Re: Policy on Oracle Versions and Patches

On Oct 11, 6:30 pm, "Bob Jones" <em...@xxxxxx> wrote:
1. What version/patch level should be used for implementing brand-new
application assuming that:
- Is it critical
- Application vendor didn't provide any recommendation regarding
version
- Schema is simple, it does not use any advanced features
- Main priority is stability and absence of unplanned outages

It seems to me that the safest option would be to use version that has
a terminal patch set which is 9.2.0.8. Yes I know that it is
"unsupported" but does it really matter?
When starting anew, I'd go with the latest release available and test,
test, test, find bugs, report them to the vendor, to Oracle, and get
them fixed before you go live.

If I followed this suggestion, I would have gone to 10g when it first came
out, and not go live until all the bugs are fixed. That would be a good idea
if I could convince the mangement to schedule our go-live dates according to
Oracle's patch dates, or better yet become Oracle's beta test site.

I didn't mean *all* bugs, but all those directly affecting you. What
will you do if you start with a terminal release and hit a bug in it?
It's terminal meaning no more patchsets are going to be delivered, so
you will be forced to either apply one-offs (which are not thoroughly
tested by definition and may break other things,) or upgrade. Oracle
fixes bugs in the current trunk first and then backports them to
previous release branches as needed/possible (and I remember seeing
fixes that could not be backported at all.) Generally it means that
all Oracle releases/patchsets current as of the date of 9.2.0.8
release include the same fixes for common functionality (though of
course there are numerous exceptions.)

Regards,
Vladimir M. Zakharychev
N-Networks, makers of Dynamic PSP(tm)
http://www.dynamicpsp.com
.

Relevant Pages

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