Best practices for Oracle E-Business Suite and Database Upgrade

1. DBA Repository – A Repository of Oracle EBS & Database Administration
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DBA Repository
A Repository of Oracle EBS & Database Administration
Tips & Tricks for Oracle E-Business Suite
& Database Upgrade
Akhash Ramnath
Cittabase Pvt Ltd

2. DBA Repository – A Repository of Oracle EBS & Database Administration
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About this eBook
Oracle EBS applications and Databases plays a very crucial
role in the day-to-day business success for numerous
organizations. Oracle offers an everlasting and innovation
releases for its Applications and Databases. Enterprises are
now upgrading their EBS and Databases to the latest
versions to access new features, functionalities,
enhancements, bug fixes, etc. End of premium support for
Oracle EBS 12.1(Dec 21) & end of extended support for
11R2 ending in 2020 and DB 12c (12.1) extended support
deadline coming up in 2022 had encouraged many
customers to upgrade their EBS to Release 12.2 and
Databases to 19c (Oracle DB 19c was certified with Oracle
EBS in Sep 2019).Plus the newer versions of EBS & DB will
continue getting new enhancements and features from
Oracle.
There are several benefits of the upgrade like online
patching, a WebLogic Server, enterprise command centers
(ECC), enhanced compliance features, and performance
and manageability improvements like auto indexing and
testing of query plans, public cloud compatibility. But there
may be some challenges when it comes to planning and
performing the upgrade.
In this eBook, we'll discuss some tips and tricks that helps
to perform the EBS R12.2||DB 19c upgrade's seamlessly
and efficiently as possible.
Table of Contents
Tip 1
Planning the Upgrade
Tip 2
Planning the Software Installation.
Tip 3
Patching approach.
Tip 4
Applying Process Improvements.
 This read is focused on
sharing some of the best
practices for a seamless and
productive Oracle E-Business
Suite||Oracle Database
Upgrades that I had
encountered in the upgrade
opportunities I have had in
my tenure.

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Tip 1 – Planning the Upgrade
Preparation is the key to handling any upgrade project. Proper planning will
minimize the business risk and help complete the EBS/DB upgrade within the
expected timeline.
Here are few best practices for creating an upgrade plan:
• The upgrade of Oracle EBS and Oracle DB
introduces a new set of architecture and
technology stack such as dual file system,
multitenant databases, online patching,
WebLogic, etc. that affects your existing
work practice. Devote appropriate time
and resources for a seamless upgrade
approach. Allocating the right size servers
and deciding if the existing hardware can
be reused or switching to a new hardware
is very important.
• Record and document every detail of the
upgrade and solidify the document with
the applicable time taken for each step
without fail. Perform several iterations of
the EBS/DB upgrade process in the non-
production environments to confirm the
required steps and reduce the time
required to perform the upgrade.
Maintaining an issue log of all the testing
performed by the team is vital.
• It is a best practice to upgrade your Oracle
database to the latest version possible
prior to the E-Business Suite Upgrade,
especially if you are planning to migrate
yourdatabaseacrossplatformsor fromon
prem to Oracle Cloud. A performance gain
is expected in the activity since the
upgrade will run on a database that is
migrated to a new hardware.
• Whenperformingdatabase migrationto a
new platform, plan to perform a level 0
backup from the source and restore it in
the target a couple of days/week prior to
thedowntimewindowandperformalevel
1 backupfromthe source andrestore and
recover it in the target during the cutover
.
Bydoingthiswe justneedcoupleofhours
to restore and recover the incremental
backup during the actual cutover
window/downtime which is usually less
time consuming.
• Use the Rapid Install to create a single
Applications node. After creating the file
system apply the latest AD and TXK
patches to bring the node to the current
code level, and then use the cloning
commands to create as many additional
Applications nodes as required. This
strategy avoids the need to apply the
patches to multiple nodes, thus saving
time and effort and reducing the risk of
any error
.
• Tuning init parameters (AD Parallel
workers, batch size, job queue processes,
SGA/PGA, huge pages setting) of the
database and configuring the application
tier with a larger RAM, more CPU and
faster I/O during the upgrade process has
always shown positive results in attaining
lower downtime.
Prepare Database->Lay Down File System->Upgrade to 12.2->Enable Online
Patching->Upgrade to 12.2.x->Deploy Custom Code & Integration->Configure System

