Considerations for RDS Custom for Oracle database upgrades - Amazon Relational Database Service

Considerations for RDS Custom for Oracle database upgrades

If you plan to upgrade your database, consider the following:

  • You can create DB instances with an Oracle Linux host operating system. The currently supported OS version is Oracle Linux 7.9, which has an end of support on Dec 31, 2024. For more information, see Lifetime Support Policy: Coverage for Oracle Open Source Service Offerings.

    To continue receiving the latest security updates and patches from RDS Custom for Oracle, upgrade your DB instances to Oracle Linux 8 by specifying a CEV based on this OS. Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1), Oracle Database Release 2 (12.2), and Oracle Database 19c are the only releases that support Oracle Linux 8. To migrate to the latest Oracle Linux 8 AMI, upgrade your OS to the latest AMI. For more information, see Upgrading an RDS Custom for Oracle DB instance.

    To continue running Oracle Linux 7 after the end of support, you must purchase an Oracle Extended Support license. You are responsible for security updates and must patch your RDS Custom for Oracle instances manually.

  • When you upgrade the database binaries in your primary DB instance, RDS Custom for Oracle upgrades your read replicas automatically. When you upgrade the OS, you must upgrade the read replicas manually.

  • When you upgrade a container database (CDB) to a new database version, RDS Custom for Oracle checks that all PDBs are open or could be opened. If these conditions aren't met, RDS Custom stops the check and returns the database to its original state without attempting the upgrade. If the conditions are met, RDS Custom patches the CDB root first, and then patches all other PDBs (including PDB$SEED) in parallel.

    After patching completes, RDS Custom attempts to open all PDBs. If any PDBs fail to open, you receive the following event: The following PDBs failed to open: list-of-PDBs. If RDS Custom fails to patch the CDB root or any PDBs, the instance is put into the PATCH_DB_FAILED state.

  • You might want to perform a major database version upgrade and a conversion of non-CDB to CDB at the same time. In this case, we recommend that you proceed as follows:

    1. Create a new RDS Custom for Oracle DB instance that uses the Oracle multitenant architecture.

    2. Plug in a non-CDB into your CDB root, creating it as a PDB. Make sure that the non-CDB is the same major version as your CDB.

    3. Convert your PDB by running the noncdb_to_pdb.sql Oracle SQL script.

    4. Validate your CDB instance.

    5. Upgrade your CDB instance.