Easily Upgrade Your Autonomous Database Serverless to Oracle Database 23ai: Step-by-Step Guide

Introduction

Oracle recently announced a new capability for Autonomous Database Serverless: scheduled upgrades from Oracle Database 19c to Oracle Database 23ai.

This new feature enables you to schedule the upgrade at your convenience, minimizing disruption and aligning with your maintenance windows. In this blog post, I'll walk you through exactly how to plan, schedule, and carry out the upgrade – along with what you need to verify, what limitations to be aware of, and best practices for a smooth transition.

What’s New

• If your Autonomous Database is currently using Oracle Database 19c, you can now initiate a scheduled upgrade to Oracle Database 23ai.

• There are two scheduling options:

  1. Earliest available schedule (default), which finds the next available window automatically. 

  2. Future schedule, where you choose a specific date/time (within 30 days) for the upgrade. Note: this option may incur additional cost. 

• All connected components (disaster recovery peers, clones) are upgraded as needed, per dependency rules. 

Getting Ready: Pre-upgrade Checklist

Before scheduling the upgrade, ensure:

1. Your database version is 19c (this feature is only visible if you’re on 19c).

2. Test your workloads on 23ai in one of these ways:

   • Create a full clone and upgrade it

   • Use a refreshable clone

   • Use capture-replay, if available 

3. Backups: ensure you have recent backups. Note that after the upgrade you cannot downgrade automatically. If necessary, you must request downgrade via support within 72 hours after the upgrade.

4. Check connected resources: If your Autonomous Database has refreshable clones, disaster recovery peers, standby databases, etc., check their status and any constraints. 

Steps to Schedule the Upgrade to 23ai

These steps describe how to schedule the upgrade using the OCI Console.

Step	What to Do	Additional Notes
1. Open Console	Log in to OCI Console → Oracle Database → Autonomous Database.	Ensure you’re in the correct compartment and region.
2. Select your  ADB (Serverless)	From the list of Autonomous Database instances, click on the database using version 19c.	The “Schedule upgrade to 23ai” option appears only if version is 19c.
3. Click “Schedule upgrade to 23ai”	Under General Information, in the Database version section.	This opens the “Schedule upgrade” panel.
4. Choose scheduling option	- Earliest available schedule (default) ‒ minimal extra input needed. - Future schedule ‒ pick date, hour, minute (no more than 30 days ahead).	If you select future schedule, cost may apply.
5. Specify date/time (if required)	For future schedule, set the date, hour, minute. Only 10-minute intervals are allowed.	Keep in mind local maintenance windows.
6. Confirm and schedule	Click Schedule. The state of the database changes to Updating, then back to Available once schedule is in place. A new field “Scheduled 23ai Upgrade” appears, showing the scheduled timestamp.	After scheduling, rescheduling or cancellation is possible only before the upgrade begins.
7. Monitor upgrade	On-scheduled date/time, OCI carries out the upgrade; expect up to ~15 minutes of service interruption. Afterwards, the version shown in General Information will be 23ai.	All connected components are upgraded as per dependencies.

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Cancelling or Rescheduling the Upgrade

• Cancel Scheduled Upgrade: Before the upgrade has begun, you can cancel via “Cancel upgrade” link in the “Scheduled 23ai Upgrade” section. Oracle reverses schedule, returns to Available state. 

• Reschedule Scheduled Upgrade: If using the Future schedule option, you can modify date/time before the upgrade starts. If you chose “Earliest available schedule,” rescheduling is not allowed.

Important Notes & Limitations

• Once the upgrade has begun, you cannot cancel or reschedule. 

• After upgrade, restores from backups taken before the upgrade will restore to that point, but the database version will stay at 23ai (no automatic downgrade). 

• For Always Free and Autonomous Database for Developers instances, only the “Earliest available schedule” option is available. 

• Performance / compatibility testing beforehand is strongly recommended. Some features or behaviors may change.

Best Practices

• Do this during off-peak hours to reduce impact

• Use clones / test environments to validate your application / queries on 23ai

• Monitor service availability and any related resources (DR peers, clones)

• Notify stakeholders in advance, especially about the brief interruption (~15 minutes)

• Keep your patches, extensions, and dependencies updated to avoid incompatibilities

Conclusion

This scheduled upgrade feature gives you control over when your Autonomous Database Serverless moves from 19c to the modern capabilities of Oracle Database 23ai. With thoughtful planning, testing, and by following the correct steps, the process is smooth—and gives you access to newer features, performance improvements, and long-term support.

If you plan to upgrade, start with a clone or test instance, validate your apps, then pick the scheduling option that aligns with your maintenance windows.

Author: Narasimharao Karanam