| Upgrading from EBS 12.1.3 to 12.2 [message #678900] |
Tue, 21 January 2020 11:15  |
 |
dafydd123
Messages: 2
Registered: January 2020
|
Junior Member |
|
|
Hi,
I'm based in the UK and we recently had Oracle in to give us a demo of the benefits of moving to a cloud environment. All was going well until they suggested that the annual support figure would be four times our current support payments for EBS 12.1.3! Needless to say there were a few sharp intakes of breath in the room. Yes, I know that we won't need DBAs, Oracle will take care of patching, host the environment etc, backups and other DBA tasks but compared to the costs we're currently operating on, it's still ridiculously high.
Given that support for 12.1.3 will run out at the back end of 2021, management here are wondering whether we should go to 12.2 soon as that has support running until 2030.
(1) Has anyone been down the migrate from 12.1.3 to 12.2 route? What were the issues, problems, difficulties in going to 12.2?
(2) How long did it take?
(3) How many people were involved?
(4) Has anyone done this in the UK and if so did you bring in a consultancy firm to provide the management, skills and bodies for the project?
(5) Other than the big UK/Global consultancy firms out there, has anyone experience of using smaller outfits?
I'm familiar with upgrades of the database from 11g to 12c - relatively painless but EBS is a completely different beast.
Thanks in advance.
|
|
|
|
| Re: Upgrading from EBS 12.1.3 to 12.2 [message #678912 is a reply to message #678900] |
Tue, 21 January 2020 15:33  |
 |
Alien
Messages: 292
Registered: June 1999
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Hi,
My 2 cents. I am a freelance eBS consultant/DBA, and I've worked on several 12.1 to 12.2 migration projects worldwide.
The biggest changes between 12.1 and 12.2 are in the technology stack. Of course there is a lot of new functionality available in 12.2. But almost all of it is optional.
If you stick to your current setup and processes in 12.2, the functional changes are relatively minor. Mostly more HTML forms than Oracle Forms. No major setup changes are necessary.
For the functionality, you can make it as complex as you like. Some of my customers added customized skins, chatbots, mobile apps, command centers, etc. Yes, it's all available, but it's optional.
The technical side is a different story. 12.2 uses a very different technology stack than 12.1. Apache is replaced by weblogic. Online patching requires versioning and a double file-system. ISG is not so integrated anymore.
So your DBA's and technical staff will need to be trained on the new technology. It depends on the team how much of a burden this will be. I've worked with teams that were eager to learn the new technology, and picked it up in weeks. At other customers, the team was unable/unwilling to use the new software and every single patch went haywire.
In regards to your questions:
1) Many times. Most issues were tech-related. As of 12.2.6 the upgrade is relatively smooth. But be aware that your tech staff needs a retraining for the new software-stack. Customizations are another head-ache. Versioning messes up a lot of old coding and software. Installation of new customizations will need to be adapted to the new technology stack (versioning). If you stick to the 12.1 functionality/processes, the transition is usually smooth for the end-users.
2) Fastest: 3 months, longest: 2 years. See next answer.
3) Between 20 and 100+, dependent on the size of the organization and the scope of the upgrade.
4) I've done a few projects in the UK. Mostly in continental EU. It depends on your existing team how much external help you need.
5) Worked with both. Personally I prefer smaller outfits, since they often have people with a broader skill-matrix. But again, it depends on your own organization.
If you talk about database upgrades, the comparison between 11g and 12c is apt. Most applications that work on 11g will work on 12c. That's the functional part of the upgrade from 12.1 to 12.2.
For the DBA, the change between single instances and a container database is a big change (assuming you make good use of all it's features). That's similar to the technical part of 12.1 to 12.2.
Regards,
Arian
|
|
|
|
| Re: Upgrading from EBS 12.1.3 to 12.2 [message #678917 is a reply to message #678912] |
Wed, 22 January 2020 05:30 |
|
dafydd123
Messages: 2
Registered: January 2020
|
Junior Member |
|
|
Arian,
What a fantastic reply. Many thanks for your insights, which I have found to be valuable. I'm going to discuss your reply with the team to seek their opinions. I may get back to you with further questions.
Kindest regards,
Dafydd
|
|
|
|
] 
Blog
Search
Help
Members
Register
Login
Home
