Last year when the end of free extended support for Oracle
11.2.0.4 was looming, many companies were scrambling to plan upgrades before
the support bills started rolling in. Then, suddenly, Oracle extended the free
support several times, eventually settling on December 2018. Now that the new
year is upon us, it’s time to start thinking seriously about upgrading.
Current Oracle database versions are covered under Premier
Support and are provided with updates, patches, bug fixes, and security alerts.
Customers also get 24/7 support and certifications with third-party software.
The time will come when Oracle releases a new database
version, and it’s not long after that the old version will go on Extended
Support. This generally lasts for three years after Premier Support ends and
includes many (but not all) of Premier’s features, most notably third-party
certifications. Extended Support also costs extra, but Oracle often allows
customers to have that for free to allow time to migrate off that version.
Eventually you’ll have to upgrade to the new release or pay extra money to stay
on the old version.
The last stage of support is Sustaining Support. Now the
database version is no longer fully supported. You’ll still have access to
everything created during Premier and Extended support as well as access to the
knowledge bases. What you won’t get is any new updates, patches, security
alerts, or anything else. You’re on your own.
And now for what you’ve been waiting for: Details on
Oracle’s supported database versions. For those of you on Oracle 11.2.0.3 and
earlier, it’s long past time to upgrade. All of those versions are on
Sustaining Support (also known as ‘not supported’).
11.2.0.4 owners are in luck – for now. You are on free
Extended Support until December 2018. Afterward you’ll have to pay for support
until December 31st, 2020 when 11g goes on Sustaining Support.
If you’re on 12.1.0.1, I hate to say this but you’re
unsupported as well. Oracle stopped patching that in August 2016.
Version 12.1.0.2 is on Extended Support now and has a little
bit more free time left. It’ll transition to paid Extended Support in July
2019.
At this point you’re probably wondering, “What does Oracle have in Premier Support?” If
you said 12.2.0.1 and 12.2.0.2 then you’re right. The next version coming up
behind this one is Oracle 18c, but that’s not out yet.
Now you know what databases are supported, but what database
versions can I use with what JDE versions? If you’re on the latest and greatest
JDE 9.2.2 tools release, you can use 12.2.0.1 and 12.1.0.2 versions. Those of
you on JDE TR 9.1.4 through 9.2.1 can have Oracle 12.1.0.2, 12.1.0.1, or
11.2.0.4. When you get down to JDE TR 9.1.3 and earlier you’re stuck with the
Oracle 11.x releases.
Here’s a handy grid with all the relationships:
|
|
11.2.0.4
|
12.1.0.1
|
12.1.0.2
|
12.2.0.1
|
|
9.2.2
|
NO
|
NO
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
|
9.2.1
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
NO
|
|
9.2.0
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
NO
|
|
9.1.5
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
NO
|
|
9.1.4
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
Yes
|
NO
|
|
9.1.3
|
Yes
|
NO
|
NO
|
NO
|
