Required Tasks to Complete After Upgrading Oracle Database

Review and complete these required tasks that are specified for your environment after you complete your upgrade.

You must complete these postupgrade tasks after you upgrade Oracle Database. You must complete these tasks both when you perform the upgrade manually, and when you upgrade by using Database Upgrade Assistant (DBUA).

Setting Environment Variables on Linux and Unix Systems After Manual Upgrades

If you performed a manual upgrade of Oracle Database, then you must ensure that the required operating system environment variables point to the directories of the new Oracle Database release.

Confirm that the following environment variables point to the directories of the new Oracle home:

  • ORACLE_HOME

  • PATH

Note:

DBUA automatically makes necessary changes to Oracle environment variables.

Recompiling All Invalid Objects

Oracle recommends that you run the utlrp.sql script after you install, patch, or upgrade a database, to identify and recompile invalid objects.

The utlrp.sql script recompiles all invalid objects. Run the script immediately after installation, to ensure that users do not encounter invalid objects.
  1. Start SQL*Plus:
    sqlplus "/ AS SYSDBA"
    
  2. Run the utlrp.sql script, where Oracle_home is the Oracle home path:
    SQL> @Oracle_home/rdbms/admin/utlrp.sql
    

The utlrp.sql script automatically recompiles invalid objects in either serial or parallel recompilation, based on both the number of invalid objects, and on the number of CPUs available. CPUs are calculated using the number of CPUs (cpu_count) multiplied by the number of threads for each CPU (parallel_threads_per_cpu). On Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC), this number is added across all Oracle RAC nodes.

Recompiling All Invalid Objects on Multitenant Architecture Databases

On multitenant architecture Oracle Databases, after upgrading. Oracle recommends that you recompile invalid objects using the catcon Perl script.

Use the catcon.pl utility to run utlrp.sql on all containers in your container database (CDB).

The catcon.pl script runs utlrp.sql from the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory. The script recompiles any remaining stored PL/SQL and Java code.

Example 5-1 Running the utlrp.sql Script On All Containers in the CDB With the CATCON Utility

$ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catcon.pl -n 1 -e -b utlrp -d '''.''' utlrp.sql

Note the following conditions of this use case:

  • The -n parameter is set to 1, so the script runs each PDB recompilation in sequence.

  • Expect a time delay for the serial recompilation of PDBs to complete. Depending on the number of PDBs that you are upgrading, the recompilation can extend significantly beyond the time required for the upgrade scripts to complete.

Track Invalid Object Recompilation Progress

Use these SQL queries to track the progress of utlrp.sql script recompilation of invalid objects.

Oracle recommends that you run the utlrp.sql script after upgrade to recompile invalid objects. You can run SQL queries to monitor the script.

Example 5-2 Number of Invalid Objects Remaining

Enter this query to return the number of remaining invalid objects. This number decreases over time as the utlrp.sql script runs.

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM obj$ WHERE status IN (4, 5, 6); 

Example 5-3 Number of Objects Recompiled

Enter this query to return the number of objects that utlrp.sql has compiled. This number increases over time as the script runs.

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM UTL_RECOMP_COMPILED; 

Example 5-4 Number of Objects Recompiled with Errors

Enter this query to return the number of objects that utlrp.sql has compiled with errors.

select COUNT(DISTINCT(obj#)) "OBJECTS WITH ERRORS" from utl_recomp_errors; 

If the number is higher than expected, then examine the error messages reported with each object. If you see errors due to system misconfiguration or resource constraints, then fix the cause of these errors, and run utlrp.sql again.

Running OPatch Commands After Upgrading Oracle Database

After you upgrade Oracle Database, you must run OPatch commands from the new Oracle home.

OPatch is a Java-based utility that you install with Oracle Universal Installer. Opatch is platform-independent. It runs on all supported operating systems. Another version of OPatch, called standalone OPatch, is also available. It runs on Oracle homes without Oracle Universal Installer.

Patches are a small collection of files copied over to an existing installation. They are associated with particular versions of Oracle products. When applied to the correct version of an installed product, patches result in an upgraded version of the product.

Run Opatch to Check the Oracle Database Inventory

Log in as the Oracle installation owner, and run the lsinventory command from the new Oracle home. The command generates an accurate and complete inventory of the Oracle software installed on the system:

opatch lsinventory –patch

Refer to My Oracle Support note 756671.1 regularly to obtain current recommendations regarding Release Updates (Updates) and Release Update Revisions (Revisions).

Setting oratab and Scripts to Point to the New Oracle Location After Upgrading Oracle Database

You must set scripts to point to the new Oracle home location.

