Oracle on Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS supports DB instances running several versions and editions of Oracle Database. You can use the following versions and editions:

Oracle 12c, Version 12.1.0.2
Oracle 11g, Version 11.2.0.4

Amazon RDS also currently supports the following versions and editions that are on deprecation paths, because Oracle no longer provides patches for them:

Oracle 12c, Version 12.1.0.1 (Deprecation of Oracle 12.1.0.1)
Oracle 11g, Version 11.2.0.3 (Deprecation of Oracle 11.2.0.3)
Oracle 11g, Version 11.2.0.2 (Deprecation of Oracle 11.2.0.2)

You can create DB instances and DB snapshots, point-in-time restores and automated or manual backups. DB instances running Oracle can be used inside a VPC. You can also enable various options to add additional features to your Oracle DB instance. Amazon RDS supports Multi-AZ deployments for Oracle as a high-availability, failover solution.

In order to deliver a managed service experience, Amazon RDS does not provide shell access to DB instances, and it restricts access to certain system procedures and tables that require advanced privileges. Amazon RDS supports access to databases on a DB instance using any standard SQL client application such as Oracle SQL Plus. Amazon RDS does not allow direct host access to a DB instance via Telnet or Secure Shell (SSH).

When you create a DB instance, the master account that you use to create the instance gets DBA user privileges (with some limitations). Use this account for any administrative tasks such as creating additional user accounts in the database. The SYS user, SYSTEM user, and other administrative accounts are locked and cannot be used.

Before creating a DB instance, you should complete the steps in the Setting Up for Amazon RDS section of this guide.

Common Management Tasks for Oracle on Amazon RDS

The following are the common management tasks you perform with an Amazon RDS Oracle DB instance, with links to relevant documentation for each task.

Task Area	Relevant Documentation
Instance Classes, Storage, and PIOPS If you are creating a DB instance for production purposes, you should understand how instance classes, storage types, and Provisioned IOPS work in Amazon RDS.	DB Instance Class Support for Oracle Amazon RDS Storage Types
Multi-AZ Deployments A production DB instance should use Multi-AZ deployments. Multi-AZ deployments provide increased availability, data durability, and fault tolerance for DB instances.	High Availability (Multi-AZ)
Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) If your AWS account has a default VPC, then your DB instance is automatically created inside the default VPC. If your account does not have a default VPC, and you want the DB instance in a VPC, you must create the VPC and subnet groups before you create the DB instance.	Determining Whether You Are Using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic Platform Working with an Amazon RDS DB Instance in a VPC
Security Groups By default, DB instances are created with a firewall that prevents access to them. You therefore must create a security group with the correct IP addresses and network configuration to access the DB instance. The security group you create depends on what Amazon EC2 platform your DB instance is on, and whether you will access your DB instance from an Amazon EC2 instance. In general, if your DB instance is on the EC2-Classic platform, you will need to create a DB security group; if your DB instance is on the EC2-VPC platform, you will need to create a VPC security group.	Determining Whether You Are Using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic Platform Controlling Access with Amazon RDS Security Groups
Parameter Groups If your DB instance is going to require specific database parameters, you should create a parameter group before you create the DB instance.	Working with DB Parameter Groups
Option Groups If your DB instance is going to require specific database options, you should create an option group before you create the DB instance.	Options for Oracle DB Instances
Connecting to Your DB Instance After creating a security group and associating it to a DB instance, you can connect to the DB instance using any standard SQL client application such as Oracle SQL Plus.	Connecting to a DB Instance Running the Oracle Database Engine
Backup and Restore You can configure your DB instance to take automated backups, or take manual snapshots, and then restore instances from the backups or snapshots.	Backing Up and Restoring Amazon RDS DB Instances
Monitoring You can monitor an Oracle DB instance by using CloudWatch Amazon RDS metrics, events, and enhanced monitoring.	Viewing DB Instance Metrics Viewing Amazon RDS Events
Log Files You can access the log files for your Oracle DB instance.	Amazon RDS Database Log Files

Task Area

Relevant Documentation

Instance Classes, Storage, and PIOPS

If you are creating a DB instance for production purposes, you should understand how instance classes, storage types, and Provisioned IOPS work in Amazon RDS.

