Autonomous Database Dedicated - Version NA and later

Autonomous Database on Shared Infrastructure - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Cloud Service - Version N/A and later
Oracle Database Cloud Exadata Service
Oracle Database - Personal Edition - Version 11.2.0.3 and later
Information in this document applies to any platform.

DETAILS

Disclaimer:

The dates published in this document are for planning and discussion purposes only. It is intended solely to help you plan your I.T. projects. A date that exists in the future should not be considered a firm development date as the release and timing of platform releases are subject to change at any time and are at Oracle's sole discretion.

Your access to and use of this confidential material is subject to the terms and conditions of your Oracle Software License and Service Agreement, which has been executed and with which you agree to comply. This document and information contained herein may not be disclosed, copied, reproduced or distributed to anyone outside of the licensed organization without prior written consent of Oracle. This document is not part of your license agreement nor can it be incorporated into any contractual agreement with Oracle or its subsidiaries or affiliates.

The content below represents the most accurate information that Oracle can provide. This is a living document that will change as various milestones are reached and releases go in and out of the product life cycle. It is intended to give you current information about releases that are covered under the Database's Premier Support (PS) and Extended Support (ES) Lifetime policies. Support cannot provide additional dates not listed in this document; do not log a Service Request asking for a future release date. If you wish to be notified when this document changes, set the article as a Favorite, and follow the instructions for Email Notification in KM Doc ID: 793436.2

What's New

The most recent changes will be highlighted with a "New" or "Updated" icon to help you quickly identify the modifications . (For a history of modifications, see the Change Record Table at the bottom of the document.)

Oct 2021: 21c for Microsoft Windows released Oct 8, 2021 Sept 2021: 21c for ODA released Sept 16, 2021 and 21c for HP released on Sept 28, 2021
August 2021: Oracle Database 21c (21.3) released on Linux
June 2021: Oracle will use best effort to support the Oracle 12.1.0.2 Database on Microsoft Windows until July 2022. See Table 1

Oracle Database Release Roadmap

There are two types of Oracle Database releases: Long Term Release and Innovation Release.

Long Term Release:

Oracle Database Long Term Releases are ideal for use cases that benefit from less frequent upgrades to newer releases. Long Term Releases offer the highest level of stability and the longest length of error correction support. These releases have 5 years of Premier Support followed by 3 years of Extended Support. When combined with Extended Support, customers typically have almost 4 years to upgrade from one Long Term Release to the next Long Term Release.

Innovation Release:

In between Oracle Database Long Term Releases, Oracle delivers Oracle Database Innovation Releases that include many enhancements and new capabilities which will also be included in the next Long Term Release. Innovation Releases are designed to enable customers to continuously use leading-edge technologies to rapidly develop or deploy new applications or augment existing applications. Support for Innovation Releases includes at least 2 years of Premier Support, but there is no Extended Support. Production workloads can be deployed on Innovation Releases if upgrading to the next database release within one year after the next database release ships is factored into the deployment plan.

To help you plan ahead, below is a visual roadmap that captures Oracle Database Releases from 11.2 onward, showing the lifetime support stages (Premier, Extended) and the Error Correction windows for each release. Note, not all releases are eligible for Extended Support (i.e. 12.2.0.1, 18c).

Figure 1 - Database Release Roadmap

Oracle is mindful of the unprecedented economic and business disruption our customers faced in 2020. We decided to not promote our Database 20c Preview version to General Availability. Instead, we incorporated all of the 20c functionality into the 21c release and made 21c available initially in our Autonomous Database Free Tier so that all can test drive the new features and enhancements for free.

For details on the Database Suite Lifetime Support Policy (incl. Premier, Extended, Sustaining), see Lifetime Support Policy - Oracle Technology Products.
For details on the Database Suite Error Correction Policy (incl. Patching end dates and grace periods), see Database, FMW, EM Grid Control, and OCS Software Error Correction Support Policy (Doc ID 209768.1).
For details on Global Database Extended Support (ES) Fee Waivers, and Limited Error Correction, see Oracle Software Technical Support Policies Section 3 "Lifetime Support" subtitle "Exceptions".

