ORA-00936: missing expression

Hi DBA-Mates, Topic: ORA-00936: missing expression -- Fixed

When we run the command phase=prepare during the upgrade from r12.2.0 to r12.2.3 after the fresh installation on multi-node and our database is 12c, we may face this issue ora-00936 as mentioned below:

ERROR at line 3:

ORA-00936: missing expression in R12.2 upgrade when attempting to adop phase=prepare.

Disconnected from Oracle Database 12c Enterprise Edition Release 12.1.0.2.0 - 64bit Production

With the Partitioning, OLAP, Advanced Analytics and Real Application Testing options

adop exiting with status = 1 (Fail).

In this case, you can workaround as: 
If you are applying Delta 8 to a system on a pre-Delta 7 AD-TXK code level, you must apply the Oracle Fusion Middleware patch before proceeding with the AD and TXK patches. If you do not apply this patch, application of the TXK patch will fail.

Fist you should apply AD and TXK Delta7 patches and then apply the Delta 8 patches. So it will go fine without any error.  One more thing you should check appltop_id =  , should not be null. This you can find out in your log details. Due to this issue, we cannot continue with the upgrade.

Or

If above solution didn’t work then follow the below points.

Reason:

The APPL_TOP_NAME in the context file of Primary and Secondary Node are different.

for eg.

In primary node:

<APPL_TOP_NAME oa_var="s_atName">node1</APPL_TOP_NAME>

In Secondary Node:
APPL_TOP_NAME oa_var="s_atName">node2</APPL_TOP_NAME>

In a Shared Application Tier system, the APPL_TOP_NAME on all the nodes should be same.

 
Solution: 
Please follow the below points to be followed.
*. Shutdown the application services on all tiers.
*. Run Autoconfig on primary node.
*. Now, Check that row in AD_APPL_TOPS has changed from node2 to node1.
*. Change the secondary node RUN context file parameter s_atName value from node2 to node1.
*. Run Autoconfig on secondary node node2 RUN context.
*. Check that row with value node1 still exists in AD_APPL_TOPS and secondary node entry node2 is not updated.
*. Start the services on both Nodes.
*. Abort the previous adop session and then run "adop phase=prepare" to re-test.

Some more useful link:
Oracle R12.2 Architecture and Concepts
Oracle EBS R12.1 Vs R12.2
Interviews Questions and Answers
Important SQL Scripts

Hope this will be helpful and useful, if there is any concerns, please let us know. We like to hear from you. One more thing, don't apply this direct at production better first apply on test then apply on production always for any solutions. For any concerns, please contact us ora-data.blogspot.com

Source from my investigation and Doc ID 1677053.1