DB Instance Class Support for Oracle

Amazon RDS Storage Types

Multi-AZ Deployments

A production DB instance should use Multi-AZ deployments. Multi-AZ deployments provide increased availability, data durability, and fault tolerance for DB instances.

High Availability (Multi-AZ)

Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC)

If your AWS account has a default VPC, then your DB instance is automatically created inside the default VPC. If your account does not have a default VPC, and you want the DB instance in a VPC, you must create the VPC and subnet groups before you create the DB instance.

Determining Whether You Are Using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic Platform

Working with an Amazon RDS DB Instance in a VPC

Security Groups

By default, DB instances are created with a firewall that prevents access to them. You therefore must create a security group with the correct IP addresses and network configuration to access the DB instance. The security group you create depends on what Amazon EC2 platform your DB instance is on, and whether you will access your DB instance from an Amazon EC2 instance.

In general, if your DB instance is on the EC2-Classic platform, you will need to create a DB security group; if your DB instance is on the EC2-VPC platform, you will need to create a VPC security group.

Determining Whether You Are Using the EC2-VPC or EC2-Classic Platform

Controlling Access with Amazon RDS Security Groups

Parameter Groups

If your DB instance is going to require specific database parameters, you should create a parameter group before you create the DB instance.

Working with DB Parameter Groups

Option Groups

If your DB instance is going to require specific database options, you should create an option group before you create the DB instance.

Options for Oracle DB Instances

Connecting to Your DB Instance

After creating a security group and associating it to a DB instance, you can connect to the DB instance using any standard SQL client application such as Oracle SQL Plus.

Connecting to a DB Instance Running the Oracle Database Engine

Backup and Restore

You can configure your DB instance to take automated backups, or take manual snapshots, and then restore instances from the backups or snapshots.

Backing Up and Restoring Amazon RDS DB Instances

Monitoring

You can monitor an Oracle DB instance by using CloudWatch Amazon RDS metrics, events, and enhanced monitoring.

Viewing DB Instance Metrics

Viewing Amazon RDS Events

Log Files

You can access the log files for your Oracle DB instance.

Amazon RDS Database Log Files

There are also advanced tasks and optional features for working with Oracle DB instances. For more information, see the following documentation:

For information on common DBA tasks for Oracle on Amazon RDS, see Common DBA Tasks for Oracle DB Instances.
For information on Oracle GoldenGate support, see Using Oracle GoldenGate with Amazon RDS.
For information on Siebel Customer Relationship Management (CRM) support, see Installing a Siebel Database on Oracle on Amazon RDS.

Oracle Licensing

There are two licensing options available for Amazon RDS for Oracle; License Included and Bring Your Own License (BYOL). After you create an Oracle DB instance on Amazon RDS, you can change the licensing model by using the AWS Management Console, the Amazon RDS API ModifyDBInstance action, or the AWS CLI modify-db-instance command.

License Included

In the License Included model, you don't need to purchase Oracle licenses separately; AWS holds the license for the Oracle database software. In this model, if you have an AWS Support account with case support, you contact AWS Support for both Amazon RDS and Oracle Database service requests.

The License Included model is supported on Amazon RDS for the following Oracle database editions:

Oracle Database Standard Edition One (SE1)
Oracle Database Standard Edition Two (SE2)

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

In the Bring Your Own License model, you can use your existing Oracle Database licenses to run Oracle deployments on Amazon RDS. You must have the appropriate Oracle Database license (with Software Update License and Support) for the DB instance class and Oracle Database edition you wish to run. You must also follow Oracle's policies for licensing Oracle Database software in the cloud computing environment. For more information on Oracle's licensing policy for Amazon EC2, see Licensing Oracle Software in the Cloud Computing Environment.

In this model, you continue to use your active Oracle support account, and you contact Oracle directly for Oracle Database service requests. If you have an AWS Support account with case support, you can contact AWS Support for Amazon RDS issues. Amazon Web Services and Oracle have a multi-vendor support process for cases which require assistance from both organizations.

