Sitecore instance upgradation from 6.6 to 7.2 - sitecore

I just want to get confirm that will i require another license.xml to upgrade my client sitecore instance from 6.6 to 7.2.
My understanding is sitecore version upgradation do not require any license update.
And, i think license is vendor based which depends upon number of installations and not sitecore version based.
Just want to confirm my self with community experts.

In most scenarios, licenses will apply across 6.6 to 7.2 (or further). However, the only sure way to know is to follow up with your Sitecore sales rep to have them check to see if there are any limits on your license that would prevent you from upgrading to 7.

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Using Oracle12C Driver with Oracle 19c Database

We are working on a product migration from jboss 7 running on jdk 7 to wildfly 15 running on jdk 11 and we wanted to do this activity in phases.
So as part of the initial phase release we are first migrating our product's database from oracle 12c to oracle 19c and in the later phase we shall be migrating the product from jboss 7 (running on jdk 7) to wildfly 15 (running on jdk11).
We are aware 19c only supports ojdbc8 and higher versions but to have ojdbc8 or higher we have to migrate jdk first but we see lot of complications as part of jdk migration and jboss migrations, so we wanted to give a initial release with only the database migrated.
so would jdbc7.jar work well with oracle 19c or will there be any complication? from our initial analysis we haven't seen any feature breaks in the product till now.
Oracle JDBC Driver are all backward compatible, only if you don't use new API JDBC functionnalities (you probably see as a compilation error in this case). Read this page https://www.oracle.com/fr/database/technologies/faq-jdbc.html, more precisely these topics :
Which version of JDBC drivers are supported ?
What is the JDBC and RDBMS interoperability matrix or the certification matrix?
What are the Oracle JDBC releases Vs JDK versions?
What are the Oracle JDBC releases Vs JDBC specifications?
You need to upgrade driver only if you want to use new functionnalities of the JDBC driver (see https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=221) or if you want to be JDK compatible regarding the matrix compatibility shown in the Oracle FAQ.
Though, the older drivers are forward compatible, it is a best practice to have the JDBC driver from the same version as that of the Database. If you have any tighter dependency on 12 driver then you could go with that combination. Otherwise, it is better to consider the latest version.

Upgrade from Sitecore 9.0 to Sitecore 9.2

I am trying to upgrade Sitecore 9.0 to Sitecore 9.2. Couldn't find any specific way except first upgrading to Sitecore 9.0.2 and then proceed further. But, this way getting many errors related with config file. Is there any other way to upgrade directly to 9.2 verion? Any help would be a highly appreciated. Thanks.
The alternative method to 'upgrade' which I often look to is to spin up a clean install of the newer version and then migrate my old code into a new solution which will already have all the latest configs/ Sitecore base code in place.
Doing this means you can just patch your custom app config settings and ensure the Sitecore dependencies in your solution are the newer version which can often be a cleaner/simpler way to go.
There are a couple of things to consider before doing this however, such as whether you need to keep your data in XDB etc. as it would mean that you may need to look at migrating it which can be a pain and since you are looking at 9.0 to 9.2, you'd have additional services to consider as well such as Identity and may need to account for that kind of thing too.

going from apex 5.0 to 5.1.2. will a 5.0 app run on 5.1.2 without being "touched" in a developer instance?

when we went from apex 4 to apex 5, we had to access all our apex 4 apps in a developer instance (which apparently did some conversion/upgrade), and then export them and re-install them in our runtime-only apex 5 production instance. is this the case with an upgrade form apex 5.0 to 5.1.2? or will our apex 5.0 apps just run on a 5.1.2 instance?
Yes, that's the plan.
All applications should work as they did in previous versions. This is made possible via a number of features, one being compatibility mode in app settings.
See here for more detail about how APEX does a pretty good job at leaving existing apps alone.
http://www.grassroots-oracle.com/2016/12/phased-apex-migrations.html
This doesn't mean to say you can skip regression testing or expect everything to run smooth. It can depend on how you've built your apps.

How to upgrade Sitecore from 7.5 to 8.1 Update 3?

