Re: Upgrade Plans

Dennis:

Thanks for the information. I pretty much have these items in mind, what I'm looking for are some things that I may have missed. I'm interviewing for an Oracle DBA position and they have a big project starting after the first of the year to move / upgrade their Oracle application / DB to new servers. So, when I go in for a hopeful interview next week I can speak with some intelligence.

Ken

• Original Message ----- To: "Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L" <ORACLE-L_at_fatcity.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 11:44 AM

> Ken
> Having gone through this numerous times, I don't think there is such a
> thing as a detailed plan that has any use beyond the immediate task. I
would
> concentrate first of all on your philosophical approach, the principles on
> which you work. Here are some ideas:
> - Create a staging/QA server for each production server that is identical
> as possible to production. I like to create the Oracle database from
backups
> so I get a chance to verify my backups at the same time.
> - Have a complete set of data for the staging database. I've seen several
> problems that were not replicated with only a portion of the data.
> - Perform the exact steps in staging that you will be performing in
> production and take careful notes. Repeat if any problems are encountered.
> - Always have a backout plan for any production action. I find a lot of
> comfort in a cold backup of the entire system.
> - As much as possible, change only one component at a time. That is, only
> upgrade the O.S., give the system a few weeks to shake out, then upgrade
the
> DB, and so on. Then when a strange problem arises you know which vendor to
> go to first.
> - Stick to versions certified by the vendors. Only use an Oracle version
> certified for that version of the O.S. and application.
> - Decide your approach to applying patches. Typically patches are tested
> much less thoroughly than overall releases. So some sites only apply
patches
> if they are experiencing problems the patch will fix. Other sites believe
in
> applying all patches as soon as they are released.
> - Then there will be a bunch of steps related to your specific situation.
> All I know is to get as many people involved as possible to minimize the
> chance that something is overlooked. And if something does get overlooked,
> people won't get nearly as upset if you kept them in the loop so they had
a
> chance to raise issues as if you left them out.
> - Promise the users that the downtime will be more than you expect.
Better
> to underpromise and overperform.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 9:25 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L
>
>
> Would like to know where I can find some detailed plans on upgrading
server,
> O/S, DB and applications to their new releases. Something like a TO DO
list
> would be helpful. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks much,
> Ken Janusz, CPIM
>
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> Please see the official ORACLE-L FAQ: http://www.orafaq.net
> --
> Author: DENNIS WILLIAMS
> INET: DWILLIAMS_at_LIFETOUCH.COM
>
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Author: KENNETH JANUSZ
  INET: kjanusz_at_att.net

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