The Bring Your Own License model is supported on Amazon RDS for the following Oracle database editions:

Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (EE)
Oracle Database Standard Edition (SE)
Oracle Database Standard Edition One (SE1)
Oracle Database Standard Edition Two (SE2)

Licensing Oracle Multi-AZ Deployments

Amazon RDS supports Multi-AZ deployments for Oracle as a high-availability, failover solution. We recommend Multi-AZ for production workloads. For more information, see High Availability (Multi-AZ).

If you use the Bring Your Own License model, you must have a license for both the primary DB instance and the standby DB instance in a Multi-AZ deployment.

DB Instance Class Support for Oracle

The computation and memory capacity of a DB instance is determined by its DB instance class. The DB instance class you need depends on your processing power and memory requirements. For more information, see DB Instance Class.

The following are the DB instance classes supported for Oracle.

Oracle Edition	Version 12.1.0.2 Support	Version 11.2.0.4 Support
Enterprise Edition (EE) Bring Your Own License (BYOL)	db.m4.large–db.m4.16xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.32xlarge db.x1.16xlarge–db.x1.32xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.16xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge	db.m4.large–db.m4.16xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.32xlarge db.x1.16xlarge–db.x1.32xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.16xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge
Standard Edition 2 (SE2) Bring Your Own License (BYOL)	db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.4xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge	—
Standard Edition 2 (SE2) License Included	db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge	—
Standard Edition 1 (SE1) Bring Your Own License (BYOL)	—	db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.4xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge
Standard Edition 1 (SE1) License Included	—	db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.large
Standard Edition (SE) Bring Your Own License (BYOL)	—	db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.8xlarge db.r4.large–db.r4.8xlarge db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

Oracle Edition

Version 12.1.0.2 Support

Version 11.2.0.4 Support

Enterprise Edition (EE)

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

db.m4.large–db.m4.16xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.32xlarge

db.x1.16xlarge–db.x1.32xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.16xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

db.m4.large–db.m4.16xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.32xlarge

db.x1.16xlarge–db.x1.32xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.16xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

Standard Edition 2 (SE2)

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.4xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

—

Standard Edition 2 (SE2)

License Included

db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

—

Standard Edition 1 (SE1)

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

—

db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.4xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.4xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

Standard Edition 1 (SE1)

License Included

—

db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.4xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.large

Standard Edition (SE)

Bring Your Own License (BYOL)

—

db.m4.large–db.m4.4xlarge

db.m3.medium–db.m3.2xlarge

db.x1e.xlarge–db.x1e.8xlarge

db.r4.large–db.r4.8xlarge

db.r3.large–db.r3.8xlarge

db.t2.micro–db.t2.2xlarge

Deprecated DB Instance Classes for Oracle

In 2018, Amazon RDS is deprecating support for db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes. These DB instance classes have been replaced by better performing DB instance classes that are generally available at a lower cost. Therefore, to provide the best experience for AWS customers, we are deprecating these DB instance classes.

Amazon RDS is deprecating support for db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes according to the following schedule.

Date	Information
May 11, 2018	You can no longer create DB instances that use the db.m1 or db.m2 DB instance classes.
September 12, 2018	We will end support of the db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes on Amazon RDS for Oracle. If you have DB instances that use db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes, we strongly recommend that you update them to use a DB instance class that is not deprecated. Any snapshot that uses the db.m1 or db.m2 DB instance class is updated to use a comparable DB instance class that is not deprecated. You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Date

Information

May 11, 2018

You can no longer create DB instances that use the db.m1 or db.m2 DB instance classes.

September 12, 2018

We will end support of the db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes on Amazon RDS for Oracle. If you have DB instances that use db.m1 and db.m2 DB instance classes, we strongly recommend that you update them to use a DB instance class that is not deprecated.

Any snapshot that uses the db.m1 or db.m2 DB instance class is updated to use a comparable DB instance class that is not deprecated.

