Oracle 23ai (23c) Support for ArcGIS
Customer Question: Which are the release plans for Oracle 23ai (23c) Support for ArcGIS Enterprise?
This gets more and more urgent, as patching support for 21c will end on April 30, 2025 and everything has to be planned, aligned and upgraded before!
Let's answer this in 2 parts.
1. Is Oracle 21c database supported with ArcGIS?
Answer: Oracle 21c is not supported nor certified with ArcGIS. See the documentation links below.
2. What are the release plans for supporting Oracle 23ai (23c) database with ArcGIS?
Answer:
- Oracle released Oracle 23c in the Oracle Cloud in Sep/2023.
- Oracle was supposed to release Oracle 23c On-Premises (Windows/Linux) at the end of 2023.
- But because the Artificial Intelligence (AI) trend Oracle postponed the release of the Oracle 23c On-Premises (Windows / Linux).
- Oracle 23c (c for Cloud) was renamed Oracle 23ai ( ai for artificial intelligence).
- Oracle has not released Oracle 23ai for On-Premises (Windows and Linux) yet.
- Esri will certify and support Oracle 23ai with ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise in a future ArcGIS release after Oracle releases the Oracle 23ai On-Premises (Windows and Linux).
- There is no clear date yet when Oracle will release Oracle 23ai On-Premises (Windows and Linux), and on Nov/01/2024 Oracle has postponed again the release, this time to 2025.
- Some customers have requested support and certification for Oracle 23ai in the Oracle Cloud. However, this support will be available in a future ArcGIS release, which has yet to be determined. Typically, we need to wait for the release of Oracle On-Premises before we can officially support the new Oracle version in the next ArcGIS release.
- Oracle has extended patching support for 21c till July 31, 2027, the announcement was made on Nov/01/2024.
- Oracle 19c is supported and certified with ArcGIS.
- Oracle 21c is not supported nor certified with ArcGIS.
Documentation:
Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (oracle.com)
MOS My Oracle Support - https://support.esri.com
MOS Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (Doc ID 742060.1)
What Oracle database versions are supported by ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro?
ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro requirements for Oracle
REMARKS:
- Initially only the next release of ArcGIS Enterprise will support the next Oracle Database release, but the product team will review, and if that is the case then a previous release of ArcGIS Enterprise e.g. 11.3, might be certified with the new Oracle Database release, there are no plans yet about this, and sometimes to support the new Oracle Release is necessary to create additional patches for the previous ArcGIS release. At this point we are waiting for Oracle to release Oracle 23ai On-Premises for Windows and Linux, then the product team will work on the plan to support Oracle 23ai with ArcGIS.
- Oracle 23ai is the next long-term Oracle release.
- If you are using 21c which is the innovation release then 21c has a short life cycle, meaning a very short period that patches are available.
- Oracle has extended patching support for 21c till July 31, 2027, the announcement was made on Nov/01/2024.
- Oracle 21c is not supported nor certified with ArcGIS.
- For production databases the recommendation is to always choose the long-term release, which has a longer life cycle with a long period that patches are available.
- Oracle 19c is still the long-term release till Oracle releases Oracle 23ai On-Premises for Windows and Linux. Oracle 23ai release was postponed to 2025.
- Oracle 19c is supported and certified with ArcGIS.
- Therefore, if you are using 21c then consider downgrading to Oracle 19c
- if you move to 19c then you will need to reload the data using ArcGIS tools or
- Oracle data pump can move the data from 19c to 21c, but the other way around will fail
- 19c will not be able to read the 21c data pump export
- unless you create the 21c data pump export using the VERSION parameter in the data pump export command.
- This is a lot of work to consider, I would do a prototype and a pilot first for the migration and document everything.
- Hence, moving to the Oracle Database Long Term Release that is currently available, in this case, 19c, is the best alternative for the road ahead as we cannot predict when Oracle 23ai On-Premises Linux and Windows will be released nor determine yet when and which versions of ArcGIS Enterprise will support Oracle 23ai in the future.
Oracle Data Pump Documentation:
My Oracle Support - Export/Import DataPump Parameter VERSION - Compatibility of Data Pump Between Different Oracle Versions (Doc ID 553337.1)
Overview of Data Pump dumpfile compatibility.
if dumpfile needs to be imported into a
Target Database with compatibility level
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/21/sutil/oracle-data-pump-export-utility....
Read the community.esri.com white papers below.
How to Move the Oracle Enterprise Geodatabase with the Oracle Data Pump Utility
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