I am currently trying to upgrade a Sitecore installation from 7.5 to 8.1 Update 3 and I can't seem to figure out a good process that won't take weeks and weeks. I have posted questions on other blog posts and also to the official Sitecore Community site but have not really gotten any good feedback. Here is what I am trying to do.
I need to upgrade Sitecore from 7.5 to 8.1 Update 3. To do that it looks like I need to do 3 separate upgrades:
7.5 to 8.0 Initial Release
8.0 Initial Release to 8.1 Initial Release
8.1 Initial Release to 8.1 Update 3
In addition we are using both the Email Campaign Manager (ECM) and the Webforms for Marketers (WFFM) modules. Each of those modules has its own separate upgrade instructions.
Also we have servers in 3 different environments: 1 in DEV, 1 in QA and 3 in PROD (1 CM and 2 CD)
The upgrades of Sitecore itself are long and tedious and filled with many manual steps prone to error. I am already on my 3rd attempt to upgrade my DEV site and it seems every time I do it I get about half way through and I run in to lots of errors. In addition the instructions for upgrading ECM/EXM seem to not allow you to skip to major releases. So to upgrade EXM itself I am going to have to do 10 individual upgrades!!!
I am trying desperately to figure out if there are any shorter ways to accomplish this upgrade. This is so complicated and tedious that I feel like it will take me one or two days just to upgrade the DEV site. Then another one or two days to upgrade the QA site - assuming I don't run in to any errors that I can't figure out.
Then after that I have absolutely no idea how I am going to upgrade PROD. I have a CM server and 2 CD servers. There's no way I can freeze content entry and editing for a week while I do the upgrade. Plus we have some user generated content like user registrations and order entries on the site. How can I upgrade PROD and not lose registrations and order entries and other user generated content?
I was hoping that there would be some easier way of doing a Sitecore upgrade from one major version to the next but I can't seem to figure it out. No matter what I try it is incredibly complex and manual and prone to error.
Any help is appreciated.
Corey
One option could also be installing a new version of Sitecore 8.1 update 3 and run a database comparison tool (such as RAZL) to get across the items in your new Sitecore instance.
You could get the items across using the regular Sitecore packages although that's more time-consuming unless you automate that using something like Sitecore Ship or Courier.
You'll also need to check your code of course, any config changes you're patching in etc. still will have to be tested.
Mind you, this is not recommended practice for reasons you can find in the blogpost jammykam posted in a comment (http://www.seanholmesby.com/the-truth-about-sitecore-upgrades/)
There's rumors of an Express upgrade tool in 8.2 that will allow you to upgrade directly from an old version. I don't have an official source, but there's a few blog posts about this, this for example: http://kverheire.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/sitecore-82-in-depth-preview-83-update.html
I believe the people who actually have more info on that are bound by NDA - so you'd have to ask Sitecore directly for more info.
If you can't wait for 8.2 - then you can also create new blank environments of a newer version and write your own processes for migrating data across. Not sure how easy this will be with EXM, WFFM, or Analytics though.

Migrating Sitecore 6.6 to Sitecore 8

Recently Sitecore 8 has released and it has came up with lot of exciting new features. So our team decided to move from Sitecore 6.6 to Sitecore 8. Before migrating, i would like to know what all things i should be having in handy. Such as, .net Framework, Hardware configuration, environment etc.
Also, i would like to know the procedure to migrate from 6.6 to 8? I, never involved in sitecore migration project before. Please suggest me some good articles or post here your thoughts.
Thanks in advance. :)
See the Sitecore Compatibility Table for the .NET Framework, SQL Server version and Windows version.
Two common approaches.
1) Follow the Sitecore upgrade path.
2) Package the content, and start with a clean install.
Currently I working on a upgrade with an scripted upgrade that follow the Sitecore path. So I can easy repeat the steps and have the latest content in the databases.
I have some of my findings put down here Sitecore update and modules this article contain also a Related links section. Such as the upgrade white paper from Varun
Depending on how 'cluttered' your existing instance is, you may also want to consider installing a fresh copy of Sitecore 8 and then migrate your data/code to avoid all the hops that would be necessary to get to 8.
May be the following blog might help. Take a look at it.
https://varunvns.wordpress.com/2014/11/11/sitecore-version-upgrade-whitepaper/
I would recommend you make a backup of your site to use as a "sandbox" for the upgrade. Copy your databases and the web root for your site to a new location and then set up an IIS site with appropriate permissions pointing to your copy, and change your connection strings in the copy to point to a copy of the databases you backed up.
Perform the update there and ensure everything is working correctly. Work slowly to make sure you are following instructions correctly and note any special actions you had to take to perform the upgrade. Once you have it upgraded, perform the same process on the "real" site.
If you work with a Sitecore partner, I would highly encourage you to discuss the process with them to learn more specifics about the risks and challenges you may encounter during your upgrade.