Updated October 19, 2023
Introduction to Oracle Versions
Oracle is used to working on a relational database management system, which occasionally upgrades to include the latest features, such as in the user interface, database level, and/or the technical backend features. The first version of Oracle released in 1979 that was available for the public was Oracle V2 and the latest version released in June 2019 was Oracle 19C. There were several other versions released in between, too, namely Oracle V3, V4, V5, V6, 7, 8, 9i, 10g Release1, 10g Release2, 11g Release1, 11g Release2, 12c Release1, 12c Release2 and 18c.
Different Oracle Versions
Let’s now examine the various versions that Oracle Corporation has released for the Oracle database:
1. OracleV2: This was the first commercially available SQL RDMS launched by Oracle in the market. The launch took place in 1979, and the letter ‘V’ represents the version while ‘2’ signifies the second version. The version was very basic if we are going to compare now. It was only able to run some SQL queries and perform a few join operations.
2. OracleV3: This was the second launch in the year 1983. It brought many new features like concurrency control and scalability.
3. OracleV4: This was released in the market in the year 1984, and it had all the features of the previous versions. However, one noted addition was that it was compatible with the MS-DOS operating system developed by Microsoft.
4. OracleV5: This was released in the year 1985 and it introduced client-server computing and distributed database systems, which means not all storage devices are attached to a standard processor. It may be stored in multiple computers which are located in the same physical location. This release was a very important breakthrough.
5. OracleV6: It was released in 1988, and for the first time, row-level locking, online backup, and recovery were introduced in this release.
6. Oracle7: This was released in the year 1992, and it was an important release because it was this release that introduced PL/SQL, that is, Procedural SQL stored procedures so that it increases the reusability, triggers if we need to do any operation based on any insertion or updation, shared cursors. It also introduced a parallel server option, which supports simultaneous database access from two or more loosely coupled systems. It helps to achieve high performance
7. Oracle8: It was first released in June 1997. Later on, 8i was released, where ‘i’ means the internet. The 8i was released in the year 2000. The important features of this release were Native Internet protocols and Java. It has PLSQL Gateway introduced for deploying applications on the Web. XML parser for Java. The SQL CASE statement, similar to the DECODE() function, introduced it.
8 Oracle9i: This version was released in the year 2001. Here also, the’ i’ stands for the internet. It introduced Oracle RAC, which stands for Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC). Oracle RAC provides software for clustering and high availability in Oracle database environments. It includes clustering by allowing multiple computers to run Oracle RDBMS simultaneously while accessing a single database. It also brought out data mining and data analysis algorithms for analytics in its 9.2.0.8 release in 2007.
9. Oracle10g Release1: The Oracle 10g was first released in 2003. Here, the letter ‘g’ indicates the grid. This feature was introduced first in Oracle 10g. Grid computing provides an adaptive software infrastructure that makes use of modular storage and low–risk servers. This helps balance the overall workload and provides capacity on demand. It also had new features like an Automated Database management system, Grid infrastructure, and Oracle ASM.
10. Oracle 10g Release2: The second release was released in July 2005. Several more features were added. The features are Real Application Testing, Online Indexing, and Transparent Data Encryption.
11. Oracle 11g Release1: The Oracle 11g was released in September 2007. Like in 10g, the ‘g’ here also stands for grid. This release also introduced a lot of features like SQL Tuning. Active data guard feature. This feature is an extension of the RDMS. It provides GUI (Graphical User Interface) and CUI (Command User Interface) for managing data guard features.
12. Oracle 11g Release2: This was released in August 2013. The new release added features such as Hybrid Columnar Compression, Cluster File System, and Database Appliance. The Oracle Database Appliance feature consists of a single-box device that contains hardware, networking, software, and storage to build a clustered database server.
13. Oracle12c Release1: Oracle 12c was released in July 2013. The ‘c’ here stands for the cloud. This is the first database offered to buy Oracle with cloud computing. It has a multitenant architecture that simplifies consolidation without doing any changes in the application. It also has an In-Memory column store, SQL Pattern Matching, and native JSON.
14. Oracle 12c Release2: It was released in September 2016. It retained the earlier features but some features like Exadata Cloud Service and Cloud at Customer.
15. Oracle 18c: Like the previous release here, ‘ c’ stands for the cloud. This version was released in the cloud in February 2018. It is the next iteration of Oracle 12c. It contains a lot of improvements. It contains no drastic new features like 12c had over 11g but only incremental improvements. The improvements come by features like Polymorphic Table Functions.
16. Oracle 19c: It was released on the cloud in April 2019 for Linux and other platforms and in June 2019. The features included Automated Index Creation, SQL Queries on Object stores, and Real-time statistics maintenance.
17. Oracle 21c: An innovation release of the Oracle Database, known as Oracle Database 21c, was accessible in September 2021. It introduces features including enhanced security, native JSON support, automatic indexing, blockchain tables, automated machine learning, and native JSON support. It also improves in-memory processing, multitenant architecture, and native persistent memory support.
18. Oracle 23c: Oracle Database 23c is Oracle’s latest database management system version. Its comprehensive features and tools enable secure and efficient management and storage of data. The “c” in 23c denotes Oracle’s emphasis on cloud-based database management solutions. This database version optimizes cloud use with features like automatically tuning database performance, scaling resources, and enhancing security. It also supports new technologies like blockchain, machine learning, and IoT. Overall, Oracle Database 23c is a powerful and versatile tool for managing data in the cloud.
Conclusion
In this article, we got to know about the Oracle Database and its origins and how it has evolved in the years that have gone by. The article also provides an introduction to various versions and their features.
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