What’s New in This Release

New Features

This release supports Oracle Database Appliance models X8-2-HA, X8-2M, X8-2S, X7-2-HA, X7-2M, X7-2S, X6-2S, X6-2M, X6-2L, X6-2-HA, and X5-2. You can create a bare metal deployment on Oracle Database Appliance or patch your existing bare metal deployment to Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11. Read the chapter Known Issues with Oracle Database Appliance in This Release for critical fixes before deploying Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11.

For Oracle Database 19c features, see the Oracle Database Documentation Library at https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/index.html.

The following new features are available in this release:

Provisioning and Patching of Oracle Database Appliance Bare Metal Deployments
This release supports provisioning of bare metal deployments, and patching of bare metal deployments from Oracle Database Appliance releases 19.7 and later.

Starting with Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11, Oracle Database Appliance uses Oracle Fleet Patching and Provisioning (Oracle FPP) for patching and provisioning. Oracle FPP (formerly known as Oracle Rapid Home Provisioning) is a software lifecycle management method for provisioning and maintaining Oracle homes. The patches for Oracle Grid Infrastructure are available as images.

With this release of Oracle Database Appliance, there are a few changes to the patching procedure. It is now mandatory to run the odacli create-prepatchreport command before you patch your server. You must fix the errors displayed in the report before you can proceed with the patching operation. Ensure that you follow the sequence of steps for patching your appliance as described in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model.

See the chapter Patching Oracle Database Appliance in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model.
chronyd for Network Time Synchronization
Starting with Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11, if you configure NTP servers, then the network time synchronization service used is chronyd, which is the default on Oracle Linux 7.
Support for KVM-based Database System on Oracle Database Appliance
In this release, Oracle Database Appliance supports the following on DB system:
- Backup and restore
- Oracle Data Guard
- Scale up DB system shapes
- New type of CPU pool for DB sysems
- Separate virtual network for DB system other than the default pubnet
- Flex disk group. You can select Mirror or HIGH for database redundancy.
- Delete DB system and database using the odacli delete-dbsystem with the --force option.
See the chapter Managing an Oracle Database Appliance KVM Deployment in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model.
Database Homes on Oracle ACFS
Starting with this release, Oracle Database homes are no longer created on the local disk. New Oracle Database homes are created on an Oracle ACFS-managed file system.

See the topic About Creating Database Homes on Oracle ACFS Storage in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model for more information.
FIPS 140-2 Compliance on Oracle Database Appliance
Starting with Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11, the Linux kernel used by Oracle Database Appliance running on bare metal and KVM Database Systems is compliant with the United States Federal Information Processing Standard 140-2 (FIPS 140-2) level one. In accordance with the FIPS standard, the algorithms used by the secure shell (SSH) are limited to those permitted by the standard. FIPS 140-2 is supported in both newly provisioned systems and patched systems. When a system is updated, FIPS support is automatically enabled. No user intervention is needed.
Support for Adaptive Classification and Redaction (ACR)
Adaptive Classification and Redaction (ACR) sanitizes sensitive information such as IP address, MAC address, host name, database name, and so on, from the diagnostic collections collected using Oracle Trace File Analyzer (Oracle TFA). Oracle Database Appliance supports enabling and disabling of ACR across all nodes, using ODACLI commands and Browser User Interface.

See the topic Enabling Adaptive Classification and Redaction (ACR) in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model for more information.
Browser User Interface (BUI) Enhancements
Oracle Database Appliance BUI supports KVM-based database systems, Database Homes on ACFS, and Adaptive Classification and Redaction (ACR).

See the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model for more information.
ODACLI Command Enhancements
There are new odacli commands and new options for existing odacli commands to manage storage on bare metal systems and modify KVM deployments.

See the Oracle Database Appliance Command Line Reference chapter in the Oracle Database Appliance Deployment and User's Guide for your hardware model for more information.
Support for Oracle Enterprise Manager Plug-in with Oracle Database Appliance Release 19.11
You must install certain patches before you can use Oracle Enterprise Manager plug-in with Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11.

See the Oracle Enterprise Manager Plugin for Oracle Database Appliance Release Notes for more information.
Access to Oracle Database Appliance documentation from the Browser User Interface
You can access the Oracle Database Appliance documentation set for this release from the Browser User Interface. For the latest updates to the documentation for a release, see the online Oracle Database Appliance documentation library at https://docs.oracle.com/en/engineered-systems/oracle-database-appliance/index.html.
Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database Updates

The following Oracle Grid Infrastructure and Oracle Database updates (April 2021 Oracle Database Release Update) for bare metal systems are available in this release:
- 19.11.0.0.210420
- 18.14.0.0.210420
- 12.2.0.1.210420
- 12.1.0.2.210420

Oracle Grid Infrastructure Clone, Oracle Database Clone, and ISO Image Patches

See the chapter Oracle Database Appliance Release 19.11 Patches for patch details and links.

Oracle Database Appliance patches are available in My Oracle Support. When selecting a patch, ensure that you select Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11 from the drop down list.

Oracle Database Appliance 19.11.0.0.0 Server Patch for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use patch 32790643 to update your bare metal deployment to Oracle Database Appliance release 19.11.
Oracle Database Appliance 19.11.0.0.0 GI Clone for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use patch 30403673 to perform an initial deployment of Oracle Database Appliance. The bundle contains the latest Oracle Grid Infrastructure components for deployment on an Oracle Database Appliance in the "shipped from factory" state, or an Oracle Database Appliance that has been re-imaged using the operating system ISO Image. This patch is for all Oracle Database Appliance Hardware Models (bare metal).
Oracle Database Appliance 19.11.0.0.0 RDBMS Clone File for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use the Oracle RDBMS 19.11.0.0.210420 Software Clone file to create 19.11.0.0.210420 Oracle Database homes. Patch 30403662 provides the database clone for this update. This patch is for all Oracle Database Appliance Hardware Models (bare metal).
Oracle Database Appliance 18.14.0.0.0 RDBMS Clone File for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use the Oracle RDBMS 18.14.0.0.210420 Software Clone file to create 18.14.0.0.210420 Oracle Database homes. Patch 27604558 provides the database clone for this update. This patch is forall Oracle Database Appliance Hardware Models (bare metal).
Oracle Database Appliance 12.2.0.1 RDBMS Clone File for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use the Oracle RDBMS 12.2.0.1.210420 Software Clone file to create 12.2.0.1.210420 database homes. Patch 27119402 provides the database clone for this update.
Oracle Database Appliance 12.1.0.2 RDBMS Clone File for ODACLI/DCS stack: Use the Oracle RDBMS 12.1.0.2.210420 Software Clone file to create 12.1.0.2.210420 database homes. Patch 23494992 provides the database clone for this update.
Oracle Database Appliance KVM Database System Template: Use the KVM Database System template to deploy KVM-based virtualization for Oracle Database Appliance. Patch 32451228 provides the database clone for this update.

Desupport Notice for the --local option for the odacli update-server command

In this release of Oracle Database Appliance, when patching the server, the --local option is not available with the odacli update-server command.

Desupport Notice for Oracle Java Development Kit (Oracle JDK), available in the /bin/java directory

Starting with Oracle Database Appliance Release 19.6, Java is installed in a new location. Java Runtime environment (JRE) is installed in the /opt/oracle/dcs/java/ directory, and is updated during patching of Oracle Database Appliance. Patching of Oracle Java Development Kit (Oracle JDK), available in the /bin/java directory, during the Oracle Database Appliance server patching process is not supported. Oracle Java Development Kit (Oracle JDK), available in the /bin/java directory, is desupported.