RDBMS -- 11.2.0.3 to 11.2.0.4 using DBUA /Linux

In this post, I will give you a quick example about upgrading an Oracle Database from 11.2.0.3 to 11.2.0.4 in Linux 64 bit platform.
This blog post is written to show you the upgrade work required for upgrading a single instance Oracle Database 11.2.0.3, which is running on a cooked filesystem(non ASM) , to 11.2.0.4.

In this blog post , we 'll go through an out of place upgrade process, because; Oracle strongly recommends that we should not upgrade Oracle Database to release 11.2.0.2 or 11.2.0.3 using an existing Oracle home.

Note that, the upgrade method demostrated here is for an example TEST environment, this method may change (at least minor changes may be required) according to your env. However, this blog post is useful for taking a look at the upgrade process, which is actually pretty straightforward and easy once we know what we are doing.

1)
We download "11.2.0.4.0 PATCH SET FOR ORACLE DATABASE SERVER" using Patch 13390677 from Oracle Support.
Note that, this patch includes Oracle Database, ASM, Grid, Oracle RAC and so on.

We download 7 zip files and their descriptions are as follows;

p13390677_112040_platform_1of7.zip Oracle Database (includes Oracle Database and Oracle RAC)
p13390677_112040_platform_2of7.zip Oracle Database (includes Oracle Database and Oracle RAC)
p13390677_112040_platform_3of7.zip Oracle Grid Infrastructure (includes Oracle ASM, Oracle Clusterware, and Oracle Restart)
p13390677_112040_platform_4of7.zip Oracle Database Client
p13390677_112040_platform_5of7.zip Oracle Gateways
p13390677_112040_platform_6of7.zip Oracle Examples
p13390677_112040_platform_7of7.zip Deinstall

2)
We create a directory for installing our 11.2.0.4 Oracle home and configure its privileges accordingly(i.e chown -R oracle:dba)

3)
we unzip the zip files, and execute the runInstaller from the <unzipped_directory>/database via a X windows session.

4)
We follow the installer screens and install Oracle RDBMS as Software Only.

5)
We run utlu112i.sql in the database which needs to be upgraded. (we run the utlu112i.sql located in new Oracle Home, but we run it when our environment is set to the old Oracle Home.)

6)
We take corrective action by analyzing the output/spool file of utlu112i.sql.

i.e:

Corrective Actions reported in a demo environment:
PURGE DBA_RECYCLE_BIN
exec dbms_stats.gather_dictionary_stats;

7)
We backup our source database . (only db backup, oracle home backup is not required as wer are doing an out-of-place upgrade)
Note that, DBUA provides backup options as well.

8)
Next, we run dbua from the new Oracle Home and upgrade our database following the screens, as shown in the following example screenshots..
Note that, we shutdown our source database before executing dbua, but dbua can handle these stop/start things as well.

9)
Lastly, we check the difference between newly created spfile and the old spfile. We ensure nothing important is changed there.
--Note that, DBUA creates the new spfile according to the old spfile, but still checking is a good thing to do.

10)
Lastly, we review te Post Upgrade section of the following document and take necessary action if our environment requires us to do so.

Oracle Database Upgrade Guide