Dbvisit Standby version 6 has been developed so that Dbvisit Standby is compatible with all versions of Oracle from Oracle 8i (8.1.7.4 recommended).
When Oracle is upgraded or patched to a new version, Dbvisit Standby will not have to be upgraded.
When patching or upgrading Oracle Databases - You must follow the Oracle Documentation and Patch note instructions when installing patches or upgrading.
This guide is just a high level guide on some of the processes. With later versions of Oracle (11g and later) the process would slightly be different as you would normally install for example a new patch set into a new separate Oracle Home.
IMPORTANT: As always please test upgrades and patching on a test system first before doing it on production. This will help you get familiar with the process as well as get to know detail timing.
Even though Dbvisit Standby upgrades is not required when doing database upgrades, it is always recommended to stay up to date with the latest version of Dbvisit Standby
When upgrading or patching Oracle we recommend the following approach*:
1. Stop the Dbvisit Standby schedule for the database being upgraded on both the primary and standby servers.
2. Shutdown the primary database on the primary server using command:
%dbv_oraStartStop stop <DDC>
Where DDC is the name of the Dbvisit Database Configuration. In most cases this is the same as the database name.
The DDC refers to the DDC file name which is in the form: dbv_DDC.env and contains the Dbvisit Standby settings
for a particular primary and standby configuration.
3. Shutdown the standby database on the standby server using command:
% dbv_oraStartStop stop <DDC>
4. Stop all listeners and agents on primary and standby servers.
5. Patch or upgrade the Oracle software on the primary server as specified by Oracle in the accompanied release notes. This is normally done by running the installer:
% ./runInstaller
If this is an interim patch, run opatch per the patch README.
6. Patch or upgrade the Oracle software on the standby server as specified by Oracle in the accompanied release notes. This is normally done by running the installer:
% ./runInstaller
If this is an interim patch, run opatch per the patch README.
7. Startup the primary instance on the primary host.
%sqlplus "/ as sysdba"
SQL> startup migrate
8. On the primary instance run the following script:
SQL> @?/rdbms/admin/catpatch.sql
For the interim patch, run any scripts as outlined in the accompanied README.
9. On the primary instance run the following command:
SQL> alter system disable restricted session;
10. Complete the remainder of the "Post Install Actions" from the Patch Set readme on the primary host.
11. Only if ORACLE_HOME is changed:
If the ORACLE_HOME is set in the Dbvisit Standby Database Configuration (DDC) file, then update the DDC file to the new ORACLE_HOME. If the ORACLE_HOME is not set in the DDC file, then Dbvisit Standby will automatically pick up the new ORACLE_HOME.
12. Run Dbvisit Standby manually on the primary server. This will force a log switch and will verify if archiving is working successfully:
% dbvisit <DDC>
13. Start all listeners and agents on primary and standby servers.
14. Verify that the patch or upgrade has been successful on the primary server.
15. Start the standby database on the standby server with command:
%dbv_oraStartStop start <DDC>
16. Run Dbvisit Standby manually on the standby server. This will apply the log and changes from the primary database:
% dbvisit <DDC>
17. Restart the Dbvisit Standby schedule on both the primary and standby servers.
*This approach has been taken from Metalink document 187242.1.