You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Oracle Security

The Oracle database engine uses role-based security. A role is a collection of privileges that can be granted to or revoked from a user. A predefined role, named DBA, normally allows all administrative privileges on an Oracle database engine. The following privileges are not available for the DBA role on an Amazon RDS DB instance using the Oracle engine:

Alter database
Alter system
Create any directory
Drop any directory
Grant any privilege
Grant any role

Amazon RDS Oracle supports SSL/TLS encrypted connections as well as the Oracle Native Network Encryption (NNE) option to encrypt connections between your application and your Oracle DB instance. For more information about using SSL with Oracle on Amazon RDS, see Using SSL with an Oracle DB Instance. For more information about the Oracle Native Network Encryption option, see Oracle Native Network Encryption.

Using SSL with an Oracle DB Instance

Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is an industry standard protocol used for securing network connections between client and server. After SSL version 3.0, the name was changed to Transport Layer Security (TLS), but it is still often referred to as SSL and we refer to the protocol as SSL. Amazon RDS supports SSL encryption for Oracle DB instances. Using SSL, you can encrypt a connection between your application client and your Oracle DB instance. SSL support is available in all AWS regions for Oracle.

You enable SSL encryption for an Oracle DB instance by adding the Oracle SSL option to the option group associated with the DB instance. Amazon RDS uses a second port, as required by Oracle, for SSL connections which allows both clear text and SSL-encrypted communication to occur at the same time between a DB instance and an Oracle client. For example, you can use the port with clear text communication to communicate with other resources inside a VPC while using the port with SSL-encrypted communication to communicate with resources outside the VPC.

For more information, see Oracle SSL.

Note

You can't use both SSL and Oracle native network encryption (NNE) on the same DB instance. Before you can use SSL encryption, you must disable any other connection encryption.

Oracle 12c with Amazon RDS

Amazon RDS supports Oracle version 12c, which includes Oracle Enterprise Edition and Oracle Standard Edition Two. Oracle version 12c brings over 500 new features and updates from the previous version. This section covers the features and changes important to using Oracle 12c on Amazon RDS. For a complete list of the changes, see the Oracle 12c documentation. For a complete list of features supported by each Oracle 12c edition, see Feature Availability by Edition.

Oracle 12c includes sixteen new parameters that impact your Amazon RDS DB instance, as well as eighteen new system privileges, several no longer supported packages, and several new option group settings. The following sections provide more information on these changes.

Amazon RDS Parameter Changes for Oracle 12c

Oracle 12c includes sixteen new parameters in addition to several parameters with new ranges and new default values.

The following table shows the new Amazon RDS parameters for Oracle 12c:

