Why and How to migrate and upgrade from 12c to 19c using RMAN incremental backup?

 Why ?

Migrate is move your database from machine to different machine and upgrade is moving your data from old to new version , it is may you need to move and upgrade in same time , below I am listing simple steps to achieve this goal by using RMAN incremental backup to minimize the downtime needed in case the RMAN backup is the only suitable solution in your case.

How ?

Below are steps to be follow in order to achive the goal , I am assuming the below:

Source DB 12c : orcl , running in archive log mode , OS is Linux

Destination DB 19c : orcl , software only is installed , OS is Linux

1- check the archive log mode in source DB, if it is disable then backup will be only offline backup ( cold backup) :

Sql> archive log list ;

2- Take backup level 0 which is equivalent to full backup for both database and archive logs:

rman> backup incremental level 0 database format '/u01/backup/db_%U' plus archivelog format '/u01/backup/arch_%U';

3- On target database start create a password file as below:

ORAPWD file=PWD<ORACLE_SID>.ora password=<password>

4- take a pfile from spfile of source and edited as needed and startup the target DB using this pfile:

Sql> create pfile=’location/orclinit.ora’ from spfile;

 

-- copy the file to the target and edit it with the needed, make sure the create any missed directory specially the adum path.

 

-- startup the target DB to nomount:

Sql> startup nmount pfile=location\orclinit.ora;

 

5- On source database take backup of control file:

rman> backup current controlfile format '/u01/backup/cf_%U';

6- On target database restore backup of control file and start database on mount stage:

rman> restore controlfile from '/u01/backup/<filename> ;

rman> alter database mount ;

 

7- On target database correct any path need to be correct if it is differ from source , you may check this using the below:

sql> report schema ;

sql> select * from v$logfile ;

sql> alter database rename file '<sourcepath>/redo01.log' to '<distpath>/redo01.log';

sql> alter database rename file '<sourcepath>/redo02.log' to '<distpath>/redo02.log';

sql> alter database rename file '<sourcepath>/redo03.log' to '<distpath>/redo03.log';

8- On target database restore backup incremental backup level 0:

rman>

run

{

allocate channel c1 device type disk;

set newname for database to '/u02/oradata/%U';

set newname for tempfile '/u01/oradata/orcl/temp01.dbf' to '/u02/oradata/temp01.dbf' ;

restore database ;

switch datafile all;

switch tempfile all;

release channel c1;

}

 

8- On source database take backup incremental level 1:

rman> backup incremental level 1 database format '/u01/backup/db_%U' plus archivelog format '/u01/backup/arch_%U';

8- On target database recover backup incremental level 1 and level 0 after catalog the new level1 in the control file, check the last sequence and add 1 then:

rman> catalog start with '/u01/backup/';

rman> list backup ;

run

{

allocate channel c1 device type disk;

set until sequence (maxnumber+1);

recover database ;

release channel c1;

}

9- Now you can start database in upgrade stage and reset the logs , then perform the upgrade(you may use autoupgrade.jar) :

rman> alter databas open resetlogs upgrade ;

cd $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin

$ORACLE_HOME/perl/bin/perl catctl.pl catupgrd.sql