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Tip 2 – Planning the Software Installation
Upgrading to a new version of application and database introduces positive
changes in user experience, operational efficiency, technical/functional
advancements, and increased performance. Oracle has enhanced and
streamlined the upgrade process with the latest software, new features have
been added to Rapid Install and Autopatch to increase their capabilities.
These software installation hacks could save a lot of time in the upgrade
process.
• With the latest startCD 51 and bundle
patches on top of it, the rapidwiz install
creates the complete run file system
(fs1) and only the context file and a few
mandatory directories in the patch file
system(fs2),therebyreducingthetime
taken for file system layout. You shall
later perform adop fs_clone to sync
your patch file system with you run file
system after the upgrade.
• Prepare the target database home
prior to the cutover
. Tasks like installing
thelatestOracleDatabaseHome(19c),
enabling required features, creating a
new 19c database, creating nls
directories, enabling olap, managing
the new pdb, managing pfile/spfile,
managing sys/system user accounts,
creating new utl file directories.
• Also, from startCD 49 Rapid install can
be used to lay down 12.2.0 code and
tech stack and create the Dual File
System prior to the upgrade downtime.
• Plan to install the database home and
EBS file system layout prior to the
cutover since these tasks doesn’t
require any down time.
• Use the Oracle DatabaseGold Image
featuretopreserveagoldimageofyour
database home and use the same
image to clone the oracle database
home for the lower environments. By
doing this we don’t have to manually
install the database using runinstaller
and apply the latest patches to the
recently installed Oracle Home in each
and every server
.
• Create and maintain a single mount
point to store all the patches, software,
binaries required for upgrade and
share it acrossthe servers if necessary.
With startCD 12.2.0.51 we shall create
and reuse the stage area. Use the
same mount point for all the iterations,
so it doesn’t have to be performed for
each iteration.

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Tip 3 – Patching Approach
Oracle E-Business Suite and Database upgrades activities are typically
applying interoperability, PSU, Technology Stack Upgrade, Upgrade Driver
Packs, CPU or Security patches and other standalone patches for specific bug
fixes. The patching strategy is an important key to drive the upgrade
effectively and reduce the downtime window. Thorough planning along with
appropriate patch parameters and option can make a significant difference on
upgrade time.
• Oracle often updates their MOS
documents/notes with the newer
patch releases/versions/updates.
Since the upgrade project duration
takes a considerable amount of time,
we must always save an offline copyof
the MOS documents/notes used to
perform the EBS/DB upgrade. By
doing this we wouldn’t end up
installing/applying different patches in
each upgrade iteration.
• Create and maintain a single mount
point and save all the patches,
software/binaries required for upgrade
and share it across the servers if
necessary. With startCD 12.2.0.51 we
shall create and reuse the stage area.
Use the same mount point for all the
iteration.
• Have the adpatch/adop commands
handy in the upgrade document with
the right options/parameters and with
the passwords passed to a variable in
Unix. This avoids the patch commands
prompting the passwords and
parameters each time it is executed,
thus reducing a considerable amount
of time and might help in automating
the patch process.
• The ETPAT-AT tool automates the
patching of key EBS Release 12.2.0
application tier technology stack
components like Fusion Middleware
(WebTier
, oracle_common), WebLogic
Server
, Oracle Forms & Reports, etc.
which saves a lot of time and manual
effort in the upgrade process.
• Patching utilities adpatch||adop highly
depends on the number of workers
used. Choosing an optimal value for ad
parallel worker/parallel_max_servers is
very important. Setting it right will ease
the patch operation during the EBS
upgrade. Test this in each upgrade
iterations and record the results.

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Tip 4 – Applying Process Improvements
The Upgrade software and patches has always come with new features that
provides an opportunity to work efficiently and productively. These upgrades
introduce other features/improvements along the way that were available for
us for a long time but never used. We refer them as Process
Improvements/Shelfware features. Most of the pre-requisite patches for these
patches might have been applied to your EBS as part of applying AD/TXK,
RUP, CPU patches. We must make few configuration changes in the EBS to use
these Shelfware features.
These are few such features that comes in default along with the upgrade
patches,
• Java Web Start is a browser-
independent architecture for
deploying Java Applications to the
client desktop. Using JWS users shall
launch the java applications just by
clicking a link in a web page.
• Use Logical Hostnames to hide the
actual servers that host the
application/database and business
software from end users for better
security.Usinglogicalhostnames,we
could avoid/reduce the amount of
reconfiguration required on cloning
the database and application tiers,
failover/Disaster recovery scenarios,
network configuration changes
scenarios by using the same logical
host names.
• Enterprise Command Centers is
introduced in Oracle EBS Release
12.2; it enables you to access a pre-
selected subset of Oracle E-Business
Suite information with enhanced
navigation. These are available at no
additional license cost.
• Enable Jar signing for enhanced
security within your Oracle E-
Business Suite instances. The
security is provided through jar file
signing using a Trusted Certificate
Authority (CA) utilizing larger and
more secure key sizes of 2048, 3072
or 4096 bits to provide stronger
encryption.
• Use the latest JDK/JRE for the Oracle
E-Business Suite for optimum
stability,performance,scalability,and
OS vendor support. Update them for
both application tier and database
tier
.
• TLS/SSL are protocols designed to
provide communications security
over a computer network. They
increase communication security by
encrypting all Oracle E-Business
Suite Release 12.2 network
connections using Transport Layer
Security (TLS). TLS is the successor
to SSL.

