best path from Oracle 8.1.7.4 32bit to 9i v2 for app upgrade

[Dave Chamberlin]

Hello,
We are upgrading our oracle apps from 10.7 to 11i. We would like to go to the terminal release (11.5.10), which as I see it - is not certified for 8.1.7. I need to migrate the 8i database to 9i in the fastest time (as part of the apps upgrade). I know that export/import will work, but with past experience this will take about 24H on our system. I know there is a migration for 8i to 9i (oracle note 159657.1), but can it be done without wordsize conversion first? I have seen conflicting information on the wordsize conversion issue. Has anyone done this migration? How long does the migration take compared with export/import? Thanks.

[Steven E. Protter]

You will need to do a word size 32 bit to 64 bit on your oracle data after upgrading to 9i v2.

Thats an absolute requirement.

You will want to install the stats back and start collecting and using data to improve performance. The newer release has better tools for that.

The migration itself takes my former employer about 2-4 hours per database instance. This is on rp5450 servers with 8 GB of ram and relatively light use.

Add another couple of hours if you have to do the conversion of word size to 64 bit.

The migration is how my former dba did the job and that worked out pretty well. Export/import was slower and a less advantageous procedure.

SEP

[Indira Aramandla]

Hi Dave,

wordsize conversion needs to be performed is you are moving from 32 to 64 bit.

Attached document is a nore from Metalink Note:62290.1.

It is recomended to apply the latest patchset BEFORE the wordsize conversion. This would avoid some bugs and also some steps in this note during the wordsize conversion, like [BUG:1867501] and [BUG:1926809].

For databases running Oracle Apps, please note that certain apps-specific patches may also be required.

If you have JVM installed or Oracle applications installed on an oracle 8i environment, then refer to the metalink note NOTE:183649.1.

As of Oracle 9i the National Characterset (NLS_NCHAR_CHARACTERSET) will be limited to UTF8 and AL16UTF16.

Indira A

[Yogeeraj_1]

hi dave,

concerning the time, i would suggest that in any cases, you should first test all the possible scenarios on a test server. This will prevent you from going wrong and unpleasant surprises.

regards
yogeeraj

[Eric Antunes]

Hi Dave,

I strongly recommend you to do this on a Test environment before doing it on Production environment. Only with this strategy - after knowing all the sequential steps - you will know the minimum time needed to do it on Production. Besides this and more important yet only after doing some minimum tests (by yourself and also by the app users) on the apps & database you will have the possibility to evaluate if this new environment may be approved for upgrade!

Best Regards,

Eric Antunes