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Oracle Support Update UKOUG AIM SIG 27th March 2012Antony Higginson

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Agenda

Oracle SupportNew ReleasesOracle DatabaseEnterprise ManagerPatch Set ReleasesLife Time Support PolicyExtended DatesRecent Alerts & Issues QuestionsAppendixPatch terminology

#2The following is intended to outline our general product direction. It is intended for information purposes only, and may not be incorporated into any contract. It is not a commitment to deliver any material, code, or functionality, and should not be relied upon in making purchasing decisions.The development, release, and timing of any features or functionality described for Oracles products remains at the sole discretion of Oracle.#3Who Am IeSSC Engineer for Advanced Customer ServicesFlagship of ACS Services in terms of services ACS offerReducing cost, risk and complexity of change, 24*7 support(Tech Lead) Financial, Central Government, Telcos Information Systems Engineering Background Internal Oracle tools to help deliver services that ACS Offer for RDBMS/Exadata/FMWPatchingConfiguration Performance First Time speaker at UKOUG DBMS SIGs

#4Extended Solutions Support Centre (mission critical services )

Enhanced proactivity Detailed version and patches tracking Every single patch activity is analyzed in advance Every single operational activity is analyzed in advance Deep knowledge of customers' systems Priorized access to BDE and/or product development (Sev 1) SR ownership by the eSSC focused engineers team Risk classification of customers' systems SLA's available Exadata support

Oracle Support GCS Global Customer Support; the analysts within Oracle Support that own and work on Service Requests

BDE Bug Detection and Escalation; also part of Oracle Support, these are engineers who have access to the source code to check for or confirm the existence of a bug

Sustaining Engineering formerly known as DDR; the team within Development that creates patches

Base Development the developers who work on the current and future versions of the software, each owning a small section of code

ACS - Advanced Customer Services; mission critical support services for complex IT environments to help maximize performance, achieve higher availability and reduce risk

#New RDBMS Releases Oracle 11gR2 (11.2.0.1)Linux x86Linux x86-64Solaris(SPARC) 64-bitSolaris (X86-64)AIX(PPC64) HP-UX ItaniumHP-UX PA-RISCMicrosoft Windows 32 bitMicrosoft Windows 64 bitzLinux64 (11.2.0.2 full release)http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html

#Windows 64 bit includes support for Windows 2008 / 2008R2Download 11.2.0.1 from OTNDownload 11.2.0.2 and 11.2.0.3 from MOS6New RDBMS Releases Oracle 11gR1 (11.1.0.7)Windows Server 2008 32 & 64 bit Oracle 11gR1 (11.1.0.6) Linux x86Linux x86-64Windows 32-bit, 64-bitSolaris(SPARC) 64-bitAIX(PPC64) HP-UX ItaniumHP-UX PA-RISChttp://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/database/index.html

#Statement of Direction: Oracle Database 11g Release 2 - Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 [ID 867040.1]7New Enterprise Manager Releases12.1.0.1 Cloud Control Important: Please refer to My Oracle Support Note 1395505.1 for instructions on How to install Bundle Patch1 and update to 12.1.0.2 Plug-ins. This is a must-read note.

for Linux x86 (32-bit) (With Bundle Patch 1)for Linux x86-64 (64-bit) (With Bundle Patch 1)for Solaris Operating System (SPARC) for Solaris Operating System (x86-64) for IBM AIX on POWER Systems (64-bit)

11.1.0.1.0 Grid Control Linux x86, Linux x86-64, Solaris Sparc(64 bit), HP-UX PA-RISC, HP-UX ItaniumAIX 5LWindows 32 bit http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/oem/grid-control/downloads/index.html

#811g/12c uses Weblogic for OMS repositoryRDBMS Patch Set Releases11gR2 11.2.0.3Linux x86, x86-64Solaris x86-64Solaris(SPARC) 64-bitAIX(PPC64) HP-UX Itanium, HP-UX PA-RISCMicrosoft Windows 32 bit, 64 bitLinux on System zS/390 based LinuxClient only Solaris x86-32 Solaris Sparc 32 bit, HP-UX Itanium 32 bit, AIX 32 bitPatch 10404530Full install, does not require base release Note 1189783.1