After you upgrade Oracle Database to a new release, you must ensure that your oratab file and any client scripts that set the value of ORACLE_HOME point to the new Oracle home that is created for the new Oracle Database release. DBUA automatically points oratab to the new Oracle home. However, you must check client scripts regardless of the method you use to upgrade.

If you upgrade your database manually, then you must log in as the Oracle installation owner for the new Oracle Database release, and update the oratab file manually. The location of the oratab file can vary, depending on your operating system.

See Also:

Oracle Database Administrator’s Guide for information about setting operating system environment variables

My Oracle Support: Find or Create Oratab File (Doc ID 394251.1)

https://support.oracle.com/rs?type=doc&id=394251.1

Check PL/SQL Packages and Dependent Procedures

It is possible that packages that you installed in the earlier release Oracle Database are not available in the new release, which cam affect applications.

After the upgrade, check to ensure that any packages that you have used in your own scripts, or that you call from your scripts, are available in the new release. Testing procedures dependent on packages should be part of your upgrade plan.

Code in database applications can reference objects in the connected database. For example, Oracle Call Interface (OCI) and precompiler applications can submit anonymous PL/SQL blocks. Triggers in Oracle Forms applications can reference a schema object. Such applications are dependent on the schema objects they reference. Dependency management techniques vary, depending on the development environment. Oracle Database does not automatically track application dependencies.

Upgrading Tables Dependent on Oracle-Maintained Types

Starting with Oracle Database 12c Release 2 (12.2) and later releases, you must manually upgrade user tables that depend on Oracle-Maintained types.

If your database has user tables that are dependent on Oracle-Maintained types (for example, AQ queue tables), then run the utluptabdata.sql command after the upgrade to carry out ALTER TABLE UPGRADE on any user tables affected by changes in Oracle-Maintained types. This change in behavior enables user tables to remain in READ ONLY state during an upgrade. Users are prevented from logging into applications using SYSDBA privileges (AS SYSDBA), and changing application tables that are dependent on Oracle-Maintained types.

To identify tables that you need to upgrade after the database upgrade completes, connect to the database AS SYSDBA, and run the following query:

COLUMN owner FORMAT A30
COLUMN table_name FORMAT A30
SELECT DISTINCT owner, table_name
FROM dba_tab_cols
WHERE data_upgraded = 'NO'
ORDER BY 1,2;

This query lists all tables that are not listed as UPGRADED. However, the utluptabdata.sql script only upgrades tables that depend on Oracle-Maintained types. If any tables are listed by the query, then run the utluptabdata.sql script to perform ALTER TABLE UPGRADE commands on dependent user tables, so that these Oracle-Maintained types are upgraded to the latest version of the type.

You must run the utluptabdata.sql script either with a user account with ALTER privileges for all of the tables dependent on Oracle-Maintained types, or with a user granted the SYSDBA system privileges, and that is logged in AS SYSDBA.

When the parameter SERVEROUTPUT is set to ON, the utluptabdata.sql script displays the names of all upgraded tables, and lists any error encountered during the table upgrade. To set the server output to ON, run the following command:

SET SERVEROUTPUT ON
@utluptabdata.sql

Enabling the New Extended Data Type Capability

Enabling a system to take advantage of the new extended data types requires specific upgrade actions.

Oracle Database 12c introduced MAX_STRING_SIZE to control the maximum size of VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW data types in SQL. Setting MAX_STRING_SIZE = EXTENDED enables the 32767 byte limit introduced in Oracle Database 12c.

To be able to set MAX_STRING_SIZE = EXTENDED, you must set the COMPATIBLE initialization parameter to 12.0.0.0 or higher

In addition, you must run the script utl32k.sql script while the database is open in upgrade mode so that you invalidate and recompile objects that are affected by the change in data type sizes. For example:

CONNNECT SYS / AS SYSDBA
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
STARTUP UPGRADE;
ALTER SYSTEM SET max_string_size=extended;
START $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin/utl32k.sql
SHUTDOWN IMMEDIATE;
STARTUP;

Caution:

You can change the value of MAX_STRING_SIZE from STANDARD to EXTENDED. However, you cannot change the value of MAX_STRING_SIZE from EXTENDED to STANDARD. By setting MAX_STRING_SIZE = EXTENDED, you are taking an explicit action that can introduce application incompatibility in your database.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for complete information about MAX_STRING_SIZE, including recommendations and procedures

Adjusting Minimum and Maximum for Parallel Execution Servers

Depending on your environment, you can reduce the default setting of the PARALLEL_MIN_SERVERS parameter.

