经常会有客户困惑某个Oracle版本的支持周期，且希望得到确切的官方说明，其实这可以从MOS文档：
- Release Schedule of Current Database Releases (Doc ID 742060.1)
找到具体说明，该文档会更新最新的版本支持情况。
比如以12.1.0.2版本为例，想知道具体支持情况，可以从此文档中直接找到说明：
Premier Support (PS) ended Jul 31, 2018 and one year of free Extended Support (ES) was in effect until July 31, 2019.
ES fees or a ULA was required beginning 01-Aug-2019 through 31-Jul-2022. Without paid ES or ULA, patching ends 31-Jul-2019.
We have a global ES uplift fee waiver in place for E-Business customers, see details and dates of expiration see: Extended Support Fee Waiver for Oracle Database 12.1 and 11.2 for Oracle E-Business Suite (Doc ID 2522948.1) or Technical Support Policy Document.
* One additional year (01-Aug-2021 through 31-July-2022) has been added to the 12.1.0.2 DB Extended Support time frame with the following exceptions:
Apple Macintosh platform patching end date (Error Correction end date) is July 31, 2021.
Microsoft Windows platform exception has changed. Regardless of the version used to run the 12.1.0.2 Database, Oracle built the 12.1.0.2 Database on Microsoft Windows 2008 This platform reached end-of-life support on January 14, 2020. However, we will make reasonable efforts to deliver patches for the Database 12.1.0.2 on Windows until July 2022, as long as our tooling continues to function.
又比如目前最受客户关注的11.2.0.4版本，有关ES之后的MDS也是有明确的说明：
Premier Support (PS) ended 31-Jan-2015 and one year of free Extended Support (ES) was in effect until Dec 31, 2018.
ES fees or a ULA was required beginning Jan 1, 2019 through Dec 31, 2020. At the end of ES, Market Driven Support (MDS) will be available for two additional years. See https://www.oracle.com/a/ocom/docs/ds-mds-database-11g-r2.pdf
Oracle has a global Extended Support Uplift Fee waiver in place for E-Business customers, see details and dates of expiration see: Extended Support Fee Waiver for Oracle Database 12.1 and 11.2 for Oracle E-Business Suite (Doc ID 2522948.1) or Technical Support Policy Document.
Gen 1 and Gen 2 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, OCI DBCS,OCI ExaCS and ODA had 3 additional months of Extended Support. The end of Extended Support for 11.2.0.4 databases on these platforms was: 31-March 2021. New instances could be created up until the end of extended support; however, Oracle makes no commitment that any 11.2.0.4 DBCS instances will continue to run after the end of Support.
Market Driven Support is only available for the following Database Cloud Services: Gen 1 and Gen 2 ExaCC, OCC DBCS, OCI DBCS (non-PSM), OCI ExaCS. New instances can be created up until the end of Market Driven Support. Oracle makes no commitment that any 11.2.0.4 DBCS instances will continue to run after the end of MDS support. Market Driven Support is not available for PSM-based OCI DBCS, OCI-C DBCS and OCI-C ExaCS.
11.2.0.4 is the terminal release on OpenVMS. During calendar year 2021, customer will receive Severity 1 Fixes and Security Updates for no additional fees beyond standard Premier Support costs. Coverage does not extend to new certifications, third-party products, or any Java/JDK functionality including Java components embedded in the database. Coverage also excludes any updates related to cryptography and network encryption. This offering does not include standard Security Patch Updates (SPUs).
目前推荐的19c，已知ES就已经是可以支持到2027年，这也是为什么推荐大家当前选择19c版本的原因：
Premier Support (PS) ends April 30, 2024, Extended Support (ES) fees will be required beginning May 01, 2024 through April 30, 2027
Error Correction / Patching is available through April 30, 2027 with paid ES. Without paid ES, patching is only available until April 30, 2024
附：目前Oracle 数据库版本路线图
