Upgarding Recovery Catalog

The version of the recovery catalog schema must be greater than or equal to the version of the RMAN client connecting to it. More on the rman compatability could be found on the backup and recovery reference.
The recovery catalog schema version is not same as the database version. For example the database could be 19.7 and recovery catalog could be 19.08.00.00. Recovery catalog version could be found by connecting to the recovery catalog using sqlplus as the recovery catalog owner.

sqlplus  reco/password_here

SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Tue Jan 5 20:00:14 2021
Version 19.8.0.0.0

Enter password:
Last Successful login time: Tue Jan 05 2021 19:45:02 +00:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 19c Enterprise Edition Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 19.8.0.0.0

SQL>  select * from rcver;

VERSION
---------------
19.08.00.00.00

When the recovery catalog schema version is higher than the client version following message is shown when connecting to the recovery catalog.

rman target / catalog reco@recotns
connected to target database: DB1 (DBID=123490689)
recovery catalog database Password:
connected to recovery catalog database
recovery catalog schema version 19.08.00.00. is newer than RMAN version

As recovery catalog schema is higher this is not an issue. On the other hand if rman client is higher than the recovery catalog schema following message is shown when connecting to it.

rman  catalog /@recotns

Recovery Manager: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Tue Jan 5 20:33:13 2021
Version 19.9.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to recovery catalog database
PL/SQL package RECOCAT.DBMS_RCVCAT version 19.08.00.00. in RCVCAT database is not current
PL/SQL package RECOCAT.DBMS_RCVMAN version 19.08.00.00 in RCVCAT database is not current

In this case client version is 19.9 and is higher than the recovery catalog schema version which is 19.08.00.00.
This happens when Oracle home is patched with RU. In this case (also mentioned as part of patch Readme document) the recovery catalog must be upgraded.



To upgrade the recovery catalog schema connect to it using rman from the higher version client and run the upgrade catalog command twice.

rman  catalog /@recotns

Recovery Manager: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Tue Jan 5 20:33:13 2021
Version 19.9.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2019, Oracle and/or its affiliates.  All rights reserved.

connected to recovery catalog database
PL/SQL package RECOCAT.DBMS_RCVCAT version 19.08.00.00. in RCVCAT database is not current
PL/SQL package RECOCAT.DBMS_RCVMAN version 19.08.00.00 in RCVCAT database is not current

RMAN>  UPGRADE CATALOG;

recovery catalog owner is RECO
enter UPGRADE CATALOG command again to confirm catalog upgrade

RMAN>  UPGRADE CATALOG;

recovery catalog upgraded to version 19.09.00.00.00
DBMS_RCVMAN package upgraded to version 19.09.00.00
DBMS_RCVCAT package upgraded to version 19.09.00.00.

The version upgrade could be verified querying the rcver. In the below output it could be seen that recovery catalog reside in a database which is 19.8. However, the recovery catalog version is 19.09.

sqlplus /@recotns

SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Tue Jan 5 21:25:17 2021
Version 19.9.0.0.0

Copyright (c) 1982, 2020, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Last Successful login time: Tue Jan 05 2021 21:15:03 +00:00

Connected to:
Oracle Database 19c Enterprise Edition Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 19.8.0.0.0

SQL>  select * from rcver;

VERSION
---------------
19.09.00.00.00

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