Here we can see, “Oracle 11g End Of Life”
Oracle Premier Support for 11.2.0.4 (11G) came to an end back in 2015, with Extended Support thanks to expiring December 31st, 2020.
Oracle chose to waive the 11G Extended Support fee for users with a legitimate support contract until December 2018. Enter 2019, and users are required to pay if they need to continue taking advantage of fixes, security alerts, critical patch updates, and technical support.
Therefore, you’ve got to form a choice on what action to require. we’ve highlighted the alternatives below, and as Oracle Database experts, DSP can assist you in making an informed decision.
Upgrade Oracle 11g
The first option you’ll take is upgrading your database to Oracle 12c or above. These newer versions are supported until 2031; they’re also full of advanced features providing enhanced performance and security. Click to get all of our Oracle database services.
Migrate to Oracle Cloud
Another way forward is to migrate to Oracle Cloud. Migrating to Cloud isn’t as scary because it sounds, and there are multiple benefits of doing so, like security, simplification, and price. If you’ve got written off Oracle Cloud within the past, tons have changed; read this blog on the technical benefits.
With Oracle Cloud, you buy what you employ.
Oracle 11g Support
Alternatively, DSP can support your 11g database. It’s at the core of our business to proactively monitor & patch databases. Our team of award-winning certified DBAs has supported 11g since release, so you recognize you will be in safe hands. This feature means you will not carry the expense of getting to upgrade, and you will have peace of mind with 24x7x365 support.
Discover more about our award-winning Oracle Managed Services here.
Why you shouldn’t ignore Oracle 11g support end-of-life
Most folks are looking forward to seeing the top of 2020 for a mess of reasons. However, if you’re still enjoying the relative comfort of extended support on Oracle 11g, now could be the time for a change because the extended support ends alongside 2020.
There is little question that businesses cannot function without data in today’s world, which manages and protects that data is critical. Consistent with DB Engines, Oracle and SQL are the foremost popular management systems due to their reliability and, therefore, the practical way they manage their users’ information and applications.
To make sure that they keep being relevant for their customers and staying on top of the sport, both systems constantly release new versions with new features and new tools that increase security, capabilities, and performance. As new versions are released, support for the oldest versions gets retired, like in July 2019 when Microsoft stopped providing support for SQL Server 2008 and 2008 R2.
The same is close to Oracle because it will stop Oracle 11g extended support on December 31st, 2020 (Oracle 11g End Of Life).
So, What are your options?
- Do nothing – ready to you’ll ignore the top of support Oracle 11g and still be able to use your Oracle database.
What does this mean for you? If you’re running this version of the Oracle database, the support end-of-life means no further critical patch updates, hotfixes, or security fixes. Basically, you’ll still use it, but you won’t receive any Oracle support if you incur any new problems, and critically, your system would be vulnerable from a security point of view.
- Upgrade – DIY, via Oracle, or using an external provider – upgrading will be the recommended choice and perhaps an opportunity to consolidate your databases into multitenant architecture before it becomes mandatory in Oracle 20c.
- Move to Cloud – Oracle guides the way to migrate to the Cloud, although you’ll plan to use your DBA team or outsource once more. If you’re unsure about moving to the Cloud, determine more about cloud database vs. traditional database.
If you decide to upgrade, what do you need to do in order to migrate?
Oracle has a whole set of documents designed to assist you with the migration.
However, before you begin the upgrade process, you must take a while to plan the migration. Planning is presumably the part of the method that needs the only time. In your plan, you ought to allow time for:
- Checking the status of software and hardware to make sure that you can complete the migration (See subsequent point ‘What if you can’t upgrade’)
- We are planning for the downtime required for the migration.
- Preparing a back-out plan should anything fail.
- Testing, testing, testing! Everything should be run on a test system before you progress to the live system.
Pro tip: On https://support.oracle.com inspect MOS note 884522.1, where you’ll see the way to access and run Oracle’s Database pre-upgrade utility. This may highlight any database issues that would occur during a database upgrade.
What if you can’t upgrade?
There are instances where upgrades aren’t possible or a minimum of not immediately. Oracle has found various paths that must be followed before you’ll jump from an old version to the newest releases.
