Preparing the New Oracle Home for Upgrading

To prepare the new Oracle home in a new location, check to see if you must move configuration files, or complete other tasks.

After backing up the database that you want to upgrade, if you are not using a Read-Only Oracle home, then prepare the new Oracle home in a new location, and install the software for the new Oracle Database release into the new location.

1. Adjust your parameter file in the new Oracle Database release by completing the following steps:

   1. Remove desupported initialization parameters and adjust deprecated initialization parameters. In new releases, some parameters are desupported, and other parameters are deprecated. Remove all desupported parameters from any parameter file that starts the new Oracle Database instance. Desupported parameters can cause errors in new Oracle Database releases. Also, alter any parameter whose syntax has changed in the new release.

      AutoUpgrade run with the -preupgrade parameter in analyze mode displays any deprecated parameters and desupported parameters it finds in the upgrade.xml file that it generates.

      Adjust the values of the initialization parameters to at least the minimum values indicated in upgrade.xml

      Ensure all path names in the parameter file are fully specified. You should not have relative path names in the parameter file.

   2. If the parameter file contains an IFILE entry, then change the IFILE entry in the parameter file. The IFILE entry should point to the new location text initialization parameter file that you specified in step 1. Also edit the file specified in the IFILE entry in the same way that you edited the parameter file in step 1.

   3. If you are upgrading a cluster database, then if necessary, you can modify the SPFILE or initORACLE_SID.ora files.

   After making these parameter file adjustments, make sure that you save all of the files that you modified.

2. (Manual upgrades only) If you are upgrading a cluster database, and you are not using AutoUpgrade or Replay Upgrade, then you must manually separate the database instance from the cluster. Set the CLUSTER_DATABASE initialization parameter to false. After the upgrade, you must set this initialization parameter back to true. If you are using DBUA, then the assistant takes care of this task for you.