In Oracle Database 12c, the default for PARALLEL_MIN_SERVERS changed from 0 to a value that was provided based on your hardware platform. This change was made to provide sufficient minimal support for parallel execution. If you find that the new default setting is too high, then adjust the setting for your requirements. The default for PARALLEL_MAX_SERVERS has not changed. If the default in your old environment is unchanged, then you do not need to take further action.

See Also:

Oracle Database Reference for information about PARALLEL_MIN_SERVERS

About Recovery Catalog Upgrade After Upgrading Oracle Database

If you use a version of the recovery catalog schema that is older than that required by the RMAN client, then you must upgrade it.

See Also:

Upgrading the Time Zone File Version After Upgrading Oracle Database

If the Pre-Upgrade Information Tool instructs you to upgrade the time zone files after completing the database upgrade, then use the DBMS_DST PL/SQL package to upgrade the time zone file.

Oracle Database supplies multiple versions of time zone files. There are two types of files associated with each time zone file: a large file, which contains all the time zones defined in the database, and a small file, which contains only the most commonly used time zones. The large versions are designated as timezlrg_version_number.dat. The small versions are designated as timezone_version_number.dat. The files are located in the oracore/zoneinfo subdirectory under the Oracle Database home directory.

Upgrading Statistics Tables Created by the DBMS_STATS Package After Upgrading Oracle Database

If you created statistics tables using the DBMS_STATS.CREATE_STAT_TABLE procedure, then upgrade these tables by running DBMS_STATS.UPGRADE_STAT_TABLE.

In the following example, green is the owner of the statistics table and STAT_TABLE is the name of the statistics table.

EXECUTE DBMS_STATS.UPGRADE_STAT_TABLE('green', 'stat_table'); 

Perform this procedure for each statistics table.

See Also:

Oracle Database PL/SQL Packages and Types Reference for information about the DBMS_STATS package

Upgrading Externally Authenticated SSL Users After Upgrading Oracle Database

If you are upgrading from Oracle9i Release 2 (9.2) or Oracle Database 10g Release 1 (10.1), and you are using externally authenticated SSL users, then you must run the SSL external users conversion (extusrupgrade) script to upgrade those users.

The extusrupgrade script has the following syntax, where ORACLE_HOME is the Oracle database home, hostname is the name of the host on which the database is running, port_no is the listener port number, sid is the system identifier for the database instance, and db_admin is the database administrative user with privileges to modify user accounts.

ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/bin/extusrupgrade --dbconnectstring 
hostname:port_no:sid --dbuser db_admin --dbuserpassword 
password -a

For example:

extusrupgrade --dbconnectstring dlsun88:1521:10gR2 --dbuser system --dbuserpassword manager -a

Note:

If you are upgrading from Oracle Database 10g Release 2 (10.2) or later, then you are not required to run the extusrupgrade script.

See Also:

Oracle Database Enterprise User Security Administrator's Guide for more information about the extusrupgrade script

Configuring the FTP and HTTP Ports and HTTP Authentication for Oracle XML DB

Oracle Database Configuration Assistant (DBCA) does not configure ports for Oracle XML DB on Oracle Database 12c and later release upgrades use digest authentication.

Oracle recommends that when you configure ports, you also configure the authentication for HTTP for accessing Oracle XML DB Repository to take advantage of improved security features.

Starting with Oracle Database 12c, Oracle enhanced database security by supporting digest authentication. Digest authentication is an industry-standard protocol that is commonly used with the HTTP protocol. It is supported by most HTTP clients. Digest authentication ensures that passwords are always transmitted in a secure manner, even when an encrypted (HTTPS) connection is not in use. Support for digest authentication enables organizations to deploy applications that use Oracle XML DB HTTP, without having to worry about passwords being compromised. Digest authentication support in Oracle XML DB also ensures that the Oracle XML DB HTTP server remains compatible with Microsoft Web Folders WebDAV clients.

After installing or upgrading for the new release, you must manually configure the FTP and HTTP ports for Oracle XML DB as follows:

  1. Use DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.setHTTPPort(HTTP_port_number) to set the HTTP port for Oracle XML DB:

    SQL> exec DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.setHTTPPort(port_number);
    
  2. Use DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.setFTPPort(FTP_port_number) to set the FTP port for Oracle XML DB:

    SQL> exec DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.setFTPPort(FTP_port_number);
    

    Note:

    You can query the port numbers to use for FTP and HTTP in the procedure by using DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.getFTPPort and DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.getHTTPPort respectively.

