I've previously noted that E-Business Suite sysadmins need to monitor Oracle's Support Coverage windows for different
parts of their environments. Important milestones for the end of Premier Support for 11.5.7 and 11.5.8 are nearing.
The table above is excerpted from the Lifetime Support document. It shows that Premier Support for the E-Business Suite will end for:
The following document is mandatory reading for all Apps sysadmins:
Despite its somewhat innocuous and misleading title, it contains specifics about support coverage dates for E-Business Suite releases, Database releases, and Fusion Middleware releases. It also contains the definitions for critical terms such as Premier Support, Extended Support, and Sustaining Support.
Sustaining Support starts when Premier Support ends. Under Sustaining Support, you'll still be able to contact Oracle Support and get help with diagnosing your issues. You'll still have access to existing patches, workarounds, and Notes.
However, if you discover a new issue -- one that needs a new patch -- then you'll first be advised to upgrade to a release that's still in Premier Support status. If you run into this situation, by the way, my advice would be to bite the bullet and upgrade all the way to 11.5.10 with Consolidated Update 2 (CU2) or Release 12. There's no real advantage in upgrading from, say, 11.5.7 to 11.5.9 at this point.
Most importantly, you should remember this:
Related
The table above is excerpted from the Lifetime Support document. It shows that Premier Support for the E-Business Suite will end for:
- 11.5.7 on May 31, 2007
- 11.5.8 on November 30, 2007.
The following document is mandatory reading for all Apps sysadmins:
Despite its somewhat innocuous and misleading title, it contains specifics about support coverage dates for E-Business Suite releases, Database releases, and Fusion Middleware releases. It also contains the definitions for critical terms such as Premier Support, Extended Support, and Sustaining Support.
Sustaining Support starts when Premier Support ends. Under Sustaining Support, you'll still be able to contact Oracle Support and get help with diagnosing your issues. You'll still have access to existing patches, workarounds, and Notes.
However, if you discover a new issue -- one that needs a new patch -- then you'll first be advised to upgrade to a release that's still in Premier Support status. If you run into this situation, by the way, my advice would be to bite the bullet and upgrade all the way to 11.5.10 with Consolidated Update 2 (CU2) or Release 12. There's no real advantage in upgrading from, say, 11.5.7 to 11.5.9 at this point.
Most importantly, you should remember this:
- Sustaining Support doesn't include new updates, fixes, security alerts, and critical patch updates.
Related
Comments (2)
Thanks for the tip from your survey. I agree. I think that the shift from our "Metals" Support policies (e.g. Bronze, Silver, Gold) to the "Applications Unlimited" policy is something that many sysadmins may not have paid sufficient attention to. At Collaborate 07, I did an informal survey of people using Discoverer with the E-Business Suite. The vast majority were still on 4i, despite the notable performance and memory management advantages of 10g, the painless upgrade path, the cost (free), and the desupported status of 4i. I wasn't surprised, however. I believe that our collective drum beats will be heard. I'll keep banging...Regards,Steven
Posted by Steven Chan | May 15, 2007 9:20 AM
Posted on May 15, 2007 09:20
Thank you for continuing to "bang the drum" on the various support coverage windows. Your messages are certainly valuable to the customers.
I conducted a very informal survey at Collaborate 07. Of the 112 people I questioned, only 23 had a good understanding of Oracle's support policy and the support lifecycle could have on their business. While my survey probably won't hold to to statistical scrutiny, it does provide an indicator that we need to work harder on getting the message out - posts like this certainly help.
Thanks again,
--Floyd--
Posted by Floyd Teter | May 15, 2007 10:47 AM
Posted on May 15, 2007 10:47