1.2.2 Application Upgrade

An application upgrade is a major change to an installed application.

Typically, an upgrade changes the physical architecture of the application. For example, an upgrade might add new tables, and packages, or alter the definitions of existing objects.

To upgrade the application, specify the following in the ALTER PLUGGABLE DATABASE APPLICATION statement:

• Name of the application
• Old application version number
• New application version number

During an application upgrade, the application remains available. To make this availability possible, Oracle Database clones the application root.

The following figure gives an overview of the application upgrade process.

Description of the illustration 1.2.2_before-upgrade.png


Description of the illustration 1.2.2_begin-upgrade.png


Description of the illustration 1.2.2_end-upgrade.png


Description of the illustration 1.2.2_after-sync.png

When an application is upgraded, Oracle Database automatically clones the application root.

During the upgrade, application PDBs point to the clone and applications continue to run during the upgrade. Application PDBs can perform DML on metadata-linked and tables and views and query data-linked tables.

After the upgrade, the application root clone remains and continues to support any application PDB that still uses the pre-upgrade version of the application in the clone.

Application PDBs that re synchronized are pointed to the upgraded application root. Application PDBs that are not synchronized might continue to use the clone.