We’ve recently gotten a string of questions about the support status of obsolete products listed in the Certifications system on My Oracle Support.  This is really important: everyone working with Oracle products should know how to determine the support status of their products.

The existence of a listing in the Certifications system doesn’t necessarily mean that a product release is covered by Error Correction Support. 

To determine the support status of a particular combination:

  1. Check if the combination is listed in the Certifications system
  2. Check the support status of the product releases
  3. Check the support status of the product patch sets
  4. Interpret this information
Let’s walk through these steps in more detail.

Understanding the three phases of support

We produce new patches and certifications for Oracle products while they are covered by either Premier or Extended Support.  Those two support phases are collectively known as the Error Correction Support period. 

After that period, products are covered by Sustaining Support.  You can download existing patches and documentation for products in Sustaining Support.  You cannot request new patches or certifications for these products.

See the Oracle Lifetime Support Policy site for more details about Premier, Extended, and Sustaining Support levels.

Step 1. Check if the combination is listed in the Certifications system

The Certifications system on My Oracle Support lists all of the combinations that we’ve tested for the E-Business Suite. Certifications are generally retained for reference purposes after the Error Correction Support phase has ended for those products. The existence of an historical listing in the Certifications system doesn’t necessarily mean that that is still covered by Error Correction Support.

For example, the Certifications system includes historical listings for:

  • EBS 11.5.3 (Error Correction Support ended July 2006)
  • EBS 12.0.6 (Error Correction Support ended January 2015)
  • Oracle Single Sign-On 10.1.2.0.2 (Error Correction Support ended December 2011)
  • Oracle Database 8.1.7.4 (Error Correction Support ended December 2006)

You cannot request new patches or certifications for any products after their Error Correction Support ends.

Step 2: Check the support status of a product release

A product release is the major version.  For example, Database 11gR2 is the product release.

Database Lifetime Support dates table

You should always check the Oracle Lifetime Support documents for a product release’s Premier and Support dates to determine whether the release is covered by Error Correction Support. 

See:  

Step 3: Check the the support status of a product patch set

Product releases have patch sets. For example: the Database 11gR2 release has 11.2.0.3 and 11.2.0.4 patch sets.

Individual patch sets have their own Error Correction Support dates. You should always check the following documents for the support status of a given patch set:

Step 4: Interpret this information 

You can ask for new patches for a given combination only if all products within that combination are still covered by Error Correction Support. 

Example 1:

  • It is August 1, 2015.
  • You see a listing in the Certifications system for EBS 12.0.6 + Database 11.2.0.4
  • Error Correction Support for E-Business Suite 12.0.6 ended January 2015
  • Error Correction Support for Database 11.2.0.4 continues to January 2018
  • You cannot request new patches for this combination

Example 2:

  • It is August 1, 2015
  • You see a listing in the Certifications system for EBS 12.1.3 + Oracle Access Manager 10.1.4.3
  • Error Correction Support for EBS 12.1.3 continues to December 2019
  • Error Correction Support for Oracle Access Manager 10.1.4.3 ended December 2011
  • You cannot request new patches for this combination

Example 3:

  • It is August 1, 2015
  • You see a listing in the Certifications system for EBS 12.1.3 + Oracle Database 11.2.0.2
  • Error Correction Support for EBS 12.1.3 continues to December 2019
  • Error Correction Support for Database 11.2.0.2 ended October 2013
  • You cannot request new patches for this combination

Still confused?

If you’re still having trouble, log a Service Request with Oracle Support.  A Support Engineer can help with these types of questions.

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