Name	Values	Modifiable	Description
connection_brokers	CONNECTION_BROKERS = broker_description[,...]	N	Specifies connection broker types, the number of connection brokers of each type, and the maximum number of connections per broker.
db_index_compression_inheritance	TABLESPACE, TABL, ALL, NONE	Y	Displays the options that are set for table or tablespace level compression inheritance.
db_big_table_cache_percent_target	0-90	Y	Specifies the cache section target size for automatic big table caching, as a percentage of the buffer cache.
heat_map	ON,OFF	Y	Enables the database to track read and write access of all segments, as well as modification of database blocks, due to data manipulation language (DML) and data definition language (DDL) statements.
inmemory_clause_default	INMEMORY,NO INMEMORY	Y	INMEMORY_CLAUSE_DEFAULT enables you to specify a default In-Memory Column Store (IM column store) clause for new tables and materialized views.
inmemory_clause_default_memcompress	NO MEMCOMPRESS,MEMCOMPRESS FOR DML,MEMCOMPRESS FOR QUERY, MEMCOMPRESS FOR QUERY LOW,MEMCOMPRESS FOR QUERY HIGH,MEMCOMPRESS FOR CAPACITY,MEMCOMPRESS FOR CAPACITY LOW,MEMCOMPRESS FOR CAPACITY HIGH	Y	See INMEMORY_CLAUSE_DEFAULT.
inmemory_clause_default_priority	PRIORITY LOW,PRIORITY MEDIUM,PRIORITY HIGH,PRIORITY CRITICAL,PRIORITY NONE	Y	See INMEMORY_CLAUSE_DEFAULT.
inmemory_force	DEFAULT, OFF	Y	INMEMORY_FORCE allows you to specify whether tables and materialized view that are specified as INMEMORY are populated into the In-Memory Column Store (IM column store) or not.
inmemory_max_populate_servers	Null	N	INMEMORY_MAX_POPULATE_SERVERS specifies the maximum number of background populate servers to use for In-Memory Column Store (IM column store) population, so that these servers do not overload the rest of the system.
inmemory_query	ENABLE (default), DISABLE	Y	INMEMORY_QUERY is used to enable or disable in-memory queries for the entire database at the session or system level.
inmemory_size	0,104857600-274877906944	Y	INMEMORY_SIZE sets the size of the In-Memory Column Store (IM column store) on a database instance.
inmemory_trickle_repopulate_servers_percent	0 to 50	Y	INMEMORY_TRICKLE_REPOPULATE_SERVERS_PERCENT limits the maximum number of background populate servers used for In-Memory Column Store (IM column store) repopulation, as trickle repopulation is designed to use only a small percentage of the populate servers.
max_string_size	STANDARD (default), EXTENDED	N	Controls the maximum size of VARCHAR2, NVARCHAR2, and RAW.
optimizer_adaptive_features	TRUE (default), FALSE	Y	Enables or disables all of the adaptive optimizer features.
optimizer_adaptive_reporting_only	TRUE,FALSE (default)	Y	Controls reporting-only mode for adaptive optimizations.
pdb_file_name_convert		N	Maps names of existing files to new file names.
pga_aggregate_limit	1-max of memory	Y	Specifies a limit on the aggregate PGA memory consumed by the instance.
processor_group_name		N	Instructs the database instance to run itself within the specified operating system processor group.
spatial_vector_acceleration	TRUE,FALSE	N	Enables or disables the spatial vector acceleration, part of spatial option.
temp_undo_enabled	TRUE,FALSE (default)	Y	Determines whether transactions within a particular session can have a temporary undo log.
threaded_execution	TRUE,FALSE	N	Enables the multithreaded Oracle model, but prevents OS authentication.
unified_audit_sga_queue_size	1 MB - 30 MB	Y	Specifies the size of the system global area (SGA) queue for unified auditing.
use_dedicated_broker	TRUE,FALSE	N	Determines how dedicated servers are spawned.

Several parameter have new value ranges for Oracle 12c on Amazon RDS. The following table shows the old and new value ranges:

Parameter Name	12c Range	11g Range
audit_trail	os \| db [, extended] \| xml [, extended]	os \| db [, extended] \| xml [, extended] \| true \| false
compatible	For DB instances upgraded from Oracle 11g, automatically set to 12.0.0 on Amazon RDS unless a lower value is explicitly provided during the upgrade (as low as 11.2.0) For new Oracle 12c DB instances, starts with 12.0.0 on Amazon RDS	Starts with 11.2.0 on Amazon RDS
db_securefile	PERMITTED \| PREFERRED \| ALWAYS \| IGNORE \| FORCE	PERMITTED \| ALWAYS \| IGNORE \| FORCE
db_writer_processes	1-100	1-36
optimizer_features_enable	8.0.0 to 12.1.0.2	8.0.0 to 11.2.0.4
parallel_degree_policy	MANUAL,LIMITED,AUTO,ADAPTIVE	MANUAL,LIMITED,AUTO
parallel_min_server	0 to parallel_max_servers	CPU_COUNT * PARALLEL_THREADS_PER_CPU * 2 to parallel_max_servers

One parameters has a new default value for Oracle 12c on Amazon RDS. The following table shows the new default value:

Parameter Name	Oracle 12c Default Value	Oracle 11g Default Value
job_queue_processes	50	1000

Parameters in Amazon RDS are managed using parameter groups. See Working with DB Parameter Groups for more information. To view the supported parameters for a specific Oracle edition and version, you can run the AWS CLI describe-engine-default-parameters command.

