The path that you must take to upgrade to the new Oracle Database 11g release depends on the release number of your current database. It might not be possible to directly upgrade from your current release of Oracle Database to the latest release. Depending on your current release, you might be required to upgrade through one or more intermediate releases to upgrade to the new Oracle Database 11g release.
For example, if the current database is running release 8.1.6, then follow these steps:
1.Upgrade release 8.1.6 to release 8.1.7.4 using the instructions in Oracle8i Migration Release 3 (8.1.7).
2.Upgrade release 8.1.7.4 to release 10.2.0.4 using the instructions in Oracle Database Upgrade Guide Release 2 (10.2).
3.Upgrade release 10.2.0.4 to the new Oracle Database 11g release using the instructions in this guide.