Table 1 - Patching End Dates for Roadmap

Release	Patching End Date	Notes and Exceptions

21c Innovation Release	April 30, 2024	Error Correction / Patching is available until April 30, 2024 21c is not eligible for Extended Support (ES) Only quarterly Release Updates (RUs) are provided for 21c. Release Update Revisions (RURs) are limited to Long Term Releases.
19c Long Term Release	April 30, 2024 with no ES/ULA April 30, 2027 with ES/ULA	Premier Support (PS) ends April 30, 2024, Extended Support (ES) fees will be required beginning May 01, 2024 through April 30, 2027 Error Correction / Patching is available through April 30, 2027 with paid ES. Without paid ES, patching is only available until April 30, 2024
18c Innovation Release	Jun 30, 2021	Error Correction / Patching was available until Jun 30, 2021. 18c is now in Sustaining Support. 18c is not eligible for Extended Support (ES)
12.2.0.1	March 31, 2022 (Limited Error Correction from Dec 1, 2020 through March 31, 2022)	Error Correction / Patching is available until Nov 30, 2020 Limited Error Correction (Sev 1 and Security Updates only) See Note 161818.1 for details. 12.2.0.1 is not eligible for Extended Support (ES)
12.1.0.2 Terminal Release	Jul 31, 2022 with paid ES, ULA, or EBS waiver	Premier Support (PS) ended Jul 31, 2018 and one year of free Extended Support (ES) was in effect until July 31, 2019. ES fees or a ULA was required beginning 01-Aug-2019 through 31-Jul-2022. Without paid ES or ULA, patching ends 31-Jul-2019. We have a global ES uplift fee waiver in place for E-Business customers, see details and dates of expiration see: Extended Support Fee Waiver for Oracle Database 12.1 and 11.2 for Oracle E-Business Suite (Doc ID 2522948.1) or Technical Support Policy Document. * One additional year (01-Aug-2021 through 31-July-2022) has been added to the 12.1.0.2 DB Extended Support time frame with the following exceptions: Apple Macintosh platform patching end date (Error Correction end date) is July 31, 2021. Microsoft Windows platform exception has changed. Regardless of the version used to run the 12.1.0.2 Database, Oracle built the 12.1.0.2 Database on Microsoft Windows 2008 This platform reached end-of-life support on January 14, 2020. However, we will make reasonable efforts to deliver patches for the Database 12.1.0.2 on Windows until July 2022, as long as our tooling continues to function.
12.1.0.1	Aug 31, 2016	Error Correction / Patching has ended for this release 12.1.0.1 is not eligible for Extended Support (ES) 12.1.0.1 was the last release of Standard Edition (SE) and Standard Edition One (SE1)
11.2.0.4 Terminal Release for 11.2	Dec 31, 2020 (with paid Extended Support or ULA Extended Support or EBS Waiver) Dec 31, 2022 (with Market Driven Support) Dec 31, 2021 for the OpenVMS platform	Premier Support (PS) ended 31-Jan-2015 and one year of free Extended Support (ES) was in effect until Dec 31, 2018. ES fees or a ULA was required beginning Jan 1, 2019 through Dec 31, 2020. At the end of ES, Market Driven Support (MDS) will be available for two additional years. See https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/ds-mds-database-11g-r2.pdf Oracle has a global Extended Support Uplift Fee waiver in place for E-Business customers, see details and dates of expiration see: Extended Support Fee Waiver for Oracle Database 12.1 and 11.2 for Oracle E-Business Suite (Doc ID 2522948.1) or Technical Support Policy Document. Gen 1 and Gen 2 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, OCI DBCS,OCI ExaCS and ODA had 3 additional months of Extended Support. The end of Extended Support for 11.2.0.4 databases on these platforms was: 31-March 2021. New instances could be created up until the end of extended support; however, Oracle makes no commitment that any 11.2.0.4 DBCS instances will continue to run after the end of Support. Market Driven Support is only available for the following Database Cloud Services: Gen 1 and Gen 2 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, OCI DBCS (non-PSM), OCI ExaCS. New instances can be created up until the end of Market Driven Support. Oracle makes no commitment that any 11.2.0.4 DBCS instances will continue to run after the end of MDS support. Market Driven Support is not available for PSM-based OCI DBCS, OCI-C DBCS and OCI-C ExaCS. 11.2.0.4 is the terminal release on OpenVMS. During calendar year 2021, customer will receive Severity 1 Fixes and Security Updates for no additional fees beyond standard Premier Support costs. Coverage does not extend to new certifications, third-party products, or any Java/JDK functionality including Java components embedded in the database. Coverage also excludes any updates related to cryptography and network encryption. This offering does not include standard Security Patch Updates (SPUs).

Recommended Upgrade Path

Oracle recommends the following upgrade options:

For product longevity and patching, Oracle strongly recommends upgrading to 19c which is the Long Term Release with a support end date of April 30, 2027 (or April 30, 2024 if you choose not to pay Extended Support fees or purchase a ULA).
If you are currently running 11.2.x/12.1.x you will need to upgrade to the terminal release (i.e. 11.2.0.4/12.1.0.2) for the DB Release you are running and then continue the upgrade process by upgrading to the 19c.
If you are currently running 12.2.0.1 or 18c, you should upgrade to 19c without delay. 18c is in Sustaining Support.

