Re: Reasons to upgrade from Oracle 7.3.4 to 8i

I would say the same thing, but "unsupported" generally means that new patches aren't being produced, period. It doesn't mean "we won't answer the phone" or "we won't respond in TAR". If they're paying for support, then Oracle has to provide support...

They are holding a pretty unassailable position. I'm sure that they have *lots* of experience with the realities of OPS if they have come to a stable state with Oracle7.3 OPS. After all, it is simply not possible that they installed it "out of the box" to achieve this state... :-)

So, arguing in favor of an upgrade has to provide tangible benefits to outweight the quite tangible risks of upgrading. They know (better than most) that such an upgrade might require months of stabilization and simply getting familiar with all of the "quirks" of the new software. Yes, they *might* get performance benefits from the newer software, but as I comment to Oracle OPS Development during a similar debate, "zero MIPS from downtime is about as bad as it gets"...

Going back to the original point, if their environment isn't changing at all, then they would be simply foolish to change an important component like the RDBMS, for any reason. But if anything is changing (i.e. application software, OS software, hardware, application workload), then they might eventually find themselves in a position where being in a "supported" configuration might be crucial. If other components in the environment are in flux, then inevitably they should expect to find themselves in need of being "supported" by their vendor.

Having said that, I know of at least one major telecom-equipment company still using components of Oracle v6 (i.e. remember SQL*Connect?) quite happily with their mainframe-based applications. Just takes a cold hard look at your priorities and consequences, and understanding what phrases like "unsupported" really means when you're paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for support annually...

• Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> Sent: Monday, August 19, 2002 8:08 AM

> Did you try telling them that 7.3.4 is not supported
> by Oracle anymore and they shouldn't be running an
> important database on an unsupported version?
>
> Gene
> --- Andrey Bronfin <andreyb_at_elrontelesoft.com> wrote:
> > Dear gurus !
> > I know it's a "beaten to death horse", but...
> > I want to convince a customer to upgrade their OPS
> > 7.3.4 DB to an Oracle
> > 8.1.7 OPS or even (in a best case for me) to
> > Oracle9i RAC (don't even know
> > whether or not one exists and is supported for
> > Digital UNIX on EMC Symmetrix
> > storage).
> > I am sure this has been discussed 1000s of times
> > here , but ... i need the
> > arguments to convince them.
> > I can't tell them "upgrade because 8.1.7 delivers
> > better performance ,
> > availability etc...and 7.3.4 is outdated" , they
> > simply won't buy it.
> > They run that OPS 7.3.4 DB for several years now and
> > are quite happy with
> > it.
> > I need to explain in details why they should invest
> > in the upgrade.
> > Now , the only real reason i can think of is
> > partitioning . They will
> > definetly benefit from it.
> > I need more reasons.
> > Thanks a lot in advance.
> >
> >
> > DBAndrey
> >
> > * 03-9254520
> > * 058-548133
> > * mailto:andreyb_at_elrontelesoft.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ:
> > http://www.orafaq.com
> > --
> > Author: Andrey Bronfin
> > INET: andreyb_at_elrontelesoft.com
> >
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