AutoUpgrade is the Oracle recommended way to upgrade databases. According to the Oracle documentation, “AutoUpgrade is an Oracle-supplied tool that automates the upgrade process for Oracle Database releases 12.2, 18c, and 19c. AutoUpgrade can upgrade multiple databases in parallel and can also perform cross-platform migrations. AutoUpgrade is the recommended tool for upgrading your database.”

Oracle Database 19c is the final release supporting the non-CDB architecture. According to the Oracle documentation1, “Starting with Oracle Database 21c, non-CDB architecture is desupported. You must upgrade a non-CDB Oracle Database to a PDB on a CDB.” A CDB is a container database that can host multiple pluggable databases (PDBs) that share the same resources and memory.

Assess is the security control area that determines if there is sensitive data in a system. According to the Oracle documentation2, “The Assess security control area includes activities that help you identify and classify sensitive data, assess your security posture, and monitor compliance with security standards and regulations.”

 Exadata Cloud Service and Autonomous Database are two target database environments that provide both high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) options in the cloud. Exadata Cloud Service is a fully managed Oracle Database service that runs on Exadata infrastructure in the cloud. It offers high performance, scalability, availability, security, and reliability for all types of database workloads. It also supports various HA and DR options, such as Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC), Oracle Data Guard, Oracle Active Data Guard, Oracle GoldenGate, and Oracle Zero Data Loss Recovery Appliance Cloud Service. Autonomous Database is a self-driving, self-securing, and self-repairing cloud database service that automates provisioning, configuring, securing, tuning, scaling, patching, backing up, and repairing of databases without human intervention. It also provides built-in HA and DR features based on Oracle Maximum Availability Architecture (MAA), such as transparent application continuity, automatic failover to standby databases or regions, automatic backups to object storage, point-in-time recovery using restore points or backups.