Oracle APEX Docker Stack

Deploy a complete Oracle database & APEX stack on Docker using Docker Compose.

Overview:

Table of Contents

1. Prerequisites
2. Version Info
3. How to Install
4. Connecting to the Database
5. Optional Settings
6. Alternative Install
7. Docker Terms

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Prerequisites

• Have Docker Installed
• Create an account & test login to Oracle Image Registry
  • Oracle Image/Container Registry

In a command(cmd) window, Log into Oracle Registry

docker login container-registry.oracle.com

Pull the latest Oracle XE & ORDS Images from the Oracle Registry

docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords:latest

Version Info

Note: Its best to review details on Oracle container registry website, but pulling latest images as of (11-22-2022) from oracle will have the following versions:

APEX Environment	ORDS	Oracle Database
APEX 22.1.0	ORDS 22.3.1	Oracle Database XE Release 21c (21.3.0.0)

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How to Install

Step 1: Download and/or Clone this Git Repo

Directory Structure:

oracle-apex-offical
  ---- docker-compose.yml
  ---- variables
      ---- conn_string.txt

Step 2: Update the "conn_string.txt" with variables as you see fit

CONN_STRING=sys/PASSWORDHERE@database:1521/XEPDB1

Note: The conn_string.txt file will be deleted when the container starts. The database connection details are not held in environment variables in the container.

Step 3: In a text editor, update "docker-compose.yml" with password set in "conn_string.txt" file

services:
  auto-xe-reg:
    container_name: auto-xe-reg
    image: container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
    ports: 
      - 1521:1521
    environment:
      - ORACLE_PWD=PLACEPASSWORDHERE
    volumes:
      - db-vol-reg:/opt/oracle/oradata
    hostname: database
  auto-ords-reg:
    container_name: auto-ords-reg
    restart: always
    depends_on:
      - auto-xe-reg
    volumes:
      - ./variables:/opt/oracle/variables
      - ords-config-reg:/etc/ords/config
    ports:
      - 8181:8181
    image: container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords:latest
volumes:
  db-vol-reg:
    name: db-vol-reg
    external: false
  ords-config-reg:
    name: ords-config-reg

Step 4: In CMD, navigate to the folder with the updated "docker-compose.yml" file (note replace path with your path)

cd/

cd C:\Users\FIRSTNAME.LASTNAME\Desktop\esd-oracle-apex-docker-stack\oracle-apex-offical

Step 5: Run Docker Compose File

docker compose up

And Done. The downloading of the images, and creating of the stack happens automatically

First time setup may take a few moments to download the images.

Connecting to the Database

Connecting to the Database Within the Container

docker exec -it auto-xe-reg sqlplus / as sysdba
docker exec -it auto-xe-reg sqlplus sys/<your_password>@XE as sysdba
docker exec -it auto-xe-reg sqlplus system/<your_password>@XE
docker exec -it auto-xe-reg sqlplus pdbadmin/<your_password>@XEPDB1

Connecting to the Database Outside of the container using SQL*Plus:

sqlplus sys/<your password>@//localhost:1521/XE as sysdba

Connecting to the Database via SQL Dev:

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Optional Settings

Reuse Existing Database or Mount Database & ORDS containers to host directory folders for database/file persistence

In the "docker-compose.yml" file, replace volumes with a directory path.

repalce:

    volumes:
      - db-vol-reg:/opt/oracle/oradata

with

    volumes:
      - <writable_directory_path>:/opt/oracle/oradata

example:

    volumes:
      - C:\Oracle\opt\oracle\oradata:/opt/oracle/oradata

Configure & Change ORDS Container default config options

For ords 22.2 java ords.war deprecated

• https://www.oracle.com/tools/ords/ords-relnotes-222.html
• https://oracle-base.com/articles/misc/oracle-rest-data-services-ords-standalone-mode-22-onward

View current commands:

• ords config info

Examples:

• ords config set jdbc.MinLimit 5
• ords config set jdbc.MaxLimit 30
• ords config set jdbc.InitialLimit 15
• ords config set jdbc.MaxStatementsLimit 20
• ords config set jdbc.InactivityTimeout 3600
• ords config set jdbc.statementTimeout 1800
• ords config set jdbc.MaxConnectionReuseCount 2000

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Alternative Install

Alt Install (1): Use Community Docker Images, by using the "oracle-apex-community" directory of files with the same steps as above

Various versions and options available. I would recommended to use the latest version(regular) if seeking a balance of image size and features. Slim version is not compatiable with Oracle Apex.

• https://hub.docker.com/r/gvenzl/oracle-xe

Alt Install (2): Build your own image - coming soon

Requires downloading and staging the software. Coming soon!

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Docker Terms

Docker:

• Platform for creating and running containers

Docker Compose File:

• tool for deining and running multi-container docker stack/apps
• get app running in one command
• Can be used in a Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD) Pipeline

Docker file(can be used or ran via command line)

• Build instructions for an image

Docker image

• Made with build command
• Read only
• Source code. Template with all files needed to make container

Docker container:

• Made with run command
• read-write
• An instance of an image.
• Can have multiple containers to one image.
• Can be saved as a new image like a snapshot

Docker volume

• Storage for persistent data generated by docker container
• Other option is to mount to filesystem directly

Notes

\\wsl$

docker save -o C:\temp\docker_oracle\ords\ords.tar container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords
docker save -o C:\temp\xe-image\xe.tar container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
docker export -o C:\temp\docker_oracle\xe_database_container\xecontainer.tar testapex

Stop the container

docker stop $CONTAINER

Create a new image

docker commit $CONTAINER $CONTAINER

Save image

docker save -o $CONTAINER.tar $CONTAINER

Save the volumes (use ".tar.gz" if you want compression)

docker-volumes.sh $CONTAINER save $CONTAINER-volumes.tar

Copy image and volumes to another host

scp $CONTAINER.tar $CONTAINER-volumes.tar $USER@$HOST:

On the other host:

docker load -i $CONTAINER.tar
docker create --name $CONTAINER [<PREVIOUS CONTAINER OPTIONS>] $CONTAINER

Load the volumes

docker-volumes.sh $CONTAINER load $CONTAINER-volumes.tar

Start container

docker start $CONTAINER

Create a Registry and Push Image to local copy

docker pull registry
docker run -d -p 5000:5000 --restart=always --name registry registry
docker login container-registry.oracle.com
docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
docker pull container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords:latest
docker image tag container-registry.oracle.com/database/express localhost:5000/xe-21-3
docker image tag container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords localhost:5000/ords-apex-22
docker push localhost:5000/xe-21-3
docker push localhost:5000/ords-apex-22
docker image remove container-registry.oracle.com/database/express:latest
docker image remove container-registry.oracle.com/database/ords:latest
docker image remove localhost:5000/xe-21-3
docker image remove localhost:5000/ords-apex-22
docker pull localhost:5000/xe-21-3
docker pull localhost:5000/ords-apex-22

To bash into a running container, type this:

docker exec -t -i container_name /bin/bash
or

docker exec -ti container_name /bin/bash
or

docker exec -ti container_name sh

or just /bin/bash

sudo apt update
ls usr/lib
# ls usr/lib/oracle/21