Oracle 12c in Docker

Use this software to run Oracle 12c within a Docker container, while the database files are on a mounted volume. This allows you to mount multiple snapshots of the same volume and mount them in different containers simultaneously.

I would recommend running this on a dedicated server (cluster) or VM, since you will need to set some specific kernel parameters and use a modified version of Docker. This README walks you through all the steps to get it running.

I've only tried this with 12c so far, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work with older versions of Oracle.

A. Building this image

Step 1: Host prerequisites

I used Ubuntu 14.04 as a host, so it doesn't have to be an Oracle-approved OS. You need at least 3 GB of swap space on the host. Don't think you know better, Oracle will check during installation and just stop if you don't have enough swap space.

You also need to set some kernel parameters and security limits. Check this guide and follow the parts about editing sysctl.conf and limits.conf.

A note about shared memory:

Oracle requires a shared memory (shm) of at least 256 MB during installation. In the current version of Docker, this defaults to 64 MB. That's why you should append --shm-size=256m to docker run and build commands.

Step 2: Download

Either download this repository or use git clone:

$ git clone git@git.homecredit.net:stuchlik/docker-oracle-12c.git && cd docker-oracle-12c

Then download Oracle 12c (12.1.0.2.0) from OTN and extract the two zip files in the resources directory, so the installer will be at resources/database/runInstaller.

Step 3: Build the image

Run

docker build --shm-size=256m -t embedit/oracle .

to build the image and tag it as embedit/oracle. The build will install Oracle 12c software, which may take a while, so please be patient. Make sure you see the text Successfully Setup Software. somewhere in the output.

B. Running the database

To run a container use:

docker run --shm-size=256m -it \
    -e COMMAND=rundb -e ORACLE_SID=FOO \
    -p 1521:1521 \
    --name db-FOO embedit/oracle

This will run a docker container and name it db-FOO.

If no database exists in /mnt/database, then first time initialization will take place: datastore for your tablespace files will be prepared and a new database FOO will be created and exposed on port 1521.

The database creation takes a while, so please be patient.

After the listener has been started you should be able to connect to the database using system/password@localhost:1521/FOO.

Control variables

The entrypoint script (/home/oracle/bin/start.sh) is controlled by environment variables listed below.

# Mandatory variable that controls what to do in entrypoint script after you `docker run`.
# Must be one of {initdb|rundb|runsqlplus|runsql}
COMMAND=rundb

# Mandatory variable that controls which SID is initialized and run.
ORACLE_SID=db-FOO

# DB login credentials, needed only when running sqlplus or a batch of sql scripts.
ORACLE_USER=system
ORACLE_PASSWORD=password

# Optional variable that can be used to run sqlplus or batch of sql scripts as `sysdba` role if set to true.
AS_SYSDBA=true

To start and stop container db-FOO:

docker start db-FOO

docker stop db-FOO

To invoke interactive shell in the running container db-FOO:

docker exec -it db-FOO /bin/bash

To connect to the database FOO running in container db-FOO with builtin sqlplus (using a different docker instance):

docker run -it \
    -e COMMAND=runsqlplus -e ORACLE_SID=FOO \
    -e ORACLE_USER=system -e ORACLE_PASSWORD=password \
    --link db-FOO:remotedb -P \
    embedit/oracle

To execute an SQL command in database FOO running in container db-FOO with builtin sqlplus (using a different docker instance):

echo "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM EMPLOYEES;" | docker run --shm-size=256m -i \
                -e COMMAND=runsqlplus -e ORACLE_SID=FOO \
                -e ORACLE_USER=system -e ORACLE_PASSWORD=password \
                --link db-FOO:remotedb -P embedit/oracle

To run all *.sql scripts in /tmp/sql in the database FOO running in container db-FOO with builtin sqlplus (using a different docker instance):

docker run --shm-size=256m \
    -e COMMAND=runsql -e ORACLE_SID=FOO \
    -e ORACLE_USER=system -e ORACLE_PASSWORD=password \
    -v /tmp/sql:/mnt/sql
    --link db-FOO:remotedb \
    embedit/oracle

You can add -e AS_SYSDBA=true in previous commands to connect to db-FOO with sysdba role.

To use persistent datastore, map /mnt/database to a directory in your host on container startup:

mkdir -p ~/oradb/db-FOO/tablespaces
chmod -R 777 ~/oradb/db-FOO
docker run --shm-size=256m -d \
    -v ~/oradb/db-FOO:/mnt/database \
    -e COMMAND=rundb -e ORACLE_SID=FOO \
    -p 1521:1521 \
    --name db-FOO embedit/oracle

Remarks

This docker project is a fork of docker-oracle-12c by Ralph Hopman rhopman@bol.com. You can find his repo on Github.

stuchl4n3k/docker-oracle-12c