Overview of Converting Databases During Upgrades

You can convert non-CDBs to multitenant architecture Oracle Databases during upgrades, or use migration. There are several different technologies you can use.

Non-CDB Oracle Database upgrades to non-CDB architecture are desupported. Review the upgrade options for this release.

Options for Migration and Upgrades of Oracle Database Non-CDB Architecture to the Multitenant Architecture

• Convert the non-CDB to a PDB before upgrade.

  With this option, you plug in the non-CDB Oracle Database release to the same release CDB. (For example, plug in a non-CDB Oracle Database Release 19c into an Oracle Database 19c release CDB). Finish converting the non-CDB Oracle Database to a PDB. Then, upgrade the entire CDB, with its PDBs, to Oracle Database 23ai.

• Plug in the non-CDB, upgrade, and finish converting the non-CDB to a PDB after upgrade.

  With this option, you plug in a non-CDB Oracle Database release to an Oracle Database 23ai CDB. Upgrade the plugged-in non-CDB Oracle Database to Oracle Database 23ai. Then, finish converting the non-CDB Oracle Database to a PDB.

• Migrate data using Oracle Data Pump

  Oracle Data Pump provides export and import utilities. Oracle Data Pump can perform a full or partial export from your database, followed by a full, or partial import into the new release of Oracle Database. Export/Import in Oracle Data Pump can copy a subset of the data, leaving the database unchanged.

• Migrate the database using Transportable Tablespaces.

  You can use the full transportable export/import feature to copy an entire database from the source release Oracle Database instance to the target release Oracle Database instance. With this method, you install the target release Oracle Database, and create an empty database. You then use the full transportable export/import to transport the source release database (Oracle Database 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.3) or later) into the target Oracle Database release. This method of transporting data can be much faster than performing either an export/import or unload/load of the same data. For user-defined tablespaces, this method can be faster than a standard Oracle Data Pump export/import, because the data files containing all of the actual data are copied to the target location, and you use Oracle Data Pump to transfer only the metadata of the database objects to the new database.

Note:

Upgrades of Oracle Grid Infrastructure (Oracle Clusterware and Oracle Automatic Storage Management) are carried out separately, before Oracle Database upgrades. You must complete Oracle Grid Infrastructure upgrades before you upgrade Oracle Database installations. Other features installed with Oracle Database can have additional upgrade requirements.

Upgrade Technology Methods for Non-CDBs

The following table lists methods that you can use to convert non-CDBs during upgrades, including references to availability issues. It also provides references to the documentation that describes how to carry out each upgrade method.

Table 1-3 Technology Methods for Migrating and Upgrading Databases During Upgrades

Method	Description	Reference
AutoUpgrade	Use the AutoUpgrade tool to automate the upgrade of your database.	Refer to the chapter Upgrading Non-CDB Oracle Database to PDB Using Replay UpgradeUsing AutoUpgrade for Oracle Database Upgrades" in this guide.
Oracle GoldenGate	Use Oracle GoldenGate when you cannot allow your Oracle Database to go down. You can also use Oracle GoldenGate to perform a phased migration using an active-active topology, and gradually move your users to the new, upgraded Oracle Database. Additionally, you can use this method to maintain an immediate fallback option using reversed replication in Oracle GoldenGate. Use RMAN to set up a standby database when you can allow your Oracle Database to go down. See Creating a Physical Standby database using RMAN restore database from service (Doc ID 2283978.1)	Refer to Oracle GoldenGate documentation, and to relevant Oracle Database documentation for your use case.
Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control	Oracle provides Cloud Control support for performing database upgrades. This option requires that you purchase the Enterprise Manager Lifecycle Management Pack.	Refer to Online help in Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
Replay Upgrade	Replay Upgrade Enables upgrades to be performed on plugins.	Refer to Upgrading Non-CDB Oracle Database to PDB Using Replay Upgrade in this guide.