For questions related to certification combinations and Lifetime Support agreements with other Oracle products like Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle JD Edwards, Oracle PeopleSoft, and Oracle Siebel, please contact your Oracle Account Representative.

Oracle Database Release Schedule

These are server releases unless otherwise specified. Server releases always include the native word size client (e.g. 64-bit). Where the platform supports it, a 32-bit and 64-bit client is also part of the release.

Table 2 - Database Release Schedule

Platform	21c Innovation Release	19c Long Term Release	18c	12.2.0.1	12.1.0.2	12.1.0.1	11.2.0.4
Oracle Public Cloud Releases
Exadata Express Cloud Service	Not Planned	Not Planned	Not Planned	18-Sep-2016	N/A
Database Cloud Service ¹	08-Dec-2020 available on VM (RAC or single-instance) and Bare Metal (single-instance)	OCI DB System - VM: Jul-2019 OCI DB System - Bare Metal: April 2020	1-Mar-2018	4-Nov-2016	Sep-2014	N/A	Sep-2014
Exadata Cloud Service ¹	TBA	19-Jun-2019	Jun-2018	4-Nov-2016	Oct-2015	N/A	Oct-2015
Exadata Cloud at Customer ¹	TBA	17-Sep-2019	May-2018	2-May-2017	Dec-2016	N/A
Autonomous Database on Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure ²	TBA	26-Jun-2019	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer ^²	TBA	08-Jul-2020	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Autonomous Database on Shared Exadata Infrastructure ^²	TBA	15-Mar-2020	18-Mar-2018	N/A	N/A	N/A
On-Premises Engineered Systems (Same software as released for other platforms but tested on Engineered Systems)
Oracle Database Appliance	16-Sep-2021	16-Oct-2019	7-Mar-2018	17-Nov-2017	Apr 2014	N/A	Oct 2013
Exadata	13-Aug-2021	13-Feb-2019	16-Feb-2018	10-Feb-2017	Oct 2014	Mar 2013	Nov 2013
Supercluster	TBA	26-Apr-2019	12-Mar-2018	10-Feb-2017	Nov 2014	Apr 2014	Dec 2013
On-Premises Server Releases (includes client) (Download here)
Linux x86	Not Planned	Not planned	Not planned	Not planned	Not planned	Not planned	28-Aug-2013
Linux x86-64	13-Aug-2021	25-Apr-2019	23-Jul-2018	1-Mar-2017	22-Jul-2014	25-Jun-2013	27-Aug-2013
Oracle Solaris SPARC (64-bit)	Not Planned	26-Apr-2019	30-Jul-2018	1-Mar-2017	22-Jul-2014	25-Jun-2013	29-Aug-2013
Oracle Solaris x86-64 (64-bit)	Not Planned	07-Nov-2019 Terminal Release	6-Aug-2018	1-Mar-2017	22-Jul-2014	25-Jun-2013	29-Aug-2013
Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit)	08-Oct-2021	08-Jun-2019	21-Aug-2018	16-Mar-2017	25-Sep-2014	9-Jul-2013	25-Oct-2013
OpenVMS Itanium	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Terminal Release
HP-UX Itanium ^⁷	28-Sept-2021	28-May-2019	20-Nov -2018	13-Apr-2017	14-Nov-2014	9-Jan-2014	10-Oct-2013
HP-UX PA-RISC (64-bit)	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	Platform desupported	2-Jan-2014
IBM AIX on POWER Systems	See DOC ID 2766930.1	28-May-2019	20-Nov -2018	13-Apr-2017	14-Nov-2014	9-Jan-2014	10-Oct-2013
IBM Linux on System z	See DOC ID 2766930.1	06-June-2019	20-Nov -2018	6-Jun-2017	14-Nov-2014	9-Jan-2014	9-Jan-2014
Microsoft Windows (32-bit)	Client Only - Oct 2021	Client only - June 2019	Not planned	Not planned	Not planned	Not planned	25-Oct-2013
Platform	21c	19	18	12.2.0.1	12.1.0.2	12.1.0.1	11.2.0.4
Instant Client-Only Releases
Apple macOS (Intel) download		10-Sept-2019	Mar-2018	15-Jan-2018	2016	Not planned	20-Apr-2014 Download
IBM Linux on POWER (Big Endian)					18-Dec-2015 ( download)		4-Dec-2014
IBM Linux on POWER (Little Endian) download		Jul-2019 download	31-Oct-2018 (download)	7-Jun-2017 (download)	18-Dec-2015 (download)
Linux on ARM	TBA	May-2021 download
¹Oracle Database Cloud Service, Exadata Cloud Service, and Exadata Cloud@Customer follow the same support life and error correction schedule as on-premises dates unless otherwise noted in Table 1 above (for example, 11.2.0.4 MDS). Also, Extended Support is bundled with these services and does not require additional fees. These services will not be covered under Sustaining Support and Oracle makes no commitment that any cloud service instances will continue to run after the end of their support life (Premier, extended, error correction, or MDS). ²Oracle's current plan for Oracle Autonomous Database - Shared Exadata Infrastructure, Oracle Autonomous Database - Dedicated Exadata Infrastructure, Autonomous Database on Exadata Cloud@Customer services is to support Long Term Release versions for a similar period of time found for those major releases when deployed on-premises. The intent of this plan is to provide stability of service experience for the thousands of critical database deployments found in Oracle Cloud. Additionally, we will at times make available Innovation Releases as part of the Autonomous Database Cloud Services. Innovation Releases, when provided, will be supported for a shorter period of time as compared to a Long Term Release, similar to what is found for those releases when deployed on-premises. Oracle reserves the right to change this plan with changing business requirements. Any change will take into account that stability is of utmost importance to Oracle's many thousands of mission critical deployments. References for Client-Only: https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/oracle19c-linux-5462157.html https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/oracle19c-windows-5539283.html 32-bit Linux & Windows Instant Clients, https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/instant-client/linux-x86-32-downloads.html https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/instant-client/microsoft-windows-32-downloads.html

