On July 10, 2025, an unusual venue opened its doors to the Oracle community: The Institute for Emergency Medicine (INM) at LMU Munich had invited ora2know to host a top-class event on their premises: a Hands-on Workshop with Mike Dietrich: Upgrade and Migration to Oracle Database 19c and 23ai!
Oracle 19c and 23ai Upgrade and Migration
Technology and People
Oracle’s “Mr. Upgrade”, Mike Dietrich, provided an excellent overview of possible starting points, upgrade paths, and migration strategies for bringing Oracle databases up to date. Naturally, the modern upgrade and patching tool “autoupgrade.jar” was not to be missed, but topics such as lifecycle, acceptance, internal promotion, and keeping one’s own knowledge current were also covered in the introductory presentation and discussed at length. And no, Mike did not show all 400 slides of his famous slide deck. 🙂
Hands-On
The heart of the event was the hands-on work! The participants had prepared for it and were looking forward to it — and the excellent Oracle LiveLabs gave them every reason to be. The environments were cleanly deployed and worked flawlessly. (Many thanks to David Start and his team — this platform is a fantastic thing!)
Each of our guests was able to dive deep into the technical challenges of Oracle 19c and 23ai upgrade and migration through five lab exercises — and the best part: Mike himself supported participants at their seats, making it the ideal opportunity to discuss topics directly with “the master” and get background information and context explained in a one-on-one setting. Plenty of time had been scheduled for this, and it was put to good use.
A Surprise as Part of the Programme
Our host from the INM, Markus Geis, surprised us shortly before the end with a tour of the institute’s simulation area: there, many scenarios from the emergency rescue chain can be simulated and reconstructed under controlled conditions — from helicopter transport to the operating theatre.
A Perfect Ending
After the final exercises wrapped up, we all headed a few streets away to a restaurant to round off the day with a relaxed get-together. Even there, the topic of “Oracle” was not neglected — though alongside good drinks and delicious food it took a back seat.
Thanks to Everyone!
This event would not have been possible without the support of Mike Dietrich (Oracle) and above all our host, Markus Geis (INM). Thank you for being there for the community and for providing both content and a roof over our heads!
We would also like to extend our thanks to the participants, who without exception contributed, discussed, and asked questions with motivation, engagement, and expertise — we hope everyone had as much fun as we did organizing the event. We hope to see you again soon at an ora2know event of your choice!
Your ora2know team on the ground: Johannes Ahrends, Martin Klier, and Oliver Pyka