Oracle Database patching & upgrade training
Patch and upgrade safely in production — to Oracle 26ai. Master OPatch and OPatchAuto, apply quarterly Release Updates, run a clean 19c → 26ai upgrade with AutoUpgrade, and always have a tested rollback plan when something goes wrong.
- Weekend or weekday batches · morning or evening slots · check upcoming schedule →
- Hands-on labs on real Oracle homes — OPatch & OPatchAuto, Release Updates (RU/RUR), Rollback & Recovery, Upgrade Prechecks, the 19c→26ai AutoUpgrade & Post-Upgrade Tuning
- Certificate + lifetime recordings in your student portal
Patch nights without the panic
Patching and upgrading is where careers are made or broken. A quarterly Release Update on the wrong home, an upgrade with no fallback, a failed OPatchAuto halfway through a cluster — these are the moments that keep DBAs awake. This live course turns those moments into a repeatable, low-risk runbook you can trust in production, all the way to Oracle 26ai.
You don't learn slides here; you learn the job. We patch real homes with OPatch and OPatchAuto, apply quarterly Release Updates, run a full database upgrade from 19c to 26ai with the AutoUpgrade tool, and — just as importantly — practise rolling back and recovering when a patch or upgrade fails. Every session is taught live by our senior Oracle DBA instructors, who have 12+ years of hands-on production Oracle DBA experience across 19c, RAC, Data Guard and the cloud.
What you'll learn
- Patching concepts, terminology and the patch lifecycle
- OPatch and OPatchAuto, interim and one-off patches
- Downloading and validating patches from My Oracle Support
- Applying quarterly Release Updates (RU/RUR)
- Running upgrades with the AutoUpgrade tool
- Upgrading 19c databases to 26ai
- The 23ai → 26ai transition path
- Designing and testing reliable rollback strategies
- Post-upgrade tuning, compatibility and validation
- Troubleshooting failed patches and upgrades
Course syllabus
1Patch types (RU/RUR) & patching concepts1 session · 2 hrs
- The vocabulary of patch night — RU vs RUR
- Interim, one-off and bundle patches
- The central inventory and Oracle Home
- Patch naming, numbering and the lifecycle
- Quarterly schedule and staying current
- Reading My Oracle Support (MOS) notes with confidence
2OPatch & OPatchAuto1 session · 2 hrs
- Querying the inventory with OPatch lsinventory
- Applying and rolling back interim patches
- Detecting and resolving patch conflicts
- OPatchAuto for automated, datapatch-aware patching
- Single-instance vs cluster home patching concepts
- Keeping OPatch itself up to date
3Downloading & validating patches1 session · 2 hrs
- Finding the right patch on My Oracle Support
- RU, RUR and recommended patch advisories
- Checksum and prerequisite validation
- Staging patches and unzipping safely
- Running prechecks before the change window
- Building a patch readiness checklist
4Applying & rolling back patches1 session · 2 hrs
- Applying a quarterly Release Update end to end
- The role of datapatch in the database
- Verifying the patch with the registry views
- Rolling a patch back cleanly with OPatch
- Handling a partial or interrupted apply
- Post-patch smoke tests before handover
5Upgrade readiness & prechecks1 session · 2 hrs
- Upgrade paths and supported source versions
- Pre-upgrade health checks and fixups
- Deprecated and desupported features
- Sizing, time stamps and downtime planning
- Guaranteed restore points before the upgrade
- Building the upgrade runbook and back-out plan
619c → 26ai upgrade & AutoUpgrade1 session · 2 hrs
- The AutoUpgrade config file in detail
- Analyze, fixups, deploy and upgrade modes
- Running a full 19c → 26ai upgrade live
- The dictionary upgrade and CDB/PDB handling
- Reading AutoUpgrade job logs and status
- Timing the cutover with minimal downtime
723ai → 26ai transition, post-upgrade tuning & troubleshooting1 session · 2 hrs
- The 23ai → 26ai transition path
- The COMPATIBLE parameter decision
- Recompiling and gathering fixed-object stats
- Post-upgrade performance validation and tuning
- Diagnosing datapatch and AutoUpgrade errors
- Recovering a broken inventory or partial run
Who this course is for
Production Oracle DBAs responsible for keeping databases patched and current, support engineers who own change windows, and anyone planning a move to 26ai. You should already be comfortable with day-to-day database administration and the Linux command line; we focus on doing patching and upgrades safely, not on the basics.
Program benefits
- Live instructor-ledLive sessions taught by our senior Oracle DBA instructors, not recordings
- Session recordingsEvery session saved to your student portal
- Module assignmentsHands-on tasks after each module to lock in skills
- Session documentationDetailed notes provided for every session
- WhatsApp supportFast doubt-clearing help between sessions
- Software & patchesEverything you need for hands-on practice
- Interview prepCurated Q&A to get you interview-ready
- Completion certificateAwarded when you finish the course
What learners say
I used to dread patch weekends. After this course I have a proper runbook — prechecks, guaranteed restore point, datapatch verification, the lot. My first 19c to 26ai upgrade went through without a single surprise.
RARobert AndersonPrincipal DBA · SydneyThe rollback module alone was worth it. The instructor makes you break a patch on purpose and then recover it, so you actually know what to do at 2 AM when datapatch fails. That confidence is priceless in production.
ISIsabella SilvaOracle DBA · Sao PauloClear, hands-on and entirely real-world. We applied an actual Release Update and ran AutoUpgrade from 19c to 26ai in the lab. The post-upgrade tuning and compatibility section answered questions I'd been guessing at for years.
JOJames OkaforSenior DBA · AbujaFrequently asked questions
Do we actually run a real upgrade in the labs?
Does this cover RAC and Data Guard patching?
Are sessions live or recorded?
How do I get the fee and batch dates?
How do I pay?
Make your next patch night boring
Join the next live batch and turn patching and upgrades into a calm, repeatable runbook — all the way to Oracle 26ai, with rollback and recovery practised hands-on.