I have some pre-2018 backups where the database was still running Oracle 10.2.0.4. After that time our database was upgraded to Oracle 11.2.0.4. Now I have been asked to restore a backup from 2017 (that was in 10g) to our current server, but I no longer have access to the Oracle 10g software. The oldest we have is Oracle 11g installed on our new server.
When I load the 10g backup and try to open it with 11g, it tells me the database must be upgraded. If I open with STARTUP UPGRADE, and I try to run catupgrd.sql, it tells me that there is an issue with the time zones.
This is the error:
SELECT TO_NUMBER('MUST_HAVE_RUN_PRE-UPGRADE_TOOL_FOR_TIMEZONE')
ORA-01722: invalid number
Disconnected from Oracle Database 11g Enterprise Edition Release 11.2.0.4.0 - 64-bit Production
Without access to the Oracle 10g software, is there any way to open/upgrade the Oracle 10g database using Oracle 11g? It is presently a catch-22... I need the Oracle 10g to open the 10g database so I can run the pre-upgrade tool to fix any issues, just so I can open the database in 11g to query the data. But if I had 10g installed, I would not need the upgrade in the first place.
Is there any way to ignore or bypass the time zones issue and force it to open and upgrade the database from 10g to 11g? We only need to be able to read one table in the database, and time zone and daylight savings time is irrelevant in this situation.
Any help that could be provided would be appreciated. I do have access to Oracle Support so could find out from there if this is possible. I just wanted to see what others do if they have a database but no longer have access to the version that database was created with.
Regards,
Steve Nixon, Invera Inc.