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 with replay upgrade (the default) or with AutoUpgrade, except as noted.

Setting Environment Variables on Linux and Unix Systems After Manual Upgrades

Check that required operating system environment variables point to the directories of the new Oracle Database release.

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

  • ORACLE_HOME

  • PATH

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 can affect applications.

After the upgrade, if you use AutoUpgrade, review the AutoUpgrade report on invalid objects. If you use a replay upgrade, then check to ensure that any packages that you may 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 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

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 releases. 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.

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:

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 4-1 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 4-1 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: