With the latest version, 24.8, AutoUpgrade can upgrade the RMAN catalog schema after patching and upgrading. This is useful to those who take RMAN backups and duplicate their RMAN metadata to a catalog database.

If you don’t upgrade the catalog schema after patching and upgrading, you’ll see this message in the RMAN output:

PL/SQL package RCO.DBMS_RCVCAT version 19.24.00.00. in RCVCAT database is not current
PL/SQL package RCO.DBMS_RCVMAN version 19.24.00.00 in RCVCAT database is not current

Details

• After patching or upgrading, AutoUpgrade upgrades the RMAN catalog schema in the postupgrade stage.
• AutoUpgrade connects with RMAN to the recovery catalog and issues the upgrade catalog command.
• AutoUpgrade does not execute dbmsrmansys.sql. Normally, this is only needed for the upgrade of the first catalog schema of a given release (like for the first database on Oracle Database 23ai), and even then, it might not be needed.

How To

• Specify the connect string to the catalog database in the AutoUpgrade config file:

  <prefix>.rman_catalog_connect_string=catalogdb
  

  • catalogdb is a TNS alias to the catalog database.

• Start AutoUpgrade to load the username and password for the recovery catalog:

  java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config ... -load_password
  

• Switch to the password group RMAN:

  group rman
  

• Add the username and password for a specific database:

  add <ORACLE_SID> -user <catalog_schema_name>
  

  • AutoUpgrade prompts for the password

• Save the changes and exit the load password console.

  save
  exit
  

• Start AutoUpgrade in deploy mode:

  java -jar autoupgrade.jar -config ... -mode deploy
  

Happy Upgrading, Happy Patching

• You can enhance the solution using an after_action script that starts a level 1 backup after the job. The after_action script takes place after the postupgrade stage, where AutoUpgrade upgrades the catalog schema.

• Version 24.8 of AutoUpgrade does not support this feature when you use the -patch command line option. This is coming in a later version.

Appendix

Further Reading

• Documentation, Upgrading the Recovery Catalog
• What to Do about RMAN Recovery Catalog When You Upgrade Oracle Database

Invalid credentials

• When you enter the catalog credentials into the AutoUpgrade keystore, AutoUpgrade validates the credentials. Any errors result in AutoUpgrade returning the following message:

  Invalid credentials, please try again.
  

• To debug, run the following command:

  $ORACLE_HOME/bin/rman TARGET / rcvcat <catalog_user>@<rman_catalog_connect_string>
  

• Check the log files in:

  <global_log_dir>/log/cfgtoollogs/upgrade/auto