Why Should You Upgrade to Oracle 12c?

There are more than 500 new features in this latest iteration of the database, according to Oracle. Among those we find particularly welcome are that datamasking, invisible columns, and online datafile management.

Benefits of Upgrading to Oracle 12c

There are numerous compelling arguments in favor of upgrading. Oracle 12c offers users maximum availability, increased stability, and heightened database security. These arguments apply across the board to users, regardless to the size of their organization their size.

Additionally, Oracle 12c helps users reduce costs while increasing management with Flex ASM storage infrastructure. Pluggable databases allow for consoldation of many stand alone instances. Data tiering allows users to take better advantage of storage capabilities. If, for example, data isn’t accessed regularly, it can be compressed and moved to the more appropriate storage tier.

If these various reasons have failed to sway you, end of support should be sufficiently compelling. Premier Support for Oracle 11gR2 ended 31 January 2015 and the free extended support ends 31 May 2017. Bug fixes, security and other support for Oracle 11gR2 will no longer be provided.

Don’t take our word for it. Here’s what some of the other experts are saying about why you should upgrade to Oracle 12c.

Mike Dietrich Master Product Manager Database Upgrade & Migrations Oracle Corporation

Dietrich likes 12c! Why? “Faster upgrades, simple migrations and consolidation, more efficient use of hardware and major improvements in management efficiency.” Mike has an updated slideshare on why you should upgrade to Oracle 12c. If you’re already convinced, you should download Datavail’s new whitepaper on how to do it.

Randy Hardee Vice President, Technology Mythics

Hardee likes the upgrade experience, too, but he also thinks it makes financial sense: “If you are planning to patch your older, pre-11.2.0.4 database to the terminal release just to pay the extra Extended Support uplift, why not upgrade to 12c and save yourself lots of time and money?”

As far as the new features go, Hardee’s “Big Three” are:

• Multitenant and Pluggable Database
• Automatic Data Optimization
• In-Memory Caching, Compression, and Column Store

He sums up the case for upgrading: “The 12c release has removed many of the obstacles to upgrading, as well as provides many technical benefits and business value that make a really a strong case for upgrading as soon as possible.”

Rajeev Jha Domain Head Banking & Finance Oracle

Jha is an instructor at Oracle University and Oracle certified for 10g and 11g. On his blog, Oracle DBA – A Helping Hand, Jha states his major reasons for upgrading to Oracle 12c. He loves the pluggable databases and the way they allow for database consolidation. He likes data tiering, too — the ability to move databases that are used less intensively to lower tiers of service.

Global load balancing is next on Jha’s reasons for upgrading to 12c. “Oracle Database 12c GDS is an exceptional workload management solution for large environments that have multiple locations with active replication, and large, distributed reader farms.” That’s a load all right! And Oracle 12c dynamically balances that load over global resources for improved availability.

Altogether, Oracle 12c’s improved productivity, performance, and manageability make upgrading a cost-effective decision.

Lynn Trapp Senior Oracle Instructor New Horizons University

In a video presentation on YouTube, Professor Trapp explains his top five reasons for upgrading to Oracle 12c. Number one on Trapp’s list is the multitenant architecture made possible by pluggable databases. The second thing he’s keen on is the lifecycle management that is enabled through tiered databases. The ability to automate the archiving of seldom-used data is a particular benefit.

Trapp likes the increased performance that comes from global load balancing and the improved productivity resulting from the new application continuity features. Application continuity allows for the replaying if in-transit data for seamless failover.

Finally, Trapp likes the cost savings built into all these features, such as Flex ASM, which reduces data storage costs. The bottom line is the ability to serve more clients with fewer resources and improved performance at a lower cost.

If you’re convinced an upgrade to Oracle 12c is in your near future, download the Datavail white paper, Compelling Reasons to Upgrade to Oracle 12.1 ,which provides a pre-upgrade checklist, a narrative description of the upgrade process, and sample code from an actual upgrade to 12c completed in under an hour.

If you are ready to make that migration, download our recent whitepaper on upgrading to 12c. The paper begins with the benefits and drawbacks of upgrading, but then goes much further. Actual code from a recent upgrade is included and the steps for upgrading to 12c are broken down and explained.

Datavail has helped many clients upgrade to Oracle 12c, and the process can take less than a few hours. The sample script included in the whitepaper is from an upgrade that was completed in 43 minutes.

If you are still on the fence about upgrading to 12c, contact Datavail today to see what your options may be. Contact Datavail today to learn more about our Oracle database services and how our experts can help with your ongoing operations.