UPGRADING ORACLE APPLICATION 11I

TO E-BUSINESS SUITE R12

Overview of upgrade to R12

Upgrading an application from 11i to R12 involves, upgrading the database side,
upgrading the middleware techstack and upgrading the application side.

Supported upgrade path for application side upgrade is as given below.

In case of database upgrade, you have to upgrade the database to 10gR2 (10.2.0).
Because application R12 can be used only with 10g database.

Upgrade Process

All upgrade functionality has been consolidated into a single unified upgrade driver
that performs the upgrade without reliance on the information formerly captured on
the AutoUpgrade screens.

Rapid Install provides the most up-to-date, certified version of Oracle Applications
products, along with the certified technology stack components. In an upgrade, it
creates the new file system for the application (middle) tier components and the new

file system for the database. After the upgrade, you run Rapid Install again to
configure servers and start services.

An upgrade also includes various manual steps, including those that direct you to run
scripts or apply patches. You rely on AutoPatch to apply all patches, including the
unified driver that performs the upgrade to Release 12.

Upgrade Steps in brief

Here are the 4 simple steps, briefly presented below for upgrade. These steps are at
very high level of abstraction. We will detailed each steps as we move on further.

1) Understand installed components, system sizing information, NLS considerations

2) Prepare for upgrade using Upgrade Manual Script(TUMS).
3) Upgrading to R12. This includes upgrading the database and applying the required
patches through AutoPatch.
4) Post-Upgrade process. Complete the upgrade process by applying the latest RUP
patches to keep the system most current.

We wont be considering the functional upgrade task here.

Upgrade steps in detail

1) Understanding installed components

Technology Stack Components

Rapid Install automatically installs and configures the required technology stack
components for both the database tier and the application tier.
The database tier technology stack for both a new installation and for a system
upgrade is based on Oracle10g Release 2.

The technology stack installed on the application tier includes, among other
components:
Oracle 10g Application Server (AS) 10.1.2
Oracle 10g Application Server (AS) 10.1.3
Oracle Developer 10g (includes Oracle Forms)
Java (J2SE) native plug-in 1.5.0_08
Java Developer Kit (JDK) 5.0

Memory Requirements

To calculate the memory requirements for an upgrade, consider the following:

Number of concurrent users
Infrastructure requirements for multi-tiered architecture
For example:
A test upgrade of the largest Oracle production system (oraprod) used the following:
Database tier machine 48 GB of memory
Application tier machine 12 GB of memory
A test upgrade of the Vision database and application tier machine used 6 GB of
memory.

Database Size

To estimate the increase in required disk space for upgrading, consider the products,
the number of languages being installed, and changes in the data model.

For example:
In a test upgrade of the largest Oracle production system (oraprod), the database
increased 10-20 percent. In a test upgrade, the Vision database increased 5 percent.
For guidelines based on an upgrade of the Oracle production system (oraprod), see
E-Business Suite Release 12 Upgrade Sizing and Best Practices (Doc ID: 399362.1).

Database Backup

*** We strongly recommend that you back up your entire system before you begin
the upgrade. ***

Database Initialization Parameters

Initialization parameters required at each stage of the upgrade may vary depending
on when you upgrade your database. Review the requirements for these parameters
before you begin. Refer to metalink note ID 396009.1 for initialization parameters.
Change the following initialization parameters as specified below for upgrade
process. Once the upgrade process completes, reset the parameters back.

db_file_multiblock_read_count Remove this parameter. (this is not required).

_db_file_optimizer_read_count = 8 (default setting is 8. Keep default setting).

job_queue_processes (set the value of this parameters equal to number of

CPUs).

parallel_max_servers (set the value of this parameters equal to twice the

number of CPUs).

pga_aggregate_target (refer to metalink note ID 396009.1 for recommended

value).

Make sure that the temporary tablespace you have is locally managed and not
dictionary managed. You can check this information using below query.

select CONTENTS,EXTENT_MANAGEMENT,ALLOCATION_TYPE from

dba_tablespaces where tablespace_name=TEMP;

CONTENTS EXTENT_MANAGEMENT ALLOCATION_TYPE


TEMPORARY LOCAL UNIFORM
Else if the extent management is not local, you can drop and recreate temp
tablespace using the below command.

NLS Upgrade Considerations

For NLS considerations, please refer to Applications upgrade docs.

Character Sets

You have to be careful while selecting the character set for APPL_TOP. Depending on
whether your Applications system connects to the database during the upgrade
process, you may be able to select a new character set for the Release 12 APPL_TOP
on the Rapid Install wizard upgrade screens. However, if you do, the new set must be
either identical to, or compatible with, the existing database character set. If you
change the character set in the APPL_TOP to one that is not compatible with the
current database character set, the upgraded system will be corrupted.

