29 July 2019

dbua not showing Recovery Options

I noted a strange situation recently. I was able to recreate this today in a test environment. I will briefly explain.

I use the dbua (Database Upgrade Assistant) to upgrade an database (18.5.0.0.0) to 19.4.0.0.0
When the source database orcl01 is running in OPEN mode on the old home I get in the dbua the screens:
1. Select Database
2. Prerequisite Checks
3. Select Upgrade Options
4. Select Recovery Options
5. Configure Management
6. Summary
7. Progress
8. Results.

When the source database orcl01 is started with STARTUP UPGRADE in the new home, and then I start the dbua, I get the screens:
1. Select Database
2. Select Upgrade Options
3. Summary
4. Progess
5. Results.

So there are essential screens missing, like the Recovery Options. The backup or restore point is NOT made, but the upgrade is performed without issues.

When asked on MOS, I got the response that the first setup is the correct one. I never really thought about this, strange difference right?

19 July 2019

Some notes on upgrade - with physical standby in place

These are just quick & dirty steps for upgrade, with a physical standby in place. Use them with caution, at your own risk. Also, consult the Oracle documentation and Mike Dietrich's input for upgrade.

Move listener

cp sqlnet.ora, tnsnames.ora en listener.ora  to newhome/network/admin
stop listener on the old home
set environment variable $ORACLE_HOME for the new home
start the listener on the new home

Stop broker

disable broker config (dgmgrl > disable configuration)
set  dg_broker_start=false  on both primary and standby

Get ready


shutdown immediate primary
shutdown immediate standby
change  /etc/oratab on both primary and standby host
cp the spfile and orapw to the newhome/dbs
startup mount the standby (from the new home)
startup upgrade the primary (from the new home)
[or startup the primary on the old home, which should work as well when using dbua]

change the listener.ora on both nodes for the new oracle_home
reload the listeners

Upgrade

run dbua on the primary
(during the upgrade, you can run on the standby RMAN>recover database to make some progress. You can do this a few times)

After upgrade

cp the dr*.dat broker files to the newhome/dbs folder
set (2x) dg_broker_start=true
enable de broker config
check if logswitches get applied