#Latest PSU 11.2.0.3.1 (Mar 2012)Important Changes to Oracle Database Patch Sets Starting With 11.2.0.2 [ID 1189783.1]

Database New Features Guide - http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E11882_01/server.112/e17128/toc.htm

9RDBMS Patch Set Releases11gR1 11.1.0.7 (Terminal release)HP-UX ItaniumHP-UX PA-RISC MS Windows 32bit, 64 bitSun Sparc 64 bitLinux x86Linux x86-64IBM AIX

Patch 6890831

#10RDBMS Patch Set Releases10gR2 10.2.0.5 (Terminal release)

Linux 32 Bit, Linux 64 BitLinux system zSolaris X86-64 bitSolaris (SPARC) 64 bitHP-UX Itanium, HP-UX PA-RISC(64 bit)IBM AIX on Power Systems ( 64 bit)Windows (32 bit) ( 64 bit) + Itanium Fujitsu BS2000/OSD (SX Series)

Patch 8202632

#11Enterprise Manager Patch Set Releases Release Schedule of EM Releases / Patch Sets Note 793512.1

Enterprise Manager recommended patches Note 822485.1

12.1.0.1 BP1 OMS - see Note 1395505.1 Unix Agent - see Note 1395505.1

11.1.0.1 PSU6 OMS Patch 13248190 Unix Agent Patch 9346243

# Patch Set Update (PSU) Availability Oracle Database Support Newsletter - Issue March, 2012 Volume 14 Note 230.1Quick Reference to Patchset / PSU NumbersNote 753736.1

Reference List of Critical Patch Update Availability(CPU) and Patch Set Update (PSU) Documents For Oracle Database and Fusion Middleware Product Note 783141.1

PSU Patchset updatesNote 854428.1

Oracle Recommended Patches -- Oracle Database Note 756671.1

Database PSU-CPU Cross-Reference List Note 1119703.1

#13For 11.2.0.1 and later Oracle Database releases, Oracle provides a Grid Infrastructure (GI) PSU patch and a Database PSU patch.The GI PSU can be applied to both the GI and Database homes; however, the Database PSU is only applicable to Database homes. The GI PSU contains all of the database bug fixes included in the Database PSU, so only one of the two patches needs to be installed in a Database home. Refer to the READMEs for details.At times, bug fixes included in the GI PSU require that the patch be installed on both the GI and Database homes. Any restrictions are noted in the READMEs. This is the case with 11.2.0.1.1 GI PSU, which contains an ASM fix that must be installed in both the GI home and Database home.

Life Time Support Policy RDBMS Life Time Support Policy 11.2 Premier: Jan 2015, Extended: Jan 201811.1 Premier: Aug 2012, Extended: Aug 201510.2.0 Premier: 31-Jul-2010,Extended: 31-Jul-2013Free Extended Support ended July 201110.1.0.x Premier: 31-Jan-2009,Extended: 31-Jan-2012 9.2.0.x Premier: 31-Jul-2007,Extended: 31-Jul-2010Sustaining: Indefinite applies to all above New Lifetime support policy http://www.oracle.com/us/support/lifetime-support/index.htmlNote 9i P1 fixes until July2012#14http://www.oracle.com/us/support/057419.pdf

Version:GA:Premier:Extended:Sustaining8.1.7 Sep 2000 Dec 2004 Dec 2006 Indefinite9.2 Jul 2002 Jul 2007 Jul 2010 Indefinite10.1 Jan 2004 Jan 2009 Jan 2012 Indefinite10.2 Jul 2005 Jul 2010 Jul 2013 Indefinite11.1 Aug 2007 Aug 2012 Aug 2015 Indefinite11.2 Sep 2009 Jan 2015 Jan 2018 IndefiniteItanium Processor and Oracle Database SoftwareAfter multiple conversations with Intel senior management Oracle has decided to discontinue all software development on the Intel Itanium microprocessor. Intel management made it clear that their strategic focus is on their x86 microprocessor and that Itanium was nearing the end of its life.

