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Upgrading Oracle GI and Database from 19c to 26ai on FlashGrid Cluster

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  • Products: FlashGrid Cluster on Azure
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Oracle AI Database 26ai supports a direct upgrade from 19c. A complete upgrade covers two layers:

  • Grid Infrastructure (GI): Clusterware and ASM 
  • Database: the Oracle home and the database dictionary

On FlashGrid Cluster there are two ways to do this:

  Option 1: Upgrade of an existing cluster Option 2: New cluster + Data Guard
Servers Existing FlashGrid Cluster New FlashGrid Cluster
Operating system Unchanged; must be OL/RHEL 8.6+ or 9.2+ Fresh RHEL 9 / Oracle Linux 9
Grid Infrastructure Upgraded from 19c to 26ai Installed fresh as 26ai
Database copy None Built ahead of time with Data Guard
Downtime GI rolling; database upgrade window Cutover plus the database upgrade window
Rollback Restore point / backup The 19c cluster stays untouched
Extra infrastructure None A second cluster during the migration

This article summarizes both options. Option 1 is covered step by step in a separate article. Option 2 is described here at a high level.

Option 1: Upgrade of an existing cluster (in place)

Use this when the current servers and OS are staying and the OS is certified for 26ai.

  1. Upgrade Grid Infrastructure to 26ai in rolling mode, one node at a time. Follow our documentation:  Upgrading Oracle GI from 19c to 26ai on an existing cluster
  2. Install the 26ai Database home on all nodes. Follow our documentation: Upgrading Oracle Database 19c to 26ai on an existing cluster
  3. Upgrade the database. Oracle recommends using AutoUpgrade. Run analyze and fixups, then deploy  with configuration files from the AutoUpgrade documentation. A non-CDB is converted into a PDB during the same run, because 26ai does not support the non-CDB architecture.
  4. Post-upgrade. Update services and connection strings, gather statistics and take a new backup. See post-upgrade details in Oracle documentation.

Option 2: New cluster with GI/DB 26ai and a Data Guard migration

Use this when you also want a new OS (RHEL 9 / Oracle Linux 9) or a rollback path that leaves production untouched. There is no GI upgrade here: the new cluster gets 26ai GI at install time. The database moves with a physical standby that runs from the 26ai home, so no 19c software is needed on the new cluster.

Example of an upgrade procedure:

  1. Prepare the 19c source. The source must be a CDB, because a 26ai instance cannot mount a non-CDB; convert a non-CDB into a PDB of a 19c CDB first. Enable FORCE LOGGING, then run AutoUpgrade analyze and fixups with configuration files from the AutoUpgrade documentation.
  2. Build the new FlashGrid Cluster with GI 26ai and a Database 26ai home. 
  3. Create the standby from the 26ai home with RMAN RESTORE ... FROM SERVICE/BACKUP, then keep it in sync with Data Guard. (RMAN DUPLICATE can't be used across releases.)
  4. Cutover. Stop the application, confirm the standby has caught up, create a restore point, and activate it as the new primary. Then start it in upgrade mode and run AutoUpgrade in upgrade mode.
  5. Post-upgrade. Register the database in Clusterware as a RAC database, create the services, gather statistics and take a new backup. See post-upgrade details in Oracle documentation.

Note:

When creating a new FlashGrid Cluster, manually add the following parameter in Launcher configuration file. Ask FlashGrid Support for help if needed.

[oracle]
db_compat = '19.0.0.0.0'