RE: Upgrading with no patches in the "base"?

Disregarding all of our agreement that 19c really should be the target not 12.2, this makes sense from the application side.

Test the fundamental variable does my app have any problems with the database upgrade itself.

Then test does my application have any problems with future patches.

If this was day 1 release of the database version then you would be in a the same situation of a database home without patches.

If you are an application vendor that is actually leaning toward the bleeding edge then all your testing would be on a database home without patches initially. Overtime time you would perform testing on each major RU release.

I do a lot of work in the Government world and patches and changes are not applied until the vendor signs off on them. Yes, that means that there are a lot of databases that are behind in the patching world awaiting for the vendor to sign off on the patch.  

Yes there are some applications that basically are only certified up a 2019 patchset and the client is still waiting. In some cases relative to 12.2 to 19c there are customers waiting o nthe vendor to certify 19c as they are not certifying any further patches on 12.2.

This is the real world of COTS applications.    

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> On Behalf Of Rajesh Aialavajjala Sent: Friday, January 8, 2021 7:37 AM
To: mark_at_bobak.net
Cc: Noveljic Nenad <nenad.noveljic_at_vontobel.com>; mkline1_at_comcast.net; ORACLE-L <oracle-l_at_freelists.org> Subject: Re: Upgrading with no patches in the "base"?  

This (in my humble opinion) excellent post by Tim Hall - https://oracle-base.com/blog/2020/10/08/upgrades-you-have-to-do-them-when-are-you-going-to-learn-tlsv1-2/ - summarizes the reasons to NOT try to use an unpatched home. I agree - I've never heard of this "unpatched $ORACLE_HOME" strategy.  

Patches (RU/RUR/CPU/PSU - a rose by any other name) exist for a reason (grin) - granted they are not always perfect (grimace) and can lead to one dealing with vendor support - in this case Oracle Support.  

I would add my +1 to Mark's comment and the previous replies (of course you gentlemen hardly need my endorsement) - this does not make sense...  

I don't know if there is a constraint from the application side that prohibits 19c - I recently had an upgrade project to move databases to 12.1.0.2 and when the "Why not 19c?" question was raised the reply was the application that uses the DB had a hard stop regarding compatibility at 12.1 - the prior upgrade to 12c (interpreted 12.2) had to be rolled back.  

Thanks,  

--Rajesh
     

On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 10:28 AM Mark J. Bobak <mark_at_bobak.net <mailto:mark_at_bobak.net> > wrote:

"They will test this for a while, and if everything is fine, THEN they will apply the patch."  

And what if everything *isn't* fine? Then they *won't* apply the patch?  

Doesn't make sense.  

-Mark  

On Fri, Jan 8, 2021 at 10:19 AM Noveljic Nenad <nenad.noveljic_at_vontobel.com <mailto:nenad.noveljic_at_vontobel.com> > wrote:

Hi Michael,  

That sounds like black magic.  

If “for a while” implies two different maintenance windows, you end up with two test cycles and two disruptions instead of just one. If you get the opportunity to combat these voodoo practitioners in front of the management, the most persuasive argument would be that the database will be running without security and other critical patches for a while. Who’s going to take that risk?  

Last but not least, why not 19c?  

Best regards,  

Nenad    

From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> <oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org> > On Behalf Of Michael Kline Sent: Freitag, 8. Januar 2021 15:29
To: 'ORACLE-L' <oracle-l_at_freelists.org <mailto:oracle-l_at_freelists.org> > Subject: Upgrading with no patches in the "base"?  

Hearing that an application is going to be upgraded from 12.1 to 12.2.  

Vendor is saying they will create a “blank, no patched” 12.2 $ORACLE_HOME, and then upgrade the database.  

They will test this for a while, and if everything is fine, THEN they will apply the patch.  

I’ve never heard of such a thing and have been working on Oracle databases since 1983, version 4.0.  

Is there logic in this? We try to keep all databases at N-1 on patching.    

Michael Kline      

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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Fri Jan 08 2021 - 17:38:29 CET