Press ReleaseOracle Software and Support for Itanium-Based Servers Note 1313431.1#15Support Update - Status NotesGeneric Server Support Status Notes

11.2.0Note 880782.111.1.0Note 454507.110.2.0Note:316900.110.1.0Note:263719.19.2 Note:189908.1#16list of the main issues affecting RDBMS release. The first part of this note gives generic information - platform specific issues and differences can be found in the Platform Specific Agenda. Good place to find latest Patchset and PSU version. Check here prior to planning an upgrade!Critical Patch Update (CPU) Critical Patch Update New process overview Note 290738.1Documentation tree Note 294914.1CPU Apr 2010 Note 1060989.1CPU Jul 2010 Note 1089044.1CPU Oct 2010 Note 1159443.1CPU Jan 2011 Note 1263374.1 CPU Apr 2011 Note 1291877.1 CPU Jul 2011 Note 1323616.1 CPU Oct 2011 Note 1346104.1 CPU Jan 2012 Note 1374524.1

http://www.oracle.com/technology/deploy/security/alerts.htm

#17Support Update - Recent AlertsInstall and Upgrade

Essential Steps to take before Upgrading to 11.2.0.3 Grid Infrastructure/ASM/ExadataNote 1363369.1

ORA-600 [KKPO_RCINFO_DEFSTG:OBJNOTFOUND] On 11.2 Databases After Upgrade Note 1308400.1

11.2.0.2 Roothas.pl or Rootcrs.pl fails Note 1268390.1

11.2.0.2 Patches not found upgrading Grid Infrastructure Bug 10036834

MRP0 ORA-328 on switchover to standby after upgrade to 11.2.0.2 Fixed in 11.2.0.2.3 Note 11664046.8

#181363369.1For Exadata, refer to 1373255.1Run CVU pre-upgrade check toolEnsure consistent network settingMandatory/Recommended patches for upgradeASM memory_max_target and memory_target

1308400.1The error is primarily associated with various SQL operations failing at session level after the incorrect running of CATUPGRD.SQL and is related to missing deferred segment references in the data dictionary. The error can also be associated with upgrading an earlier = 11.1existing datafiles from step above are resized to >= 20,000 extents Bug# 8898852 Fixed: 11.2.0.1 PSU1 + 11.1.0.7 PSU2

742647.1apply the patch for unpublished Bug 7436280 in 11.1.0.7 home

579523.1Affects upgrade to 11.1.0.6 or direct to 11.1.0.7 from 9i/10g. Existing data dictionary corruption.Patch 6770913 for 11106. Fixed in 11107.

Support Update - Recent AlertsDatabaseJoin of temp and permanent tables in RAC might cause corruption of permanent table11.2.0.3 Note 13467683.8

ORA-604 ORA-959 on object with Deferred Segment Creation11.2.0.3Note 1390632.1

ORA-600 or Data Corruption possible during shutdown normal/transactional/immediate of RAC instances in a rolling fashion 11.2.0.2 Note 1318986.1

ORA-600 [2015] during transaction rollback in undo block for COMPRESS table11.1.0.6 to 11.2.0.2Note 1191474.1

#2013467683.1Bug 13467683.Join of temp and permanent tables in RAC might cause corruption of permanent table. Regression by bug 10352368. PSE available for 11.2.0.3.

Join of temp and permanent tables in RAC might cause corruption on permanent tables. Same block version may be incorrectly modified in two different RAC instances. This may also produce ORA-600 [3020] if the database is later recovered like in a Physical Standby environment

1390632.1If a segment is created using Deferred Segment Creation and the related tablespace is later dropped before the segment is populated with data, accessing the object fails with errors ORA-00604 ORA-00959.

