Hi,
I am going to upgrade an 8.1.6 database on HP-UX 11 system to 8.1.7
Currently the oracle_home is /software/oracle and I want to keep the same home for the new release.
There are two tasks --
Upgrade the software
Upgrade the database

I will keep a copy of the oracle_home in for fallback in case of failure.

Are the following steps sufficient --

1. Shutdown the database
2. Take a cold backup
3. Make a copy of the /software/oracle to /software/oracle_old
4. Set the Pre-installation parameters in Unix
5. Install Oracle8.1.7 from the CD in /software/oracle (thus over-writing the 8.1.6 binaries)
As per Oracle installing in the same HOME is not a problem for 8.1.6 to 8.1.7
I am keeping the old file structure so that all the parameter, password etc. files are there already (in /software/oracle/dbs and /software/oracle/network/admin directories)

I am not sure if installation will automatically launch the ODMA and let me upgrade the database there itself or I will have to run it after the 8.1.7 upgrade.

If it didn't launch ODMA at the installation time, launch it now and upgrade the database.

Anybody aware of any problems in the above method or any other glitches ?

Thanks,
- Rajeev