Running Oracle 19c in a Docker container: part 2: server up and running

Following on from my first attempt to get Oracle 19c running in a Docker container and running out of disk space in my VM, I increased the disk space to 40GB and restarted the steps to build the image. It took about 1.5hrs to complete building and doing the install into the image. Although building an image is a one time activity, unless you’re making changes to the image that’s still a long time, and not something you can do on a regular basis or on demand.

Next, starting up an container from the image, using the provided docker command from the docs:

docker run --name <container name> \
-p <host port>:1521 -p <host port>:5500 \
-e ORACLE_SID=<your SID> \
-e ORACLE_PDB=<your PDB name> \
-e ORACLE_PWD=<your database passwords> \
-e ORACLE_CHARACTERSET=<your character set> \
-v [<host mount point>:]/opt/oracle/oradata \
oracle/database:19.3.0-se2

It then takes around 30mins before the server is actually up and running. At least it gives you some percentage status outputs as it’s starting up, but again, not really practical for starting a server up ondemand or on a whim. For reference, this is on my HP DL380 G7 server with dual 2.4GHz Xeons, running in an Ubuntu 18.04 VM with 4 vCpus and 8GB RAM.

Up and running:

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on 24-MAY-2019 04:55:03
Copyright (c) 1991, 2019, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Starting /opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait…
TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
System parameter file is /opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Log messages written to /opt/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/8363ae964727/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=IPC)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
STATUS of the LISTENER
Alias LISTENER
Version TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Start Date 24-MAY-2019 04:55:04
Uptime 0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 1 sec
Trace Level off
Security ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP OFF
Listener Parameter File /opt/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora
Listener Log File /opt/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/8363ae964727/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary…
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1)))
(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=0.0.0.0)(PORT=1521)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully

Prepare for db operation
8% complete
Copying database files
31% complete
Creating and starting Oracle instance
32% complete
36% complete
40% complete
43% complete
46% complete
Completing Database Creation
51% complete
54% complete
Creating Pluggable Databases
58% complete
77% complete
Executing Post Configuration Actions
100% complete
Database creation complete. For details check the logfiles at:
/opt/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/ORADB1.
Database Information:
Global Database Name:ORADB1
System Identifier(SID):ORADB1
Look at the log file "/opt/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/ORADB1/ORADB1.log" for further details.
SQL*Plus: Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on Fri May 24 05:17:49 2019
Version 19.3.0.0.0
Copyright (c) 1982, 2019, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle Database 19c Standard Edition 2 Release 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Version 19.3.0.0.0

Created a connection in SQLDeveloper and can connect!

Pause when sudo’ing commands on Ubuntu 18.04

I just installed an Ubuntu 18.04 server and noticed when using sudo for commands, it would pause for about 10 secs then execute the command.

A quick google found this post, mentioning that if you change the hostname during install, you should manually add the same hostname to the /etc/hosts for 127.0.0.1.

I did this and now sudo commands execute instantly as expected.

Installing a desktop on Ubuntu 18.04 server

Ubuntu 18.04 Server does not come with a desktop by default, but any of the normally available desktops can be installed with the tasksel util.

sudo apt-get install tasksel

List available desktop installations (and other installs/collection of packages):

tasksel --list-tasks

Select required desktop from displayed list and install, e.g.:

sudo tasksel install lubuntu-desktop

Wait for install to complete, reboot, done.