Oracle Database 18c, Database of Year 2018

Oracle database 18c is now available…it’s about a week since announcement made on 16 Feb.
So we download a copy and try it …

Well wait a sec..its released only on Oracle Cloud & Engineered Systems.

So what does 18c stands for, the ‘c’ of course stands for cloud, but why 18c not 13c. Why there are 6 versions skipped.
From sources like blog.oracle.com, mike dietrich’s blog it clearly states that 18c is a subsequent release of 12.2.0.2 (12c Rel 2).

Oracle has only changed the naming convention to reflect year when product released. So thus indicates now oracle will have yearly releases with quarterly updates.

oracle-database-18c-release-schedule

So we can expect version 19c or 19x in 2019. will see how that goes.

Well its nice to see that many MOS ids/docs has also been appended to reflect 18c release. for e.g. in the upgrade compatibility matrix and many more docs where you can see 18c is officially available.

upgrade-to-oracle-database-18c

You can get more details on Database 18c and updates on MOS Document 2285040.1
For more information on Oracle 18c on Different platforms you can refer Document 742060.1.

Wanna get started with Oracle 18c, so here’s how you can start.
Step 1: Refer Oracle database 18c Documentation .
https://docs.oracle.com/en/database/oracle/oracle-database/18/newft/new-features.html

Step 2: Try out Oracle 18c with LiveSQL.
https://livesql.oracle.com/apex/livesql/file/index.html

 

Excuse typos.