Legend:

Qn CYyyyy: Date falls within the Calendar Year specified.
1H or 2H CYyyyy: Date falls within the 1st half (six months) or 2nd half of Calendar Year. For example 1H CY2009 means "some time within the first six months of 2009".
TBA = Schedule To Be Announced

ACTIONS

The dates published in this document are for planning and discussion purposes only.

CONTACTS

Change History (2020-2021)

Only significant changes to content (such as new or changed dates, new releases, or clarifications) beginning Jan 1, 2020 are listed below. Minor wording or formatting changes are not recorded.

Date	What Changed?
11-Nov-2021	Wording for Cloud services modified to say: These services will not be covered under Sustaining Support and Oracle makes no commitment that any cloud service instances will continue to run after the end of their support life (Premier, extended, error correction, or MDS).
20-Oct-2021	Added release dates for 21c on ODA, HP, Windows
13-Aug-2021	Oracle Database 21.3 released on Linux with a patching end date of April 30, 2024
08-Jun-2021	Oracle will use best effort to support the Oracle 12.1.0.2 Database on Microsoft Windows until July 2022. See Table 1 above.
03-Jun-2021	Added Market Driven Support is not available for PSM-based OCI DBCS, in 11.2.0.4
05-May-2021	Oracle Instant Client 19.10 released on Linux on ARM
04-May-2021	Oracle is not planning to release 21c on IBM AIX Power Systems and IBM Linux on System Z (Added link to Doc ID 2766930.1 05/06/2021)
16-Dec-2020	Updated Table 1 11.2.0.4 Market Driven Support bullet for Database Cloud Services
08-Dec-2020	Updated Roadmap, Added 21c information
23-Nov-2020	Changed end date for 18c from June 08, 2021 to June 30, 2021 to match contract date requirements.
12-Oct-2020	Added OpenVMS Itanium Support dates that will extend their support until Dec 31, 2021. See Table 1 - 11.2.0.4 section above.
02-Sep-2020	Added additional information around 11.2.0.4 DBCS and Market Driven Support. See Table 1- 11.2.0.4 section above.
03-Aug-2020	Because 12.2.0.1 LEC applies to all on-prem and DB cloud services, removed the following from 12.2.0.1 bullet points: 'Limited Error Correction applies to Gen 1 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, and ODA (UPDATED)'. Added a comment that MDS does not apply to DBCS (This comment was removed 02-Sep-2020) Amended 12.1.0.2 EXS extension to specifically call out the Windows exception end date is the 'Patching/Error Correction end date'. In certify, the EXS date for Windows platforms will still show as July 31, 2022 due to a tool limitation but patching (including bundles) will stop July 31, 2021.
10-Jun-2020	Added Long Term and Innovation release definitions, added updated Premier and Extended Support dates for 19c, added terminal release for the Solaris x86-64 bit platform, clarified the 12.2.0.1 additional 3 months of support for Gen 1 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, and ODA has been absorbed into Limited Error Correction window.
15-Apr-2020	Added Limited Error Correction for 12.2.0.1 from Dec 1, 2020- until March 31, 2022
23-Mar-2020	Gen 1 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, and ODA will have 3 additional months of support life. The end of life dates for databases on these platforms is: 11.2.0.4: 31-March 2021 12.2.0.1: 28-Feb-2021
Jan 28, 2020	Restructured original document, removed older releases that are no longer covered under Premier or Extended Support, removed unnecessary information contained in other documents, Added estimated release dates for annual release 20c.