1318986.1The issue can occur when shutting down Oracle RAC instances using the shutdown mode "normal, transactional, or immediate" and the instance(s) are shutdown in a rolling fashion; i.e. other instances remain to operate normally. The issue does not occur, if the instances are shutdown using "shutdown abort" or the database is shutdown as a whole as a workaround. Fixed in 11.2.0.2 PSU 2

1191474.1Instance crash with ORA-600 [2015] during transaction rollback for COMPRESS table. This problem only occurs whenSupplemental Logging is enabled. Fixed in Patch 8331063. Workaround: Disable compression, or supplemental logging.Support Update - Recent AlertsDatabase

Logical corruption of LOB data during recovery 10.1 to 11.2 Fixed in 11.2.0.2Note 1206814.1

Segment header corruption if extent allocation operation is interrupted 9.2 to 11.2 Fixed in 11.2.0.2 Note 1229669.1

ORA-25027 ORA-4097 in plugged datafile after CREATE CONTROLFILE in 11g 11.1.0.6 to 11.2.0.1 Fixed in 11.2.0.2 Note 1066229.1

RFS in standby with a wrong location for archive log corruption/overwriting datafiles when max_connections > 1 10.2 to 11.2 Fixed in 11.2.0.2 Note 1081961.1

#211206814.1During recovery of blocks for a LOB segment, redo may be applied in the wrong order, resulting in the wrong data in the LOB itself. Issue is intermittent and only occurs after recovery applies redo modifying a LOB segment.Fixed in 11.2.0.2. Patch 9532911 or set _log_parallelism_max=1 as workaround.

1229669.1Segment header logical corruption can be introduced to any segment if ALLOCATE EXTENT operation aborts due to CTRL/C or space exhaustion.Workaround: Export , drop and recreate segment then import. Patch 9711859 included in 10.2.0.5 PSU1 and 11.1.0.7 PSU6 and 11.2.0.2

1066229.1ORA-600[25027] or ORA-600[4097] or ORA-600 [4000] [Invalid Undo Segment Number] or unexpected repeatable ORA-1555 can be signaled for plugged-in / transportable tablespace datafiles after create controlfile as the foreign_dbid (FEPID) is made 0. This can occur for explicit CREATE CONTROLFILE or for other operations which create a new controlfile (eg: RMAN DUPLICATE of a database, manual clone of a database etc.. where the problem can occur in the duplicate (clone) database). Fixed 11.2.0.2 , 11.2.0.1 PSU1, 11.1.0.7 PSU4.

1081961.1In a physical standby database the GAP RFS process may incorrectly reference a wrong location for an archived log when max_connections is greater than one (max_connections>1 in LOG_ARCHIVE_DEST_n parameter) and may randomly overwrite database files resulting in corrupt database blocks with archived log content Bug 8768374. Fixed: 11.2.0.2 and 10.2.0.5

Support Update - Recent AlertsDatabase

Dictionary corruption / OERI from merge of PARTITIONS with LOBS11.1.0.7 to 11.2.0.1 Fixed in 11.2.0.2 Bug 9165206

Corrupt blocks in 11.2 table with unique.key ORA-600[kdblkcheckerror] _in_memory_undo = FALSE Fixed in 11.2.0.1.3 Note 1078406.1

Array Update can corrupt a row [kghstack_free1] or [kddummy_blkchk]10.2.0.1 to 11.1.0.7 Fixed in 11.2.0.1Note 861965.1

ORA-1578 - Blocks can be misplaced in ASM during a REBALANCE 10.2.0.2 Fixed in 10.2.0.5 Note 8339404.8

#229165206In an interval range partitioned table with LOB columns, merging adjacent interval partitions causes dictionary corruption, leading to ORA-600 errors when attempting to use the table . Fixed 11.2.0.2 , 11.2.0.1 PSU 2, 11.1.0.7 PSU4.

