Oracle Announces Certifications of E-Business Suite on 19c Database

Oracle has announced that Oracle Database 19.3 is now certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Releases 12.2 and 12.1.3 on-premise. Customers on E-Business Suite 12.2 and 12.1.3 on-premise can now begin upgrading to Oracle Database 19c. There are several mandatory architecture upgrades when customers upgrade their Oracle E-Business Suite database to Oracle Database 19c.

The key benefit to organisations is that the previous latest certified release, 12.1.0.2 is listed as being out of Premier Support in December 2021. Upgrading to Database 19c will mean that an organisation will not have to pay Extended Support costs, which will be introduced following the waiver for E-Business Suite, in December 2020.

The upgrade to 19c for E-Business Suite involves conversion to Container Database (CDB) architecture, with a single pluggable database (PDB).  It also involves moving all PL/SQL I/O using utl_file_dir to database directory objects.

However, a CDB with one PDB is currently the only certified deployment for Oracle E-Business Suite with Database 19c, meaning that multiple PDBs (multitenant) are not certified for deployment. Also, a non-CDB architecture is not planned to be certified or supported for E-Business Suite with Database 19c. The steps required to perform the conversion to CDB architecture can be found in the following document:

Interoperability Notes: Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.2 with Oracle Database 19c (MOS Note 2552181.1)

Upgrading to 19c will also afford the performance benefits that come with the release, such as the Database In-Memory option.  Database 19c can also introduce stronger controls to protect sensitive data as required by GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) by use of Fast Online Conversion to enable Transparent Data Encryption (TDE).

What is Included in the latest Oracle Database Announcement?

1. Certified Platforms

The Certified Platforms list includes items that have been explicitly certified by E-Business Suite development.

• Linux x86-64

• Oracle Linux 7.4 Update 4 (7.4) or later

• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Update 4 (7.4) or later

• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3 or later

• Oracle Solaris (SPARC systems, 64-bit)

• Oracle Solaris 11.4 or later

• Oracle Solaris 11.3  or later

• AIX 7.1 TL5 SP1 or later

• AIX 7.2 TL2 SP1 or later

• HP-UX 11.31 September 2014 Quality Pack or later

2. Supported Database Features and Options

The Supported Database Features and Options list includes items that are supported but not explicitly certified by E-Business Suite. Our general policy is that the Oracle Database generic documentation applies to these features and options, even if we haven’t certified them specifically.

• Advanced Compression

• Database In-Memory

• Database Partitioning

• Native PL/SQL Compilation

• Oracle Application Express (APEX)

• SecureFiles

• Virtual Private Database (VPD)*

*Note: When deploying VPD there are special considerations with Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 and edition-based redefinition.

3. Certified Database Features and Options

The Certified Database Features and Options list includes items that have been explicitly certified by E-Business Suite development.

• Container Database (CDB) Architecture (multitenant architecture) with a single Pluggable Database (PDB) (single tenant)

• Export/Import

• Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC)

• Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) with Online Tablespace Encryption Conversion

4. Certified Integrations

The Certified Integrations list includes items that have been explicitly certified by E-Business Suite development.

Oracle E-Business Suite 12.2 with Database 19c Integrated with Oracle Access Manager for Single Sign-on.

What is still outstanding?

1. Pending Deployment Certifications

Items that require explicit certification and that we currently plan to certify in the future.

• Oracle E-Business Suite Integrated SOA Gateway is not currently certified with E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 on Database 19c. If you are using or planning to use a SOA Gateway for example to integrate to OTM, then you should not perform an upgrade to Database 19c until the certification of Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.3 with Database 19c for SOA is announced.

• Oracle Application Management Pack for Oracle E-Business Suite, release 13.1.1.1.0 with Oracle Enterprise Manager 13c Release 3

2. Pending Certifications – Database Features and Options

The following database features and options list includes items that require explicit certification and are currently pending certification.

• Active Data Guard

• Data Guard

• Data Masking

• Database Vault

• Export/Import

• Transportable Database and Transportable Tablespaces for data migration processes

Please contact Version 1 for further details and to discuss upgrade options.