For example, to view the supported parameters for Oracle Enterprise Edition, version 12c, run the following command:



aws rds describe-engine-default-parameters --db-parameter-group-family oracle-ee-12.1

Amazon RDS System Privileges for Oracle 12c

Several new system privileges have been granted to the system account for Oracle 12c. These new system privileges include:

ALTER ANY CUBE BUILD PROCESS
ALTER ANY MEASURE FOLDER
ALTER ANY SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE
CREATE ANY SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE
CREATE SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE
DROP ANY SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE
EM EXPRESS CONNECT
EXEMPT DDL REDACTION POLICY
EXEMPT DML REDACTION POLICY
EXEMPT REDACTION POLICY
LOGMINING
REDEFINE ANY TABLE
SELECT ANY CUBE BUILD PROCESS
SELECT ANY MEASURE FOLDER
USE ANY SQL TRANSLATION PROFILE

Amazon RDS Options for Oracle 12c

Several Oracle options changed between Oracle 11g and Oracle 12c, though most of the options remain the same between the two versions. The Oracle 12c changes include the following:

Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express 12c replaced Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g Database Control. For more information, see Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Express.
The option XMLDB is installed by default in Oracle 12c. You no longer need to install this option yourself.

Amazon RDS PL/SQL Packages for Oracle 12c

Oracle 12c includes a number of new built-in PL/SQL packages. The packages included with Amazon RDS Oracle 12c include the following:

Package Name	Description
CTX_ANL	The CTX_ANL package is used with AUTO_LEXER and provides procedures for adding and dropping a custom dictionary from the lexer.
DBMS_APP_CONT	The DBMS_APP_CONT package provides an interface to determine if the in-flight transaction on a now unavailable session committed or not, and if the last call on that session completed or not.
DBMS_AUTO_REPORT	The DBMS_AUTO_REPORT package provides an interface to view SQL Monitoring and Real-time Automatic Database Diagnostic Monitor (ADDM) data that has been captured into Automatic Workload Repository (AWR).
DBMS_GOLDENGATE_AUTH	The DBMS_GOLDENGATE_AUTH package provides subprograms for granting privileges to and revoking privileges from GoldenGate administrators.
DBMS_HEAT_MAP	The DBMS_HEAT_MAP package provides an interface to externalize heatmaps at various levels of storage including block, extent, segment, object and tablespace.
DBMS_ILM	The DBMS_ILM package provides an interface for implementing Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategies using Automatic Data Optimization (ADO) policies.
DBMS_ILM_ADMIN	The DBMS_ILM_ADMIN package provides an interface to customize Automatic Data Optimization (ADO) policy execution.
DBMS_PART	The DBMS_PART package provides an interface for maintenance and management operations on partitioned objects.
DBMS_PRIVILEGE_CAPTURE	The DBMS_PRIVILEGE_CAPTURE package provides an interface to database privilege analysis.
DBMS_QOPATCH	The DBMS_QOPATCH package provides an interface to view the installed database patches.
DBMS_REDACT	The DBMS_REDACT package provides an interface to Oracle Data Redaction, which enables you to mask (redact) data that is returned from queries issued by low-privileged users or an application.
DBMS_SPD	The DBMS_SPD package provides subprograms for managing SQL plan directives (SPD).
DBMS_SQL_TRANSLATOR	The DBMS_SQL_TRANSLATOR package provides an interface for creating, configuring, and using SQL translation profiles.
DBMS_SQL_MONITOR	The DBMS_SQL_MONITOR package provides information about real-time SQL Monitoring and real-time Database Operation Monitoring.
DBMS_SYNC_REFRESH	The DBMS_SYNC_REFRESH package provides an interface to perform a synchronous refresh of materialized views.
DBMS_TSDP_MANAGE	The DBMS_TSDP_MANAGE package provides an interface to import and manage sensitive columns and sensitive column types in the database, and is used in conjunction with the DBMS_TSDP_PROTECT package with regard to transparent sensitive data protection (TSDP) policies. DBMS_TSDP_MANAGE is available with the Enterprise Edition only.
DBMS_TSDP_PROTECT	The DBMS_TSDP_PROTECT package provides an interface to configure transparent sensitive data protection (TSDP) policies in conjunction with the DBMS_TSDP_MANAGE package. DBMS_TSDP_PROTECT is available with the Enterprise Edition only.
DBMS_XDB_CONFIG	The DBMS_XDB_CONFIG package provides an interface for configuring Oracle XML DB and its repository.
DBMS_XDB_CONSTANTS	The DBMS_XDB_CONSTANTS package provides an interface to commonly used constants. Users should use constants instead of dynamic strings to avoid typographical errors.
DBMS_XDB_REPOS	The DBMS_XDB_REPOS package provides an interface to operate on the Oracle XML database Repository.
DBMS_XMLSCHEMA_ANNOTATE	The DBMS_XMLSCHEMA_ANNOTATE package provides an interface to manage and configure the structured storage model, mainly through the use of pre-registration schema annotations.
DBMS_XMLSTORAGE_MANAGE	The DBMS_XMLSTORAGE_MANAGE package provides an interface to manage and modify XML storage after schema registration has been completed.
DBMS_XSTREAM_ADM	The DBMS_XSTREAM_ADM package provides interfaces for streaming database changes between an Oracle database and other systems. XStream enables applications to stream out or stream in database changes.
DBMS_XSTREAM_AUTH	The DBMS_XSTREAM_AUTH package provides subprograms for granting privileges to and revoking privileges from XStream administrators.
UTL_CALL_STACK	The UTL_CALL_STACK package provides an interface to provide information about currently executing subprograms.

