Short list of some bugs to be aware of before upgrading to 12c

In the last couple of months I was doing a lot of upgrades to the version 12c. I followed the guidelines and the documentation I found on the Oracle homepage, MOS & many blogs, but unfortunately, not every upgrade went smoothly. As always, every new database version brings a couple of new bugs and it requires a lot of time to catch them all!

Therefore, here is the short list of some bugs to be aware before upgrading to the version 12c. This list will be accordingly updated as soon as I get informed about any new bug.

• Bug 21923026 Corruption during Recovery after upgrading to 12c for Compressed Tables (Doc ID 2058461.1)
  You can find more information about it here: https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/ouch_this_hurts_bug_21923026Find out which tables may be potentially affected:

  select 'DBA_TABLES' as TabPartSubpart, owner, table_name, compression, compress_for  
  from   dba_tables
  where  compress_for in ('ADVANCED','QUERY LOW','QUERY HIGH','ARCHIVE LOW','ARCHIVE HIGH','OLTP');
  union 
  select 'DBA_TAB_PARTITIONS', table_owner, table_name, compression, compress_for  
  from   dba_tab_partitions
  where  compress_for in ('ADVANCED','QUERY LOW','QUERY HIGH','ARCHIVE LOW','ARCHIVE HIGH','OLTP');
  union  
  select 'DBA_TAB_SUBPARTITIONS', table_owner, table_name, compression, compress_for  
  from   dba_tab_subpartitions
  where  compress_for in ('ADVANCED','QUERY LOW','QUERY HIGH','ARCHIVE LOW','ARCHIVE HIGH','OLTP');
  

• Bug 19333670: Upgrade from 11.2.0.4.0 to 12.1.0.2 takes long time (5-8 minutes) if histgrm$ table on 11.2.0.4.0 has a lot of rows!
  In file c1102000.sql is the following command:
  alter table histgrm$ add ep_repeat_count number default 0 not null;Apply patch 19333670 to the 12c Oracle Home BEFORE upgrading!! Here is Bug Matrix list for this bug.

• Spatial & Graph:
  • Bug 19621704: PGA memory leak:
    ORA-600 [723] with large allocations of “mbr node memory” when using Spatial (Doc ID 19621704.8)
    ORA-00600 [723], …, [memory Leak] Error With Leaked Memory For “mbr node memory” (Doc ID 1944511.1)
  • Bug with MDSYS and Trigger: Invalid MDSYS Triggers After Upgrade to 11.2.0.4 or later
    Solution: GRANT ADMINISTER DATABASE TRIGGER TO MDSYS;
  • BUG:20653340 – DBMS_STATS.GATHER_INDEX_STATS HANGS ON SPATIAL INDEX
    Spatial Index Statistics Collection Job Never Finish (Doc ID 1988603.1)
• Queue tables:
  • ORA-00600 [kwqitnmphe: ltbagi] reported by qmon slave process after upgrade, after stopping and restarting an instance or after removing a subscriber (Doc ID 2030068.1)
  • Bug 19730508 – Orphan subscribers / ORA-600 [kwqdlprochstentry:ltbagi] on SYS$SERVICE_METRICS_TAB in RAC with fix of bug 14054676 present (Doc ID 19730508.8)
  • Bug 20641213 – Intermittent ORA-600 [kwqitnmphe:ltbagi] / [kwqdlprochstentry:ltbagi] (Doc ID 20641213.8)

