Upgrade Oracle Database from 12c to 19c using AutoUpgrade utility

June 13, 2021

Upgrade Oracle Database from 12c to 19c using AutoUpgrade utility

Upgrading a database is always a big task for DBAs in this world but this time Oracle introduces a new feature in 19c for an upgrade which is called “AutoUpgrade Utility” where we will upgrade a database from version 12c to 19c.

Supported version for upgrade

As a source database, you should have a minimum of 11.2.0.4 and as a target, you can upgrade to 19.3.0,18.5.0,12.2.0.1 with Jan 2019 RU.

In this article, I will demonstrate how to upgrade the database from 12.1.0.2 to 19.3.0 using the new feature autoupgrade utility.

Steps for Upgrade

Install 19c database binaries.
Download the latest autoupgrade.jar file from Oracle supports MOS Document 2485457.1.
Create a Config file for the upgrade process.
Analyze the database using a config file created.
Deploy the actual upgrade process.

Let us start the Practical

Install Oracle 19c database Binaries:

Just for time-saving, I have already installed the oracle 19c binaries.

Download the latest autoupgrade.jar file and replace it with the default one as below

After replacing let’s confirm the version as below image.

For an upgrade, the java version should be 1.8 which is available in “ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin” so make sure match to the minimum required version of java.

Create the Config file for the DB upgrade as below.

Before creating a config file let’s create a directory which holds all the log files of the upgrade process.

Sample of the config file in which we need to fill the information of the source (12c) and target (19c) database for an upgrade.

Now let’s edit the config file according to our needs as below, as I have only 1 database to be upgraded so updated only 1, if you have 2 databases that need to upgrade you can edit “database number 2” in the config file.

Time for database analysis, let’s do it using the below command:

$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java -jar $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/autoupgrade.jar -config conifgfilename -mode analyze

From the above image, we have done the ANALYZE of the source database, now time to check the log files. You can find the log files at the location shown in the below image.

Now open the HTML file using a browser (firefox) as below and read the file.

From the above HTML, it shows 1 error which is about the archive log disable.

Enable the archive log mode followed by below image along with gather statistics.

Time for the actual upgrade (DEPLOY mode)

Now we are ready for the actual upgrade of the database so let’s do it.

$ORACLE_HOME/jdk/bin/java -jar $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/autoupgrade.jar -config conifgfilename -mode DEPLOY

set the environment to 19c oracle home and run the upgrade in deploy mode before running the upgrade make sure the PDB is on read-write mode otherwise, the upgrade will fail as below:

let’s run the upgrade after the environment set:

My upgrade got failed at the PRECHECKS let’s analyze the log file to find out root cause of this failure.

From the above log file, I found the error for MIN_RECOVERY_AREA_SIZE so I increase the db_recovery_file_dest_size which solved the above issue, and restart the upgrade process again.

we have some commands to monitor the status of this upgrade using below command-line utilities:

1) lsj

2) status

Continued monitor…….

Continued monitor…….

After Completing the upgrade of CDB$ROOT it will compile the CDB$ROOT, refer below image..

Now it is started the PDB$SEED and pluggable database upgrade.

Continued monitor…….

After the upgrade, it starts POSTCHECKS as shown in the below image.

Continued monitor…….

Now lets move to check the logfiles.

The database has been successfully upgraded using the autoupgrade utility and it took approx 4.5 hours.

Now we will validate the time version after upgrades and drop the restored point if any.

We have checked the status of the database and drop the GRP successfully.

If you want to change the compatible parameter after the database upgrade, this is required to utilize all features version 19c. So accordingly change it from version 12.1.0.2 to 19.0.0 as shown below:

The above image describes you regarding the commands to use while doing an upgrade using the autoupgrade utility.

This document is just for learning purpose and always validate in the LAB environment first before applying in the LIVE environment.

Hope so you like this article!
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AUTOUPGRADE, DATABASE, ORACLE, ORACLE 19C, UPGRADE