Oracle 11gR2 inplace and out of place upgrade

I am writing this article to explain what actaully the terms "In place and Out of Place upgrade".

As so many Individuals keep on asking me this question and has been asked on forums too very frequently.

This terms "In place and Out of Place upgrade" has been Introduced from 11.2.0.2 patchset.

Explanation:

If we look into prior release of oracle database's (9i/10g), the traditional upgrade method will be:

--> Install base release.
--> Install latest available patchset on top of base release
--> proceed with your database upgrade.

Consider a situation that you are upgrading from 9.2.0.8 to 10.2.0.5 the steps involved are:

1) Install oracle 10.2.0.1 base release software in a separate home.
2) Install oracle 10.2.0.5 patchset on top of 10.2.0.1
3) Proceed with the upgrade process.

Now from release of 11.2.0.2 patchset the things have changed, you need not have to Install the base release i.e., 11.2.0.1 to apply the 11.2.0.2 patchset.

You can Straight away Install the 11.2.0.2 pacthset as this software is bundled with complete database software Including latest patchset.

Suppose you want to upgrade from 10.2.0.5 to 11.2.0.2 database:

1) Install 11.2.0.2 software in New separate ORACLE_HOME
2) Proceed with Database upgrade.

To Summarize:

In Place Upgrade

-- Upgrade in which patchset will be Installed on Base release.

Out of Place Upgrade

-- Upgrade in which database can be directly upgraded to latest available patchset.

Note: Out of Place upgrade is introduced only from 11.2.0.2 database patchset.

Hope its clear!!!!!!!

Thanks for reading :)