Oracle 12c Features Not Supported

The following features are not supported for Oracle 12c on Amazon RDS:

Automated Storage Management
Data Guard / Active Data Guard
Database Vault
Java Support
Multitenant Database
Real Application Clusters (RAC)
Unified Auditing

Several Oracle 11g PL/SQL packages are not supported in Oracle 12c. These packages include:

DBMS_AUTO_TASK_IMMEDIATE
DBMS_CDC_PUBLISH
DBMS_CDC_SUBSCRIBE
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Oracle 11g with Amazon RDS

Oracle 11g Supported Features

The following list shows the Oracle 11g features supported by Amazon RDS.

Total Recall
Flashback Table, Query and Transaction Query
Virtual Private Database
Fine-Grained Auditing
Comprehensive support for Microsoft .NET, OLE DB, and ODBC
Automatic Memory Management
Automatic Undo Management
Advanced Compression
Partitioning
Star Query Optimization
Summary Management - Materialized View Query Rewrite
Oracle Data Redaction
Distributed Queries/Transactions
Text
Materialized Views
Import/Export and sqlldr Support
Oracle Enterprise Manager Database Control
Oracle XML DB (without the XML DB Protocol Server)
Oracle Application Express
Automatic Workload Repository for Enterprise Edition (AWR). For more information, see Working with Automatic Workload Repository (AWR)
Datapump (network only)
Native network encryption
Transparent data encryption (Oracle TDE), part of the Oracle Advanced Security feature

Oracle 11g Features Not Supported

The following features are not supported for Oracle 11g on Amazon RDS:

Real Application Clusters (RAC)
Real Application Testing
Data Guard / Active Data Guard
Oracle Enterprise Manager Grid Control
Automated Storage Management
Database Vault
Streams
Java Support
Oracle Label Security
Oracle XML DB Protocol Server

Amazon RDS Parameters for Oracle 11g

For example, to view the supported parameters for Oracle Enterprise Edition, version 11g, run the following command:



aws rds describe-engine-default-parameters --db-parameter-group-family oracle-ee-11.2

Oracle Engine Version Management

DB Engine Version Management is a feature of Amazon RDS that enables you to control when and how the database engine software running your DB instances is patched and upgraded. This feature gives you the flexibility to maintain compatibility with database engine patch versions, test new patch versions to ensure they work effectively with your application before deploying in production, and perform version upgrades on your own terms and timelines.

Note

Amazon RDS periodically aggregates official Oracle database patches using an Amazon RDS-specific DB Engine version. To see a list of which Oracle patches are contained in an Amazon RDS Oracle-specific engine version, go to Oracle Database Engine Release Notes.

Currently, you perform all Oracle database upgrades manually. For more information about upgrading an Oracle DB instance, see Upgrading the Oracle DB Engine.

