned by Fleet Patching and Provisioning) or on an unmanaged home. In the first case, you can roll back the upgrade process with a single RHPCTL command.

Note:

You can delete the source working copy at any time after completing an upgrade. Once you delete the working copy, however, you cannot perform a rollback. Also, use the rhpctl delete workingcopy command (as opposed to rm, for example) to remove the source working copy to keep the Fleet Patching and Provisioning inventory correct.

Oracle Database AutoUpgrade

The AutoUpgrade utility identifies issues before upgrades, performs pre- and post-upgrade actions, deploys upgrades, and starts the upgraded Oracle Database. AutoUpgrade is included with each release update (RU).

Oracle FPP runs the autoupgrade.jar file that exists in the Oracle home. You can use the autoupg option with the rhpctl upgrade database command to automate the upgrade. However, before you create a gold image, Oracle strongly recommends that you download the latest AutoUpgrade version and add it to the gold image in the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory. The most recent AutoUpgrade version is always available from My Oracle Support Document 2485457.1.

To improve the reliability and support for Oracle Database upgrades, Oracle is desupporting Database Upgrade Assistant (DBUA), manual upgrades using the Parallel Upgrade Utility (catctl.pl) , and the database upgrade scripts dbupgrade and dbupgrade.cmd. Use AutoUpgrade for Oracle Database upgrades. Replacing obsolete upgrade methods enables Oracle to focus on improving and extending the features and manageability of the AutoUpgrade utility.