manually to 19c …. 

Actually it is very cool to do everything with so called „auto tools“. If you prefer to do the Upgrade to 19c manually and step-by-step then you can follow my article and have fun otherwise skip this blog article

Before you start you need to read a lot Doc-ID’s from Oracle Support

My list is not complete but here are very important Doc-ID’s for the Upgrade

Pre Activities for Upgrade 19c

(the list is not complete because there are a lot more documents)

• • Release Schedule of current DB
    • 884522.1
  • Patches to apply before Upgrade
    • 253975.1
  • Health Check Script use before Upgrade or once a year
    • 136697.1
  • DB PreUpgrade tool checklist
    • 2380601.1
  • PreUpgrade_19 Zip File latest Version (check for new Version)
    • 884522.1
  • RU Assistant (very helpful tool)
    • 2118136.2
  • Client / Server Interoperability Support Matrix for Different Oracle Versions
    • 207303.1
  • DB Upgrade Diagnostic Information
    • 556610.1
  • Oracle JVM
    • 397770.1

Okay let’s start

Install new Oracle Release 19c

• • Check if OS Version is certified by Oracle Support
    • Login and check certification

• • • If the OS is not supported please open an Service Request and ask for Support
  • Download the Oracle Release from
    • OTN or Software Delivery Portal
    • in my example 19c

• •  create new Oracle Home for 19c
    • Use OFA (Oracle Flexible Architecture) for the Setup

      • Documentation: "/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1"

  • unpack the zip File./runInstaller
  • Follow the Installer
  • root.sh
    • fix errors before going on

Patch the new ORACLE_HOME with latest RU

• • Install latest version of opatch
  • Download RU

• • • • p30125133_190000_Linux-x86-64.zip
  • Patch 19c Home
    • opatch apply -local -oh /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1 /home/oracle/Downloads/30125133
    • patching done

• • • Test the installed RU
      • ./sqlplus / as sysdba
      • SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 – Production on Thu Dec 5 18:00:34 2019
        Version 19.5.0.0.0

Important note while planing the Upgrade to 19c

• • • additional very helpful files
      • preupgrade_fixups.sql
      • postupgrade_fixups.sql
    • and check the Logfile
      • Fix all errors
      • Now you are ready for the Upgrade

Oracle JVM installed 

• • Before doing an Upgrade check if the JVM is installed.
  • Why?
    • If you don not need the JVM in the Database deinstall it
    • It makes live in some cases especially during Patching (especially for RAC DB’s) easier

• • Check if JVM is installed
    • select comp_name, version, status from dba_registry where comp_name like ‚%JAVA%‘;
    • select owner, status, count(*) from all_objects where object_type like ‚%JAVA%‘ group by owner, status;
    • select role from dba_roles where role like ‚%JAVA%‘;

• • The  DBA_FEATURE_USAGE_STATISTICS view can also help to check for the Java feature
    • select currently_used, name from  dba_feature_usage_statistics where name like ‚%Java%‘;

So Installation, RU and preUpgrade is done. Let’s go to the manual „dbupgrade“ ….

Manual Upgrade to 19c

I describe now how to do the Upgrade to 19c manually without using dbua. Here is my CDB/PDB environment

CDB => db1

PDB  => pdb1, pdb2,pdb3

• • https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/19/upgrd
    • please take a look to the documentation especially when doing Upgrades in CDB/PDB environments
  • Upgrade
    • set ORACLE_SID
    • cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin
      • /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/rdbms/admin
      • $ sqlplus / as sysdba

• • Start the CDB in upgrade mode
    • sqlplus / as sysdba
    • startup upgrade
    • Open all PDB for Upgrade
    • alter pluggable database all open upgrade;

the output looks like

• • Start dbupgrade for the entire CDB in so called „parallel Upgrade“
    • cd $ORACLE_HOME/bin
    • ./dbupgrade
      • when finished check Logfiles
      • open all PDB’s
      • alter pluggable database all open;

Post Steps after dbupgrade 

• • recompile objects
    • Start the CDB and PDB’s
      • sqlplus / as sysdba
      • startup
      • alter pluggable database all open
    • $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -n 1 -e -b utlrp -d “‘.“‘ utlrp.sql
      • catcon.pl: completed successfully
      • Check the Logfile

• • start the postupgrade_fixups.sql if needed
    • $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -n 1 -e -b postupgrade_fixups -d “‘.“‘ postupgrade_fixups.sql

• • Check if all open issues are fixed with utlusts.sql if needed
    • $ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -n 1 -e -b utlu122s -d “‘.“‘ utlusts.sql
    • Example Output from PDB2

Summary

The manual Upgrade to Oracle 19.5 for my CDB / PDB Setup is done

Take in mind that you need some more time to prepare everything and read the documentation and Doc’s from Oracle Support before you start. It makes life easier

By the way without a Login to the My Oracle Support Site to get the Doc-ID’s and Patches the Upgrade is not possible

And last but not least, please check the Blog from Mike Dietrich https://mikedietrichde.com/

Mike has the best Oracle Blog if you need to do Oracle Upgrades

Thanks a lot Mike. :-)