SQL> create TEMPORARY tablespace TEMP tempfile ts_p_temp1.dbf size

2048M EXTENT MANAGEMENT LOCAL UNIFORM SIZE 1M;

2) Prepare for upgrade using Upgrade Manual Script(TUMS) and upgrading

database

R12 upgrade process involve replacing 11i Tech stack (9iAS & 806) to Fusion
Middleware (10g Application Server)

Basic upgrade process involves Rapid Install & Autopatch

Rapid Install involves installing new R12 tech stack as mentioned in first point

Auto patch process involves upgrading E-Business Suite database compatible

to R12 (Data Model)

Final upgrade process is of updating data model using enhanced version of

AutoPatch

Minimum version from which you can upgrade to R12 is 11.5.7 and higher

Minimum database version from which you can upgrade to R12 is 9i

As per Oracle R12 Upgrade Documentation, Apps 11i Instance is classified in Two
Categories based on Apps & DB Version

Category 1 11.5.7, 11.5.8, 11.5.9 (CU1), 11.5.10 (CU1)

Category 2 11.5.9 (CU2), 11.5.10 (CU2) or 11.5.10.2

Why we cannot upgrade database to 10.2.0.2 before for category 1 ?

This is because there is no Interoperability patch for above release & 10.2.0.2 was
supported for 11.5.9 (CU2) & 11.5.10(CU2) only.

What are advantages of Upgrading database to 10.2.0.2 before R12 upgrade ?

Downtime can be broken down to two small downtimes (one for Database upgrade
another one for R12 upgrade) and can be achieved during weekends or long
weekends (depending on your system & resources)

The following table lists the paths available for each of the E-Business Suite 11i
releases supported for an upgrade to R12

PATH A:

Plan Upgrade to R12

Follow the standard R12 upgrade path as documented in the Oracle

Applications Upgrade Guide: Release 11i to Release 12. Perform all
requirements documented in Chapter 1 and all applicable steps in Chapter
2.

Install the R12 Technology Stack and 10.2.0.2 Oracle home

Upgrade the Database to 10.2.0.3

Apply Database Patches

Apply the database patches as per the metalink note ID 403339.1. (6319846
for Linux)

Apply Oracle Service patch 5880762 (conditional)

Complete the R12 upgrade

Perform the remaining steps in Chapter 3 and all applicable steps in Chapter 4
to complete the upgrade to R12.

PATH B:

Plan Upgrade to R12

Apply Database Patches

Apply the database patches as per the metalink note ID 403339.1. (6319846
for Linux)

Apply Oracle Service patch 5880762 (conditional)

Complete the R12 upgrade

PATH C:

Plan Upgrade to R12

Upgrade Database to 10.2.0

Continue with the R12 Upgrade or Use the 11i/10.2.0 System

Apply Database Patches

Apply the database patches as per the metalink note ID 403339.1. (6319846
for Linux)

Apply Oracle Service patch 5880762 (conditional)

Complete the R12 upgrade

In our case, we are following path C. We were having 11.5.10 + CU2 application with
9i database. We will upgraded the database to 10GR2.

Then we will apply the database patches as per metalink note ID 403339.1 followed
by service pack and then will upgrade the application to R12.

Now preparing the application system is till main step # 2 which includes upgrading
the database as well. From main step 3, upgrade process for R12 starts. You may
wish to stop after carring out the upgrade for database, run your business for some
time (may be few months) and then go for R12 upgrade. This gives a comparatively
less downtime for your existing application as you dont have to do all at the same
time and can be done in steps.

The Upgrade Manual Script (TUMS) examines your current configuration and creates
a report that lists upgrade tasks that do not apply to your system. This report
contains information that is unique to your system configuration, so its output is
relevant to your individual upgrade. Omitting the steps listed in the TUMS report can
significantly reduce upgrade downtime.You create the TUMS report by applying a
Release 11i patch, which loads objects into your APPS schema that TUMS uses to
examine your Applications configuration. Your current Applications environment is
not affected.
Below are the list of steps I am mentioning, which are the required steps. I am
skipping the conditional steps here, just to make it brief. You can as well check the
oracle documentation for the complete steps.

Step 1) Apply latest AD patch level. The latest AD patch is 11i.AD.I.6 and checkin
number is 6502082.
SQL> select patch_level from fnd_product_installations
2 where patch_level like %AD%';

PATCH_LEVEL

11i.AD.I.6

Step 2) Run TUMS utility

Download and apply TUMS patch (5120936). This will supply you one script
adtums.sql, which you can run to generate the report.
To generate the report
cd $AD_TOP/patch/115/sql
sqlplus <APPS username>/<APPS password> @adtums.sql <DIRECTORY>
<DIRECTORY> is where the report file will get generated. You need to create

directory in database using create directory command. Also the directory path you
are mentioning here should exists in UTL_FILE_DIR.
SQL> create directory APPS_DIR as /usr/tmp';

Directory created.

