| Oracle Rdb x86-64 Call to Action and Other Product News |
Dear Oracle on OpenVMS Customers,
This is a news update for the Oracle Rdb product family. In this newsletter you will find a Call to Action for customers interested in the Oracle Rdb family of products on x86-64 OpenVMS; information on our latest release Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.4 and the associated updated documentation; an update on the InfoRdb email account; news about recent updates to our Technical Archive and a reminder about our Support Dates.
Call to Action – Oracle Rdb on x86-64
If you are interested in running any of the Oracle Rdb family of products on the x86-64 platform, now is the time to let us know! The products that have been ported to x86-64 or are in the process of being ported are:
• Oracle Rdb Server
• Oracle CODASYL DBMS
• Oracle CDD/Repository
• Oracle Trace
• Oracle SQL/Services and OCI Services for Oracle Rdb
• Oracle JDBC for Rdb
• Oracle Replication Option
Before we can make these products available, either as Beta kits or production releases, we will need our senior management approval to ship. That approval will depend, in part, on a business case showing strong customer demand. So far, we have only heard from approximately 20 customers expressing interest in moving to x86-64! Our assumption has been that all our customers will want to make the move since Itanium is at end-of-life but maybe that is not the case.
For the customers who have expressed interest we have been asking them to provide us with a business case that details their needs. Points we have asked them to address include the following:
• A description of your applications that use either Oracle Rdb, Oracle CODASYL DBMS or any of the other related products.
• What is the importance of these applications to your organization?
• What would be the impact to your business if you did not have Oracle Rdb or related products on x86-64?
• Would you be interested in Beta testing? If so, when would you be able to begin testing?
• When would you need a production version of Oracle Rdb on x86-64 OpenVMS?
• How long do you plan to remain on Itanium or Alpha?
• What is your plan, including timelines, to make the migration to a production release of Oracle Rdb or to any of the other related products on x86-64?
• What would your plan be if Oracle Rdb or any of the other related products are not released on x86-64 OpenVMS?
If you are interested in running any of the Oracle Rdb products on the x86-64 version of OpenVMS, either in the short term or long term, and you have not already been in contact with us, we need to hear from you. Your silence could mean that we will not get the approval we need to release on x86-64. To contact us, please send mail to InfoRdb_mb@oracle.com. The time to act is now!
Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.4
Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.4 shipped on June 17, 2025. This release contains all the product enhancements and bug fixes that we have made since our last major release, Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.3, in June of last year. This includes all updates from the Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.3 Update 1 and Update 2 kits.
There are three new enhancements in this release:
• OPCOM Messages Now Always Entered in Oracle Rdb Monitor Log File
o Avoids losing events broadcast by the OpenVMS OPCOM facility if the database is not configured with the NOTIFY IS ENABLED option.
• RMU Show Statistics Now Adds Lock ID to STALL_INVOKE Subprocess Parameters List
o This feature makes it easier to identify users that are blocking other users.
• Enhanced Integrity Checking Before Page Writes
o An additional check to prevent updated data pages from being written to disk in the rare case where the area number or page number in the page header have been corrupted.
The software errors fixed include:
• Unexpected Bugcheck Dump When ALTERNATE_OUTLINE_ID Flag is Enabled
• Unexpected BUGCHECK During IMPORT DATABASE Statement
• Unexpected BUGCHECK During Query on a View with Union
• RMU Show Statistics Did Not Recognize Options Keywords Longer Than Four Characters
• Unexpected BUGCHECK From RMU Show Statistics
• RMU Recover Returns RMU-F-AIJNORCVR Even When Correct Journal Specified
• RMU Backup Online Bugchecks When Logical Areas Created or Deleted
• RMU Show Statistics Process Monitor Counters Incorrect on RAD Systems
• Unexpected Bugcheck When Using RMU Show Statistics Configure Qualifier
• Unexpected Failure From RMU Extract When Using TRIM Functions
A full description of the enhancements and problems fixed in this release can be found in the 7.4.1.4 product documentation.
You can download the Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.4 kit from My Oracle Support (MOS) under patchset numbers 38068880 for Itanium and 38068896 for Alpha.
Updated Versions of Our Product Documentation Now Available
In addition to the Oracle Rdb Server 7.4.1.4 release notes, we have also published 7.4.1.4 versions of the following product documents:
• Oracle Rdb Installation and Configuration Guide
• Oracle Rdb New Features
• Oracle Rdb RMU Reference Manual
You can find all of these in the documentation section of our oracle.com web site (see https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/related/rdb-doc.html)
The InfoRdb Email Account has Changed
As you may have noticed from the email instructions in our Call to Action, our InfoRdb email account has changed. The new account is InfoRdb_mb@oracle.com. Previously it was InfoRdb_US@oracle.com. You can use this email account to contact Oracle Rdb Engineering and Product Management directly for any non-support related issues. Examples would be to reply to our Call to Action or to ask to opt in or out of our product mailing list.
The Oracle Rdb Technical Archive
Under the Resources section of Oracle Rdb’s oracle.com web page is a section named ‘Technical Archive’. This serves as a repository for past Technical Journal Articles, White Papers and presentations on a variety of topics. Sample topics include ‘Guide to Database Tuning: Row Cache Hints and Tips’, ‘Collecting and Deploying Oracle Rdb Workload Statistics’ and a 3-part paper on Rdb Security. We have recently restored content to the archive that had been lost. We invite you to visit the archive and take a look for yourself. You can find it at https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/related/rdb-archive-index.html
A Reminder from our Last Newsletter Regarding Oracle Rdb Support
An Extended Support phase has been added to the Oracle Rdb product family 7.4 releases. As has been the case since 2022, Premier Support for the 7.4 line is scheduled to end by December 31 this year. Extended Support will follow starting on January 1, 2026. It will be available for 2 years until the end of December 2027. Customers will be required to switch to an Extended Support contract for continued support coverage. As we have done with previous Support end-dates, we plan to pursue additional extension approvals once we get closer to the December 2027 date.
Patch support for all Oracle Rdb product family 7.3 versions ended in September of 2023.
You can see these published dates in Oracle’s Lifetime Support Policy document at https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/dms/prod/d1/lifetime-support-tech-069183.pdf).
Questions?
If you have any questions or comments, please contact Oracle Support or send mail to InfoRdb_mb@oracle.com and we will get back to you.
Thank you,
Oracle Rdb Engineering |