• Upgrade history:
  • DBA_REGISTRY_HISTORY Does Not Get Updated on Database Upgraded to 12.1.0.2 [ID 1941383.1]
  • Bug 19518079 – DBA_REGISTRY_HISTORY is not updated during upgrade to 12.1.0.2 [ID 19518079.8]Problem:
    No “upgrade completed from previous version” message is logged to DBA_REGISTRY_HISTORY in 12.1.0.2 .Solution:
    1. This can be safely ignored if you have done upgrade already.
    OR
    2. If you have not yet upgraded, apply the patch 19518079 or PSU 12.1.0.2.2 on the 12.1.0.2 Oracle Home before you start the upgrade.
• DataPatch:
  • DBUA (Database Upgrade Assistant) not executing ‘datapatch’ (i.e. not applying the SQL changes involved with a SPU/PSU/BP) automatically!
    https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/dbua_and_datapatch_some_things
  • DBCA does not call ‘datapatch’ for database changes:
    https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/dbca_12c_and_datapatch_pl
  • Datapatch may skip the application of SQL payload for certain patches included in a given bundle in a RAC environment. (Doc ID 2069046.1)
  • Datapatch will fail in every upgrade without OS authentication:
    Datapatch fails with ORA-01017, as it only connects to the database with OS Authentication. (Doc ID 1635007.1)
    Bug 18151716   DATAPATCH UTILITY FAILED INVOKE DUE TO DB CONNECTION FAILURE
    https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/no_os_authentication_datapatch_will
• Bug 20880215 (ORA-7445 [QCSISCOLINFRO()+358] FOR ADD COLUMN WITH DEFAULT AND ENABLE NOVALIDATE):
  https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/ouch_this_hurts_bug_20880215
  
• Changes in Network ACLs after Upgrading from Oracle DB 11g to 12c (Doc ID 2078710.1)
  https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/network_acls_and_database_upgrade
  
• DataGuard: invalid SCNs can be introduced in index blocks after a switchover:
  • ORA-1555 / ORA-600 [ktbdchk1: bad dscn] ORA-600 [2663] in Physical Standby after switchover (Doc ID 1608167.1)
• Large trace files generated on the system after cursor validation:
  • https://blogs.oracle.com/UPGRADE/entry/where_do_these_large_trace
  • Huge Trace Files Created Containing “—– Cursor Obsoletion Dump sql_id=%s —–”  (Doc ID 1955319.1)
• CRS:
  • Bug 19582630 : DB SERVICES ARE AUTOMATICALLY BOUNCED DUE TO MEMORY GUARD
    Memory Guard Offlines Database Service Due to Low Free Memory (Doc ID 1929994.1)
    
• RMAN: Known Issues with RMAN Oracle12c Catalog (Doc ID 2039848.1), i.e.:
  • Not Able to query recovery catalog after upgrading the catalog to version 12.1.0.2
  • Bug 20848335: RMAN STANDBY ALWAYS SHOW ORA-20079 DESPITE RESYNC IS DONE FROM PRIMARY
  • Bug 20379279:  CREATE OR UPGRADE RMAN CATALOG SCHEMA TO 12C IN 11G RC DATABASE
  • Bug 22007324: REGISTER DATABASE RETURNS ORA-01403: NO DATA FOUND IF DATABASE IS NOT RESTARTED
  • Bug 20764012: RMAN UPGRADE CATALOG FAILING WITH: ORA-02437: CANNOT VALIDATE (RCATDEV.TS_P2)
  • Bug 18427406: ORA-2292 integrity constraint (RMAN_CATALOG_BUG.DF_F5) violated from RMAN

Here is the list of some related MOS Notes which could be useful:

[ID 1503653.1] – Complete Checklist for Manual Upgrades to Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1)
[ID  730365.1] – Oracle Database Upgrade Path Reference List
[ID 1462240.1] – Oracle 12cR1 Upgrade Companion
[ID 1929994.1] – Memory Guard Offlines Database Service Due to Low Free Memory
[ID 1520299.1] – Master Note For Oracle Database 12c Release 1 (12.1) Database/Client Installation/Upgrade/Migration Standalone Environment (Non-RAC)
[ID 2034610.1] – Things to Consider Before Upgrading to 12.1.0.2 to Avoid Poor Performance or Wrong Results

TimeZone & DST:
[ID 1509653.1] – Updating the RDBMS DST version in 12c Release 1 (12.1.0.1 and up) using DBMS_DST
[ID 1665676.1] – Actions For DST Updates When Upgrading To Or Applying The 12.1.0.2 Patchset
[ID 1585343.1] – Scripts to automatically update the RDBMS DST (timezone) version in an 11gR2 or 12cR1 database