[applmgr@ocvmrh2081 sql]$ sqlplus apps/apps @adtums.sql APPS_DIR

step 3) Convert to Multiple Organizations architecture

Step 4) Review sizes of old and new tablespaces

Step 5) Run AD preparation scripts

Download patch 5726010. This will provide 3
scripts adgncons.sql, adgrants_nt.sql, adgrants.sql. Script adgrants_nt.sqlis not for
Linux and so can be ignored.
First run the script adgncons.sql. This will create script adcrtbsp.sql. This script
(adcrtbsp.sql) creates the new tablespaces, allocates unlimited tablespace to all
APPS users, updates fnd_product_installation table with correct data and index
tablespace information, assigns default tablespace to all APPS users, and sets the
new_ts_mode flag in fnd_product_groups to Y.
[applmgr@ocvmrh2081 5726010]$ sqlplus apps/apps @adgncons.sql apps
apps
Run adcrtbsp.sql with system user ID and password from database side
[applmgr@ocvmrh2081 5726010]$ sqlplus system/manager @adcrtbsp.sql
- adgrants.sql will grants SYS privileges needed by Applications, and creates required
views in SYS.
You need to run this command as sysdba. This will prompt you for
FND_ORACLE_USERID owner. You need to enter applsys when it prompts.

Step 6) Gather schema statistics for CBO

You can do this by Submitting Gather Schema Statistics concurrent request for
ALL schemas.

Step 7) Backup Database

Take the backup of database before we go further with upgrade process

Step 8 ) Upgrading the database from 9i to 10g. You can refer to upgrade database
in Oracle applications 11i post to have detailed steps. The database version should
be 10.2.0.2
Step 9) Prepare the application for upgrade. You need to run the rapid wizard in
upgrade mode. This will create the required file system, install the required techstack
components. Below are the screen flow for the same.

After running this wizard, you will find that your existing application is intact and also
a new file system has been created for you.

All your services should be up and running. Your 11i application should be intact. You
might face an issue, that services (specially Apache) wont come up and your URL
wont open. In this case you can check if the services get started from inst directory
that got created after you run the wizard.

You can go to location /u01/app/applmgr/inst/apps/<TWO_TASK>/admin/scripts and

run adstpall.sh script from that location. If the services were started from this
location, then it will be stopped. Then you can start the services back from
$COMMON_TOP/admin/script/<TWO_TASK> location.
Also during running of the wizard configuration information will be written to
following files. you can check at your prompt and it will list the configuration files.

Configuration file written to:

/u01/app/oracle/db/tech_st/10.2.0/appsutil/conf_PROD.txt
Configuration file written to:
/u01/app/applmgr/apps/apps_st/appl/admin/ocvmrh2081/conf_PROD.txt
Configuration file written to:
/u01/app/applmgr/inst/apps/PROD_ocvmrh2081/conf_PROD.txt
3) Upgrade Process

Below are the steps for upgrade process from 11.5.10.CU2 to 12.0.0. Till now we
have just prepared the application for upgrade. Creating the neccessary filesystem
layout and database upgrade was part of preparing for upgrade.

Step 1) Shut down application tier listeners and concurrent managers

Step 2) Back up the database Once again take a backup. I am not crazy asking
backup so many times, but in case we face any issue and if we dont have latest
stable backup, we will be helpless.

Step 3) Ensure that Maintenance Mode is enabled Put your application in

maintenance mode

Step 4) Apply Release 12 AD minipack (4502962)

For applying this patch, you need to go in R12 APPL_TOP directory and source the
env file present in that APPL_TOP. This is becasue you will be applying this patch to
your new APPL_TOP and not 11i APPL_TOP. So make sure to source env file present in
new APPL_TOP.

Step 5) Run the American English upgrade patch driver (u4440000.drv)

For applying this patch also, you need to go in R12 APPL_TOP directory and source
the env file present in that APPL_TOP.

Step 6) Run the NLS upgrade patch driver (conditional)

For other product related steps and NLS synchronization, please check the Oracle
Upgrade docs for 11i to R12.

Step 7) Disable Maintenance Mode

Once these step are carried out last step is finishing the upgrade process. Follow the
below steps.

1) generate appsutil.zip on appmgr side and copy the same to new ORACLE_HOME.
The new ORACLE_HOME directory structure will be created as
/u01/app/oracle/db/tech_st/10.2.0
2) unzip appsutil.zip in new ORACLE_HOME
3) run autoconfig in new ORACLE_HOME

Once these steps are done, run rapid install again by provding the config file which
was generated before. The file location as we noted down before is
/u01/app/applmgr/apps/apps_st/appl/admin/ocvmrh2081/conf_PROD.txt
After these steps are performed, the application system will be configured and ready
for use. This completes the upgrade activity from 11i to R12.

References:

Metalink Note ID : 394692.1

Metalink Note ID : 403339.1
Metalink Note ID : 396009.1
Metalink Note ID : 329476.1
Metalink Note ID : 215527.1

Source :
http://avdeo.com/2008/03/04/upgrading-oracle-application-11i-to-e-businesssuite-r12/