Consolidation as an industry trend - Expert Consolidation in Oracle Database 12c - page 4

Think of the Oracle lifetime support policy as Oracle's own product matrix, dividing the support Oracle sells into
the following categories:

Premier Support : This is essentially the support model you get with the current release
of the database. Current is defined as five years from the time the database version
was generally available. With Premier Support you are entitled to technical support
and certification, all within the limits of the product and further defined in the lifetime
support PDF. However, be careful t to stay with the current point-release of the database
or you might not benefit from the provision of Patch Set Updates! My Oracle Support note
742060.1 is a good reference to be considered.

Extended Support : After the expiration of Premier Support, you can apply for Extended
Support. Oracle somewhat euphemistically states that as a way to give the database user
the freedom to upgrade in his own time. But that freedom obviously comes at a cost. The
duration of the Extended Support agreement is three years. Extended Support however
will allow you to request new fixes for newly discovered problems, and you also get Critical
Patch Updates as well as Patch Set Updates. This is very important for operation teams as it
allows security vulnerabilities to be fixed.

Sustaining Support : After the expiration of the Extended Support (or as an alternative to it)
users can apply for Sustaining Support. Sustaining Support never ends and is valid for as
long as you pay Oracle licenses. However, you will not get new fixes, updates, and Critical
Patch Updates (CPUs). Certification with any new product, supplied by Oracle or a third
party will not be available.

Link to online content : There is a hint at the end of the lifetime support policy document
referring to content online at oracle.com/support/policies.html , which contains some
more fine print to read.

There is more to the lifetime support policy than can be covered in this short section, the reader should make
sure to review the current document available from the Oracle website through the link provided in the introduction
to this section. Additionally the reader should refer to the online resource as well to get a clear understanding of
the situation. In summary, the lifetime policy offers peace of mind in situations where Premier Support ended.
Nevertheless it is strongly recommended to upgrade wherever possible to avoid the monetary penalties.
At the time of this writing, the most widely used Oracle database releases have dates set for Premier, Extended,
and Sustained support as shown in Table 1-1 .

Table 1-1. Oracle Support Levels

Oracle Release Available from End of Premier Support End of Extended Support

10.2 07/2005 07/2010 07/2013

11.1 08/2007 08/2012 08/2015

11.2 09/2009 01/2015 01/2018

As stated above, and therefore not in this table, Sustaining Support does not expire until you stop paying licenses
to Oracle. Although the options of staying on your current Oracle release may sound tempting, you are ultimately
going to pay a higher price than necessary. I recommend implementing a policy in your company's technology
roadmap which moves ageing releases into the de-supported stage soon enough to guarantee a smooth transition.
Chapter 12 will explain how to upgrade your current environment to Oracle 12.1.