  3. To see all the used port numbers, query DBMS_XDB_CONFIG.usedport.

See Also:

Oracle XML DB Developer’s Guide for more information about accessing the Oracle XML DB Repository data using FTP, HTTP, HTTPS, and WebDAV protocols

Install Oracle Text Supplied Knowledge Bases After Upgrading Oracle Database

After an Oracle Database upgrade, all user extensions to the Oracle Text supplied knowledge bases must be regenerated.

Regenerating the user extensions affect all databases installed in the given Oracle home.

After an upgrade, the Oracle Text-supplied knowledge bases that are part of the companion products for the new Oracle Database are not immediately available. Any Oracle Text features dependent on the supplied knowledge bases that were available before the upgrade do not function after the upgrade. To re-enable such features, you must install the Oracle Text supplied knowledge bases from the installation media for the new Oracle Database release.

See Also:

Rebuild Oracle Text Indexes Using AUTO_LEXER

If you are upgrading Oracle Text from releases earlier than Oracle Database 12c, then review this topic.

After you complete your upgrade to the new Oracle Database release, if you use Oracle Text indexes created with AUTO_LEXER, then you must rebuild the indexes for your queries to work.

In addition, you must rebuild indexes that have the following INDEX_STEMS types of BASIC_LEXER set:

  • ARABIC

  • BOKMAL

  • CATALAN

  • CROATIAN

  • CZECH

  • DANISH

  • ERIVATIONAL_NEW

  • DUTCH_NEW

  • ENGLISH_NEW

  • FINNISH

  • FRENCH_NEW

  • GERMAN_NEW

  • GREEK

  • HEBREW

  • HUNGARIAN

  • ITALIAN_NEW

  • NYNORSK

  • POLISH

  • PORTUGUESE

  • ROMANIAN

  • RUSSIAN

  • SERBIAN

  • SLOVAK

  • SLOVENIAN

  • SPANISH_NEW

  • SWEDISH

Update Oracle Application Express Configuration After Upgrading Oracle Database

Oracle Application Express affects upgrade procedures, depending on the Oracle Application Express release and your database installation type.

If the Oracle Database release that you upgrade includes Oracle Application Express release 3.2 or later, then you do not need to carry out additional configuration after upgrading to the new Oracle Database release. However, if Oracle Application Express is in the registry, so that Oracle Application Express is included in the upgrade, then set the open_cursors parameter to a minimum of 200.

If the Oracle Database you upgrade is an Oracle Express Edition database, then it contains an earlier release of Oracle Application Express that is tailored for the Oracle Express Edition environment. The latest Oracle Application Express release is automatically installed during the upgrade. You must complete a series of postinstallation steps to configure Oracle Application Express for use with the new Oracle Database release.

Replace the DEMO Directory in Read-Only Oracle Homes

After upgrading Read-Only Oracle homes, make a copy of the earlier release Oracle Database demo directory, and replace the demo directory in the Read-Only Oracle home with the new release demo directory.

Oracle Database 18c and later releases contain a product demonstration directory in the file path Oracle_home/rdbms/demo. These directories include examples and product demonstrations that are specific to the options and features for each Oracle Database release, some of which you can add to after upgrade by installing Oracle Database Examples. In your earlier release, if you downloaded and worked with the earlier release demonstration files, then you have two problems: you want to save your earlier release work for review and testing with the new release, and you want to obtain refreshes of the demonstrations that are specific to the new release.

After upgrading the Oracle home, and downloading and doing any other work you want to do with the new demonstration files, you can then refresh your old demonstration files.

Example 5-5 Copying the Earlier Release Demo Directory and Refreshing the Demonstrations in the Read-Only Oracle Home

After the upgrade, use this procedure to save any work in your earlier demo directory in the Read-Only Oracle home, and and replace the earlier release demo directory with the new release demo directory:

  1. Log in as the Oracle software owner user (oracle).

  2. Check if the rdbms/demo directory is copied to the Read Only Oracle home.

    In this example, the environment variable ORACLE_BASE_HOME is defined as the path to the Read-Only Oracle home.

    Linux and Unix platforms:

    $ ls -l -d $ORACLE_BASE_HOME/rdbms/demo
    /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/rdbms/demo

    Microsoft Windows platforms

    ls -l -d %ORACLE_BASE_HOME%\rdbms\demo 
    %ORACLE_BASE_HOME%\rdbms\demo
  3. Change directory to the Read-Only Oracle home, and make a copy, where demo.old_release18 is the name you give to your earlier release demonstration files:

    cd $ORACLE_BASE_HOME/rdbms
    mv demo demo.old_release18
  4. Copy the new demo directory from the upgraded Oracle home to the Read-Only Oracle home.

