April 2006 Oracle Discoverer Patch Levels

Oracle recently published a document on MetaLink that "explains the minimum and recommended Discoverer patch level Administrators and DBAs should apply for optimum stability, greatest feature availability and most efficient maintenance".

I will summarize the major releases here, along with their patch numbers.

• Discoverer 3.x - completely desupported. The terminal release was 3.1.36 for Administrator and Desktop and 3.3.62 for Plus and Viewer. You should migrate to 10.1.2.0.2 as soon as you can. Note that there is no direct migration path from 3.1 to 10.1.2.0.2 as you must migrate via 4.1.48.08

• Discoverer 4.x (stand-alone, not as part of E-Business Suite) - desupported from June 30, 2004 with Extended Support (ES) available until June 30, 2007. The terminal release was 4.1.48.08. You should migrate to 10.1.2.0.2 as soon as you can.

• Discoverer 4.x (with E-Business Suite) - will be desupported from October 31, 2006. According to Oracle "since Discoverer 10g (10.1.2.0.2) is fully certified, we HIGHLY recommend implementing or migrating to this release". Extended Support (ES) will continue until October 31, 2009.

• Discoverer 9i (9.0.2) - desupported from July 1, 2005 with Extended Support being available until July 1, 2008. The terminal release was 9.0.2.54.10. You are urged to upgrade to 10.1.2.0.2 as soon as you can.

• Discoverer 10g (9.0.4) - There is no terminal release as of this time because 9.0.4 is still a supported product, although desupport (ECS) is scheduled for December 31, 2006. The recommended release is 9.0.4.45.07. Extended Support will continue until December 31, 2009.

• Discoverer 10g (10.1.2.0.0) - The terminal release is 10.1.2.45.46c. You can upgrade to 10.1.2.48.18 by applying the 10.1.2.1 patchset which will bring you to the 10.1.2.0.2 code level. No ECS or ES dates have been announced for 10.1.2.0.0.

• Discoverer 10g (10.1.2.0.2) - This is the current and most up-to-date release and the one you should be on if you can. Notwithstanding the fact that this is the current version it is also a brilliant piece of software. The current release is 10.1.2.48.18. No ECS or ES dates have been announced for 10.1.2.0.2.

Notes: the definitions of ECS and ES can be found on MetaLink in note 187553.1