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Additional Tips
The Upgrade activities might be a little complex and quite dynamic, but
it can be accomplished with right amount of plan, practice, approach,
resources and execution. Here are few more tips that could help in reducing
the cutover downtime,
• Gather the schema statistics, gather
Fixed Object and Dictionary Statistics
of the Oracle Database prior to the
upgrade.
• Add the required products to the go-
live window that are critical to
business operations and perform the
rest as post-go live. Application
configurations like Endeca, CCG,
ECC, or creating a DR setup for
EBS/DB could be performed as post
go live.
• Maintain and minimize the amount if
data you need to upgrade by
cultivating archiving and purge
strategy for the data. If a defined
data strategy doesn’t already exist
Oracle strongly recommends
implementing one.
• Create and maintain EBS/DB
upgrade files like init parameter files,
network files like
tnsnames.ora/sqlnet.ora), utl
directory files, TDE files, Context
Files, parfiles for cloning additional
nodes or DMZ nodes if any, adsplice
izuprod.txt/izterr
.txt/newprods.txt
files prior to the upgrade downtime
window.
• Plan and perform as many iterations
as possible to reduce the downtime
required during the production go
live cutover window and improves
repetition.
• Monitor the background database
sessions of the patching process for
inefficient execution plans. In such
scenarios creating custom indexes
might have a positive impact.
Crosscheck and ensure an SR is
raised for the performance issues.
• If using OCI configure cloud backup
module in the target system prior to
the cutover window.
• Work with your team to identify any
unwanted data/setup/functionality
that you no longer use and
remove/disable them before the
upgrade.
• Identify and implement automation
through shell scripts wherever
possible. This will reduce manual
effort and save some time.

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Conclusion
These are some of the most effective methods that had helped us perform a
streamlined EBS/DBS upgrade with reduced downtime. Sincerely hope this
ebook was helpful.
I am sure there are many more approaches to streamline the downtime and
achieve an effective and efficient upgrade, as we all know there is always room
for improvement.
Please Note
EBS/Database Administrators are strongly advised to review the deployments
methods and test them properly prior moving it to business.
References
R12.1 / R12.2: Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.1 and 12.2 Release Content Documents
(Doc ID 1302189.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Technical Planning, Getting Started, and Go-Live
Checklist (Doc ID 1585857.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Consolidated List of Oracle Database Patches and Bug
Fixes (Doc ID 1594274.1)
Best Practices for Minimizing Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2.n Upgrade Downtime (Doc
ID 1581549.1)
Express Diagnosis of Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 Upgrade Performance Issues (Doc
ID: 1583752.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2: Suite-Wide Release Update Pack and AD/TXK Delta
Information (Doc ID 1583092.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Release Notes, Release 12.2 (Doc ID 1320300.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Installation and Upgrade Notes Release 12 (12.2) for Linux x86-64
(Doc ID 1330701.1)
Oracle E-Business Suite Performance Best Practices (Doc ID 2528000.1)
R12.1 and 12.2 Oracle E-Business Suite Pre-install Patches Report [Video] (Document
1448102.2)
Oracle EBS R12.2 Upgrade - Outstanding Performance Bugs, Issues and Solutions (Document
2357810.1)
19c Database Upgrade - Self Guided Assistance with Best Practices (Doc ID 1919.2)
Migrating and Upgrading Oracle Database 11g to 19c for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1
on OCI VM DB Systems (Doc ID 2758990.1)

9. DBA Repository – A Repository of Oracle EBS & Database Administration
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Migrating and Upgrading Oracle Database 11g to 19c for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2
on OCI VM DB Systems (Doc ID 2758991.1)
Upgrading Oracle Database 12c to 19c for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1 on OCI VM
DB Systems (Doc ID 2683182.1)
Upgrading Oracle Database 12c to 19c for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 on OCI VM
DB Systems (Doc ID 2714918.1)
Database Initialization Parameters for Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 (Doc ID 396009.1)
Database Preparation Guidelines for an E-Business Suite Release 12.2 Upgrade (Doc ID
1349240.1)
R11i / R12: Oracle E-Business Suite Upgrades and Platform Migration (Doc ID 1377213.1)
Sharing The Application Tier File System in Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2. - (Document
1375769.1)
Mount Options for Oracle Files When Used with NAS Devices - (Document 359515.1)
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