    In this example, the environment variable ORACLE_HOME is defined as the new release Oracle home.

    Linux and Unix:

    cp -r $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/demo demo

    Microsoft Windows

    xcopy c:\%ORACLE_HOME%\rdbms\demo c:%ORACLE_BASE_HOME%\rdbms\demo /E

Configure Access Control Lists (ACLs) to External Network Services

Oracle Database 12c and later releases include fine-grained access control to the UTL_TCP, UTL_SMTP, UTL_MAIL, UTL_HTTP, or UTL_INADDR packages.

If you have applications that use these packages, then after upgrading Oracle Database you must configure network access control lists (ACLs) in the database before the affected packages can work as they did in earlier releases. Without the ACLs, your applications can fail with the error "ORA-24247: network access denied by access control list (ACL)."

See Also:

Oracle Database Security Guide for more complicated situations, such as connecting some users to host A and other users to host B

Enabling Oracle Database Vault After Upgrading Oracle Database

Depending on your target database release, you can be required to disable Oracle Database Vault to complete an Oracle Database upgrade.

Upgrading Oracle Database Without Disabling Oracle Database Vault

If your target Oracle Database release is 12.2 or later, then you can upgrade without disabling Oracle Database Vault.

If you have Oracle Database Vault enabled in your source Oracle Database release, then you can upgrade Oracle Database to Oracle Database 18c and later releases without first disabling Oracle Database Vault. After the upgrade, if your source Oracle Database release is Oracle Database 12c release 1 (12.1) or later, then Oracle Database Vault is enabled with the same enforcement settings that you had in place before the upgrade. For example, if your source database is Oracle Database release 12.1, and Oracle Database Vault was disabled in that release, then it remains disabled after you upgrade. If your source Oracle Database release 12.1 database had Oracle Database Vault enabled before the upgrade, then Oracle Database Vault is enabled after the upgrade.

If you manually disable Oracle Database Vault before the upgrade, then you must enable Oracle Database Vault manually after the upgrade.

If you did not have Oracle Database Vault enabled before the upgrade, then you can enable it manually after the upgrade.

Enable Oracle Database Vault in the upgraded database by using the procedure dvsys.dbms_macadm.enable_dv(). Run this procedure with a user account that is granted DV_OWNER. After you run the procedure, restart the database instance so that the procedure takes effect.

Common Upgrade Scenarios with Oracle Database Vault

The requirements to enable Oracle Database Vault after upgrades change, depending on your source Oracle Database release.

  • Upgrades from Oracle Database 11g release 2 (11.2) or earlier: After the upgrade, Oracle Database Vault is disabled by default.

  • Upgrades from Oracle Database 12c release 1 (12.1) or later: After the upgrade, Oracle Database Vault has the same enforcement status that you had in place before the upgrade.

Table 5-1 Common Oracle Database Vault Upgrade Scenarios and Upgrade Preparation Tasks

Source Database Release Target Database Release Do you need to disable Database Vault Before Upgrade What is Database Vault Status After Upgrade
11.2 or earlier 12.1 Yes Disabled. You need to enable Database Vault manually after the upgrade.
11.2.or earlier 12.2, 18.1 and later No Disabled. You need to enable Database Vault manually after the upgrade.
12.1, 12.2, 18.1, and later 12.2, 18.1 and later No Database Vault has the same enforcement status that you had in place before the upgrade.

Check for the SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION Parameter Behavior

Connections to Oracle Database from clients earlier than release 10g fail with the error ORA-28040: No matching authentication protocol.

Starting with Oracle Database 18c, the default value for the SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION parameter changed from 11 in Oracle Database 12c (12.2) to 12 in Oracle Database 18c and later releases. The use of this parameter is deprecated.

SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION is now replaced with the SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_SERVER and SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_CLIENT parameters. If you have not explicitly set the SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_SERVER parameter in the upgraded database, then connections from clients earlier than release 10g fail with the error ORA-28040: No matching authentication protocol. For better security, check the password verifiers of your database users, and then configure the database to use the correct password verifier by setting the SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_SERVER and SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_CLIENT parameters.

If you have password-protected roles (secure roles) in your existing database, and if you upgrade to Oracle Database 18c and later releases with the default SQLNET.ALLOWED_LOGON_VERSION_SERVER setting of 12, because those secure roles only have release 10g verifiers, then the password for each secure role must be reset by the administrator so that the secure roles can remain usable after the upgrade.

See Also: