Upgrading to Oracle 12c - Expert Consolidation in Oracle Database 12c - page 429

After adjusting any necessary parameters in the initialization file you can start the database. If the database was
in ASM the new pfile is created very quickly: all you need is a pointer to the SPFILE as shown here:
[oracle@server1 ~]$ cat initora11.ora
SPFILE='+DATA/ORA11/spfileORA11.ora' # line added by Agent
Before starting the database for the first time as shown below with the upgrade option you should create a pfile
from the spfile and modify any parameters the pre-upgrade script recommended changing. Should the database fail
to start then you most likely forgot to create the audit dump destination file or the diagnostic destination. You should
not have set the background/user/core dump destination parameters in an 11g database, but if you are migrating
from a 10.2 database then you might have to review these and change accordingly. If you are using a password file
ensure that it is available in the new Oracle home's dbs directory. If you are not using Oracle Restart and previously
had a SID_LIST in your listener.ora file ensure that this is available with the 12c listener, and that the listener is started.
In any case, create a new backup of the database using a proven and validated method before starting the actual
migration of the test database. The backup should include the spfile and controlfile autobackup as well as all database
files and necessary archivelogs.
Performing the upgrade
If not already done so, upgrade the /etc/oratab file (or / var/opt/oracle/oratab in Solaris) and create a new entry
for the test database about to be migrated. In the next step you need to ensure your new environment has been
sourced in to your session. The safest way to do so is to log out and log back in again. The environment variables
should now point to the new Oracle home.
At this stage you need to be sure you have a tried and tested backup and recovery strategy in place in the event
that the backup fails.
Navigate to the $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin directory on the database server. Then start the database with the
upgrade command:
[oracle@server1 admin]$ sqlplus / as sysdba
[...]
Connected to an idle instance.
SQL> startup upgrade
ORACLE instance started.
Total System Global Area 1068937216 bytes
Fixed Size 2268624 bytes
Variable Size 314573360 bytes
Database Buffers 746586112 bytes
Redo Buffers 5509120 bytes
Database mounted.
Database opened
SQL> exit
Exit the SQL*Plus session and be amazed by one of the best new features from the author's point of view: the
parallel dictionary upgrade. Instead of initiating the upgrade from within SQL*plus, you can launch a perl script to
perform the task in parallel. The script is named catctl.pl and resides in $ORACLE_HOME/rdbms/admin as described
earlier. It normally takes two parameters. The first one indicates the maximum degree of parallelism. It ranges from
1 to 8 with 4 being the default. The migration log files will be created in the current working directory but should