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Ship Shape Oracle

Learn the best practices and procedures for Oracle database upgrades. A detailed guide to prepare the system, from operating systems to database software, for a seamless upgrade process. Understand the importance of security and staying up to date with Oracle versions to avoid vulnerabilities.

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Ship Shape Oracle

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  1. Ship Shape Oracle Paul Roberts

  2. Paul Roberts; Soft Computer Database Administration • Soft Computer database administrator for 12 years • Full life cycle development experience in Information Technology for over 30 years • Vice President Suncoast Oracle Users Group for 10 years • Father for 36 years, grandfather for 10 ½ • SNUG presenter since 2012

  3. Navigating the Oracle upgrade charts • Why rock the boat? • Preparing the system for upgrade. • Operating system • Application readiness • Supporting middleware preparation • Installing Oracle software in separate Oracle Home directories

  4. Why Rock the Boat? • This is a very good question, and of course there are answers. We’ll break this into a handful of smaller chunks for discussion: • Where we are starting from • History of Oracle upgrades at SCC • Things work fine. Can’t you leave me alone? • All we want is a little support • What about security?

  5. Where We Are Starting From • Most of the Oracle databases SCC supports are running version 11.2.0.4.x • Most of the Oracle databases SCC supports use a single Oracle Home Directory for LIVE and TEST • Most of the Oracle databases SCC supports run with a primary database and a logical standby database

  6. History of Oracle upgrades at SCC • In the past, we have upgraded to the 2nd release of a major version: 10.2, 11.2, 12.2. This is because the 1st release generally was superseded quickly by the 2nd release, and the 2nd release tends to be more stable. This happens about every 5 years or so. • Once we are at the 2nd release of a major version, we can upgrade patch levels, and then stay current with patch set updates every 6 months or so. • Every once in a while, a significant security feature is presented that causes us to be more aggressive about patching to a certain level. This seems to be happening more frequently in the current IT climate.

  7. Things work fine. Can’t you leave me alone? • Sometimes we can leave the database at a level for a long time. The things that hurry us to recommend upgrades for specific reasons are: • Security vulnerabilities that Oracle Corporation discloses. Once this is done, not only do we know about it, but the rest of the world does too. • Changes in Oracle Corporation’s support of a certain version. Usually this means that support for a version of the database software is no longer offered. • Sometimes a bug needs to be corrected, and that requires upgrade.

  8. All We Want is a Little Support • When support sunsets for a version of Oracle, the SCC Database Administrators continue to support your database. Most of the time this is just fine, and we almost never run into serious problems because of it. • If there is a significant issue with the database, SCC requests assistance from Oracle Corporation as part of our partnership agreement with Oracle. • If the version is out of support, Oracle will ask us to upgrade it to a supported version before they can help us. This is a situation we do not want our customers to be in, because any upgrade at this time will be an emergency.

  9. What about security? • When there is a database vulnerability exposure, the architecture of the SCC application environment provides a good deal of protection for the database because it is isolated from the world. • If the right “wrong” things were to happen, the exposure could become a data breach incident. These are the things we want to avoid, and the reason we sometimes get aggressive about upgrades. • So far, this is a hypothetical possibility for SCC application systems. We prefer to avoid experiencing the other side of this potential.

  10. Preparing the Operating System for the upgrade • The operating system needs to be AIX 7.1.0.3.4 or higher. • Glass Fish is incompatible, Web Logic needs to be 10.3.6.12.1 or higher, and should be 10.3.6.14 for complete security.

  11. Preparing the application for the upgrade • SoftAre must be 1.0.2.1.6 or higher, and AWR must be 4.5.0.3 and requires a hot fix. • SoftId.net must be 2.6.0.8 or higher • SoftWebPlus must be 1.1.1.3 or higher • TotalQC must be 1.0.5.4 or higher • Genetics software is evaluated for compatibility and adjusted on a case by case basis.

  12. Preparing the database for the upgrade • APEX must be upgraded to 5.1… prior to the database upgrade. • APEX listener must be upgraded. • Character set must be Oracle 12 compatible. US7ASCII is a legacy character set we’ve carried over from dbVista days, and it must be converted to WE8MSWIN1252, which is native to Oracle 12, prior to database upgrade.

  13. Preparing the Oracle Software for upgrade • Oracle will be installed in separate Oracle Home directories for production and non production databases. • The Oracle listener will be split into 2 listeners with separate port numbers. The non production listener will be assigned port 1522. The production listener will remain on port 1521. • Future additions to the port will follow a convention of production port numbers being odd numbers, and non production port numbers will be even numbers. • This will allow us to upgrade and patch the non production databases separate from the production databases as a best practice.

  14. Upgrading the non production databases • We will require a 3 hour downtime for all non production environments. • You may request that we contact you prior to stopping the system. • SCC Systems Engineer will stop all non production environments. • SCC Database Administrator will perform the database upgrade steps • SCC Systems Engineer will start all non production environments. • SCC Systems Engineer will ensure that the non production environments are working properly. • Non Production environments are released to the customer.

  15. Validation of non production environments • Each module of Soft software should be logged in. • A test should be resulted for each module. • A report of each type (APEX for AWR, ODBC, Report Scheduler, etc.) should be run to ensure that the access and security for each access type is operating properly. • Any issues with the software should be reported to SCC for correction, and to be integrated into the production upgrade plan.

  16. Upgrading production environments • We will require a 3 hour downtime for all production environments. • We will call before stopping the system to ensure that you are ready and aware of the imminent downtime. • SCC Systems Engineer will stop all production environments. • SCC Database Administrator will perform the database upgrade steps • SCC Systems Engineer will start all production environments. • SCC Systems Engineer will ensure that all production environments appear to be running properly. • Production environments are released to the customer

  17. Validating the production environments • Each module of Soft software should be logged in. • A test should be resulted for each module. • A report of each type (APEX for AWR, ODBC, Report Scheduler, etc.) should be run to ensure that the access and security for each access type is operating properly. • Any issues with the software should be reported to SCC for correction, and to be integrated into future upgrade plans.

  18. You want to do it by WHEN? • SCC has negotiated extended support for Oracle 11.2.0.4.x until December 2020. • Any support from Oracle beyond this date will require upgrade to Oracle 12.2.X.X.X, depending on what versions they are current with at the time. • The prerequisite software must be installed in non production and synched to production prior to scheduling Oracle upgrade. • We would like to upgrade production about 1 week after upgrade of non production. • We need a few days to install the software on the system.

  19. So… What could go wrong? • Discussion of challenges associated with Oracle upgrade in general, and Oracle 12 upgrades specifically…

  20. Please remember to take a few moments to fill out the session survey. You can find the QR code in your Conference Brochure as well as hyperlinks to the survey online at www.snuginconline.org with the SNUG 2019 handouts.

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