This article contains only the FlashGrid-specific steps and additional considerations for upgrading an Oracle RAC Database from 19c to 26ai. The overall database upgrade should follow Oracle's Database Upgrades procedure, together with the FlashGrid-specific steps described in this section.
It is recommended to open a support ticket to review the versions of FlashGrid software components installed and the cluster status.
Prerequisites
- It is strongly recommended to perform a full backup of cluster nodes (OS and software) and database(s) before any major changes on cluster. See backup best practices for AWS, Azure, GCP
- Oracle GI must be upgraded to 26ai before upgrading the Oracle Database software. Follow the FlashGrid-specific steps for Oracle GI upgrade from 19c to 26ai before continuing with the database upgrade steps below.
- FlashGrid software version 26.05 or later is required.
Install the 26ai RDBMS Software
After extracting the Oracle 26ai Database software into the new database home, run the installer from one database node as the oracle user.
Set the new Oracle Database home environment:
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/23.0.0/dbhome_1 export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH cd $ORACLE_HOME
Run the prerequisite checks using the existing 19c Database home with -setupDBHomeAs.
Specify all database nodes in the RAC cluster in the -clusterNodes parameter. For example, a two-node cluster would use rac1,rac2, while a larger cluster must include every applicable node, such as rac1,rac2,rac3.
./runInstaller -silent -setupDBHomeAs /u01/app/oracle/product/19.3.0/dbhome_1 -clusterNodes rac1,rac2,...,racN -installEdition EE -executePrereqs
Review the prerequisite results. An environment-specific warning related to Swap may be expected in a FlashGrid environment and can be ignored.
After reviewing the prerequisite results, install the software with -ignorePrereqFailure. Again, include all applicable RAC database nodes in the -clusterNodes parameter:
./runInstaller -silent -ignorePrereqFailure -setupDBHomeAs /u01/app/oracle/product/19.3.0/dbhome_1 -clusterNodes rac1,rac2,...,racN -installEdition EE
Complete the remaining Oracle Database software installation and database upgrade according to Oracle's Database Upgrades procedure.
Update Oracle Environment Variables
After the database upgrade has completed successfully and has been validated, update the oracle user's environment variables in .bash_profile, .bashrc, and any other files where they are defined on each database node.
export ORACLE_BASE=/u01/app/oracle export ORACLE_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/23.0.0/dbhome_1 export PATH=$ORACLE_HOME/bin:$PATH
References
Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (Doc ID 742060.1)
Primary Note For Oracle Database Upgrades and Migrations (Doc ID 1152016.1)
Primary Note for Database Quarterly Release Updates - KB106822
Oracle Clusterware (CRS/GI) - ASM - Database Version Compatibility (Doc ID 337737.1)