Upgrading Other Techstack Components
An old axiom comes to mind: “If you don’t have time to do it right the first time, you definitely won’t have time to do it again.”
This applies to E-Business Suite upgrades as well as life in general. If you’re going to upgrade, you might as well consider the upcoming Discoverer 4i, Login Server 3.0.9, Portal 3.0.9, and Oracle Internet Directory 3.0.1 desupport dates, too.
Support Terminology Confusion
If you read the official desupport notice below, you’ll see references to “Error Correction Support” (ECS) and “Extended Support” (ES).
If you read Oracle’s Lifetime Support website, you’ll see references to “Premier Support,” “Extended Support,” and “Sustaining Support.”
I’ve had a number of well-meaning Support managers try to explain how these concepts map to each other. Unfortunately, even after multiple rounds I confess that this remains largely impenetrable to me; I just can’t seem to digest marketing terms devoid of semantic content. No matter, there are (thankfully) other people whose jobs it is to explain this.
If you really desire an explanation, it would be worth asking your Oracle Account Manager to decrypt these terms for you in the context of your current contract.
The Pragmatic View: New Patches
From a pragmatic perspective, what you need to know is that after July 31, 2006:
- All E-Business Suite patches will be tested only with 11.5.7 and higher
- You won’t be able to request patch backports to 11.5.1 through 11.5.6
Reference:
- E-Business Suite (Oracle Applications) 11.5.1 through 11.5.6 Product Obsolescence Desupport Notice (Note 329689.1)