1078406.1Logical Block corruption during recovery for a table with Primary or Unique key constraint and lots of inserts done on that table due to Bug 9406607The recovery can happen as part of normal STARTUP during crash recovery. Fixed 11.2.0.1 PSU3 and 11.2.0.2. Workaround : _in_memory_undo = FALSE

861965.1 With compatibilty set to 10.2 or higher, and high concurrency in the block, a row can be corrupted if it is updated with an Array Update (i.e. an UPDATE sql statement affecting several rows or plsql statement "FORALL ... UPDATE") .Fixed in Patch 7662491 included in 10.2.0.4 PSU2, 10.2.0.5 11.1.0.7 PSU4, 11.2.0.1

8339404.8Database blocks can be misplaced if there is a pending IO (not submitted to the storage yet) while the ASM extent is being relocated by an ASM REBALANCE operation. Soon after the ASM extent is relocated, the previous pending write I/O is submitted to the storage causing the corruption.Fixed in 11201, 11.1.0.7 PSU1, 10.2.0.5

Other notes System Change Number (SCN), Headroom, Security and Patch Information Note 1376995.1

Pre 11.2 Database Issues in 11gR2 Grid Infrastructure Environment Note 948456.1

#The recommendation for all customers is as follows:Review MOS note: System Change Number (SCN), Headroom, Security and Patch Information (Doc ID 1376995.1)Where possible apply the Jan 2012 CPU (included in the PSUs) see Patch Set Update and Critical Patch Update January 2012 Availability Document (Doc ID 1374524.1) for availability across versions.For versions where this is not possible and you have concerns about the SCN growth (e.g. you know the database is part of a large distributed system) you can download the SCN health check script from MOS note: Installing, Executing and Interpreting output from the "scnhealthcheck.sql" script (Doc ID 1393363.1), the output from this will indicate whether you have a potential issue with the SCN values.If this script does highlight a potential problem then raise an SR immediately following the instructions in MOS note: Evidence to collect when reporting "high SCN rate" issues to Oracle Support (Doc ID 1388639.1), and if possible arrange to get the system patched as per the above document since support will no doubt also recommend you do this too

948456.1Most issues resolved by upgrading 10g dbs to 10.2.0.5

23Q&A&Q U E S T I O N SA N S W E R S#24TerminologyInterim Patch this is the official name for a one-off patch

Conflict two or more bugfixes which modify the same source code files; if this is the case then only one can be applied, otherwise the code for the fixes will need to be merged to produce a new label

Merge a combination of labels; if for example you have two bugfixes which touch the same files then you would need to have those fixes merged together, producing one new patch with a new label

Backport also known as an OOB or One-Off Backport, this is a change or fix in a later piece of code which is then retrospectively applied as a patch to an earlier level of the code e.g. a fix in 11.1.0.7 might then be backported on top of 10.2.0.5 and made available as an interim patch

Patchset - A patchset is a tested and integrated set of product fixes. Patch sets provide bug fixes only; they do not include new functionality and they do not require certification on the target system but that has changed in 11.2.0.2 see later slides

#TerminologyCPU a Critical Patch Update; in essence a CPU is a bundle which is released quarterly and only includes security-related fixes. CPUs are cumulative, so a later CPU will contain all of the fixes from an earlier CPU for the same patchset. CPUs are molecular which means groups of related fixes (molecules) can be excluded if they conflict with existing patches.PSU a Patch Set Update; another bundle released every quarter, the PSU contains critical bug fixes for its intended patchset. Again they are cumulative, so they contain all fixes from previous PSUs for the same patchset they also include the CPU released on the same date. So for example PSUApr2010 includes CPUApr2010. There are very specific rules about which fixes can be included in a PSU; nothing that affects optimizer query plans can be included, nor anything that requires a configuration change. Port-specific bugs also cannot be included. Application of a PSU will increment the last digit of the release number, e.g. PSUApr2010 for 10.2.0.4 results in the version becoming 10.2.0.4.4Overlay Patch when a one-off interim patch conflicts with a PSU, an overlay patch is required. This is basically a merge of the patch you want and the PSU; Development aim to provide these automatically so they shouldnt actually be as much work as they sound.

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