Deprecation of Oracle 11.2.0.2

In 2017, Amazon RDS is deprecating support for Oracle version 11.2.0.2. Oracle is no longer providing patches for this version. Therefore, to provide the best experience for AWS customers, we are deprecating this version.

There are no longer any production DB instances running Oracle version 11.2.0.2. You might still have a snapshot of an 11.2.0.2 DB instance.

Amazon RDS is deprecating support for Oracle version 11.2.0.2 according to the following schedule.

Date	Information
August 4, 2016	You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 11.2.0.2.
April 15, 2019	Any 11.2.0.2 snapshots are upgraded to 11.2.0.4. You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Date

Information

August 4, 2016

You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 11.2.0.2.

April 15, 2019

Any 11.2.0.2 snapshots are upgraded to 11.2.0.4.

You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Deprecation of Oracle 11.2.0.3

In 2017, Amazon RDS is deprecating support for Oracle version 11.2.0.3. Oracle is no longer providing patches for this version. Therefore, to provide the best experience for AWS customers, we are deprecating this version.

There are no longer any production DB instances running Oracle version 11.2.0.3. You might still have a snapshot of an 11.2.0.3 DB instance.

Amazon RDS is deprecating support for Oracle version 11.2.0.3 according to the following schedule.

Date	Information
August 4, 2016	You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 11.2.0.3.
March 15, 2019	Any 11.2.0.3 snapshots are upgraded to 11.2.0.4. You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Date

Information

August 4, 2016

You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 11.2.0.3.

March 15, 2019

Any 11.2.0.3 snapshots are upgraded to 11.2.0.4.

You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Deprecation of Oracle 12.1.0.1

In 2017, Amazon RDS is deprecating support for Oracle version 12.1.0.1. Oracle is no longer providing patches for this version. Therefore, to provide the best experience for AWS customers, we are deprecating this version.

There are no longer any production DB instances running Oracle version 12.1.0.1. You might still have a snapshot of a 12.1.0.1 DB instance.

Amazon RDS will deprecate support for Oracle version 12.1.0.1 according to the following schedule.

Date	Information
February 15, 2017	You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 12.1.0.1.
June 1, 2019	Any 12.1.0.1 snapshots are upgraded to 12.1.0.2. You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Date

Information

February 15, 2017

You can no longer create DB instances that use Oracle version 12.1.0.1.

June 1, 2019

Any 12.1.0.1 snapshots are upgraded to 12.1.0.2.

You can upgrade your snapshots yourself prior to this date. For more information, see Upgrading an Oracle DB Snapshot.

Using Huge Pages with an Oracle DB Instance

Amazon RDS for Oracle supports Linux kernel huge pages for increased database scalability. The use of huge pages results in smaller page tables and less CPU time spent on memory management, increasing the performance of large database instances. For more information, see Overview of HugePages in the Oracle documentation.

You can use huge pages with the following versions and editions of Oracle:

12.1.0.2, all editions
11.2.0.4, all editions

The use_large_pages parameter controls whether huge pages are enabled for a DB instance. The possible settings for this parameter are ONLY, FALSE, and {DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault}. The use_large_pages parameter is set to {DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault} in the default DB parameter group for Oracle.

To control whether huge pages are enabled for a DB instance automatically, you can use the DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault formula variable in parameter groups. The value is determined as follows:

For the DB instance classes mentioned in the table below, DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault always evaluates to FALSE by default, and use_large_pages evaluates to FALSE. You can enable huge pages manually if the instance class is in the db.t2, db.r3, or db.m4 family and it has at least 14 GiB of memory.
For DB instance classes not mentioned in the table below, if the instance class has less than 100 GiB of memory, DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault evaluates to TRUE by default, and use_large_pages evaluates to ONLY.
For DB instance classes not mentioned in the table below, if the instance class has at least 100 GiB of memory, DBInstanceClassHugePagesDefault always evaluates to TRUE, and use_large_pages evaluates to ONLY.

Huge pages are not enabled by default for the following DB instance classes.

DB Instance Class Family	DB Instance Classes with Huge Pages Not Enabled by Default