Planning Tips and Best Practices for Upgrading to EBS 12.2

Thinking of upgrading to Oracle E-Business Suite (EBS) 12.2? Before you do, we suggest you prepare by considering these planning tips first. Follow with the best practices to ensure a smooth installation with minimized downtime. For a more in-depth look at the new Oracle EBS 12.2, download our whitepaper, EBS 12.2 Upgrade: A Managed Services Approach. 

Use key reference materials to finalize your upgrade path

The most crucial step in planning an upgrade is to start with the Oracle EBS 12.2 upgrade guides. There are multiple upgrade paths available for the earlier versions of Oracle EBS (see illustration below).

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/RaviMadabhushanam/10-tips-for-successful-122-upgrade

Identify the upgrade impact on supporting applications

The minimum required database version for EBS 12.2 is 11.2.0.3 and the recommended version 11.2.0.4. EBS 12.2 works only with 64-bit operating systems and the following operating systems: OEL/RHEL 5 and 6, and Oracle VM-minimum version 3.2

Prepare for architectural changes

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/Berryclemens/preparing-for-ebs-r122upgradefull

Oracle E-Business Suite Architecture in 12.2 has major changes in the application tier with multiple file systems and WebLogic components, including:

1. Forms and Reports Services
2. HTML-based apps
3. Oracle JDeveloper 10.1.2

Understand your upgrade process

• All EBS patches for Release 12.2 and beyond are online patches
• The new DUAL FILE System enables online patching of code and the Database Editioning  feature introduced with 11gR2
• Cross Edition Triggers and Database Editioning views enable online patching of  tables

Best upgrade practices

1. Upgrade overview

Before undertaking the upgrade, it is important that you understand the process, potential upgrade paths, and your reasons for considering an upgrade. Upgrade downtime can be drastically reduced through proper planning, preparation, and testing of upgrade techniques and procedures.

2. Planning and Preparation

The upgrade’s success depends on how explicit the upgrade plan is. Pre-production testing and validation on a comparable system prior to the actual upgrade is key to minimizing unforeseen contingencies.

Planning

• Platform migration should be planned as a separate downtime.
• Plan for a database upgrade as a separate downtime and upgrade the RDBMS version to the latest certified version for the current APPS level.
• Manage data volumes by purging old and/or transient data. Use OAM to configure, initiate, and monitor the purge program.

Preparation

• Identify required patches/tasks then prepare a complete list of pre- and post-patches and recommended code levels.
• Manage customizations by checking custom code, then identify and fix custom code to comply with online patching standards.
• Remove unnecessary workloads/overheads.
• On the database tier, gather the necessary statistics such as schema, dictionary, and fixed stats. Properly size SGA/PGA memory then upgrade and initialize parameters.
• On the application tier, carry out the upgrade and autoconfig.

Supported upgrade paths and upgrade resources

Customers running Oracle EBS 10.7, 11.0.3 and 11.5.x will have full support including access to newly created patches and fixes and upgrade scripts to the most current Oracle E-Business Suite software releases (see illustration below).

Source: http://dbsig.communities.oaug.org/multisites/dbsig/media/Documents/Presentations/CON7724-EBS_technical_upgrade_best_practices_OOW14.pdf

Pre-upgrade and post-upgrade processes

• Prepare the database by upgrading to the minimum required version (11.2.0.4) or the latest certified version (12.1.0.2), then migrate db.platform.
• Use Rapid Install (RI) for the target platform to lay down 12.2.0 code and tech stack and create the dual file system.
• Upgrade to 12.2.0.
• Enable online patching.
• Upgrade to 12.2.2.X then apply latest EBS RUP patches.
• Apply the following patches as an online patch: 12.2+12.2.X NLS.
• Deploy apps tier custom code and external integrations per integration-specific codes.
• Configure system to production capacity-per-sizing analysis, add nodes (horizontal scale-up), then add managed servers (vertical scale-up).

If you would like to learn more about planning, preparation and testing for the upgrade to EBS 12.2 please contact Datavail today. With more than 600 database administrators worldwide, Datavail is the largest database services provider in North America. As a reliable provider of 24×7 managed services for applications, BI/Analytics, and databases, Datavail can support your organization, regardless of the build you’ve selected.