Edit

Create an Oracle Database in an Azure VM

  • Article
  • 7 minutes to read

Applies to: ✔️ Linux VMs

This guide details using the Azure CLI to deploy an Azure virtual machine from the Oracle marketplace gallery image in order to create an Oracle 19c database. Once the server is deployed, you will connect via SSH in order to configure the Oracle database.

If you don't have an Azure subscription, create a free account before you begin.

If you choose to install and use the CLI locally, this quickstart requires that you are running the Azure CLI version 2.0.4 or later. Run az --version to find the version. If you need to install or upgrade, see Install Azure CLI.

Create a resource group

Create a resource group with the az group create command. An Azure resource group is a logical container into which Azure resources are deployed and managed.

The following example creates a resource group named rg-oracle in the eastus location.

az group create --name rg-oracle --location eastus

Create virtual machine

To create a virtual machine (VM), use the az vm create command.

The following example creates a VM named vmoracle19c. It also creates SSH keys, if they do not already exist in a default key location. To use a specific set of keys, use the --ssh-key-value option.

az vm create ^
    --resource-group rg-oracle ^
    --name vmoracle19c ^
    --image Oracle:oracle-database-19-3:oracle-database-19-0904:latest ^
    --size Standard_DS2_v2 ^
    --admin-username azureuser ^
    --generate-ssh-keys ^
    --public-ip-address-allocation static ^
    --public-ip-address-dns-name vmoracle19c

After you create the VM, Azure CLI displays information similar to the following example. Note the value for publicIpAddress. You use this address to access the VM.

{
  "fqdns": "",
  "id": "/subscriptions/{snip}/resourceGroups/rg-oracle/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/vmoracle19c",
  "location": "eastus",
  "macAddress": "00-0D-3A-36-2F-56",
  "powerState": "VM running",
  "privateIpAddress": "10.0.0.4",
  "publicIpAddress": "13.64.104.241",
  "resourceGroup": "rg-oracle"
}

Create and attach a new disk for Oracle datafiles and FRA

az vm disk attach --name oradata01 --new --resource-group rg-oracle --size-gb 64 --sku StandardSSD_LRS --vm-name vmoracle19c

Open ports for connectivity

In this task you must configure some external endpoints for the database listener to use by setting up the Azure Network Security Group that protects the VM.

  1. To open the endpoint that you use to access the Oracle database remotely, create a Network Security Group rule as follows:

    az network nsg rule create ^
    --resource-group rg-oracle ^
    --nsg-name vmoracle19cNSG ^
    --name allow-oracle ^
    --protocol tcp ^
    --priority 1001 ^
    --destination-port-range 1521

  2. To open the endpoint that you use to access Oracle remotely, create a Network Security Group rule with az network nsg rule create as follows:

    az network nsg rule create ^
    --resource-group rg-oracle ^
    --nsg-name vmoracle19cNSG ^
    --name allow-oracle-EM ^
    --protocol tcp ^
    --priority 1002 ^
    --destination-port-range 5502

  3. If needed, obtain the public IP address of your VM again with az network public-ip show as follows:

    az network public-ip show ^
    --resource-group rg-oracle ^
    --name vmoracle19cPublicIP ^
    --query "ipAddress" ^
    --output tsv

Prepare the VM environment

  1. Connect to the VM

    To create an SSH session with the VM, use the following command. Replace the IP address with the publicIpAddress value for your VM.

    ssh azureuser@<publicIpAddress>

  2. Switch to the root user

    sudo su -

  3. Check for last created disk device that we will format for use holding Oracle datafiles

    ls -alt /dev/sd*|head -1

    The output will be similar to this:

    brw-rw----. 1 root disk 8, 16 Dec  8 22:57 /dev/sdc

  4. Format the device. As root user run parted on the device

    First create a disk label:

    parted /dev/sdc mklabel gpt

    Then create a primary partition spanning the whole disk:

    parted -a optimal /dev/sdc mkpart primary 0GB 64GB

    Finally check the device details by printing its metadata:

    parted /dev/sdc print

    The output should look similar to this:

    # parted /dev/sdc print
Model: Msft Virtual Disk (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdc: 68.7GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/4096B
Partition Table: gpt
Disk Flags:
Number  Start   End     Size    File system  Name     Flags
 1      1049kB  64.0GB  64.0GB  ext4         primary

  5. Create a filesystem on the device partition

    mkfs -t ext4 /dev/sdc1

  6. Create a mount point

    mkdir /u02

  7. Mount the disk

    mount /dev/sdc1 /u02

  8. Change permissions on the mount point

    chmod 777 /u02

  9. Add the mount to the /etc/fstab file.

    echo "/dev/sdc1               /u02                    ext4    defaults        0 0" >> /etc/fstab

  10. Update the /etc/hosts file with the public IP and hostname.

    Change the Public IP and VMname to reflect your actual values:

    echo "<Public IP> <VMname>.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com <VMname>" >> /etc/hosts

  11. Update the hostname file

    Use the following command to add the domain name of the VM to the /etc/hostname file. This assumes you have created your resource group and VM in the eastus region:

    sed -i 's/$/\.eastus\.cloudapp\.azure\.com &/' /etc/hostname

  12. Open firewall ports

    As SELinux is enabled by default on the Marketplace image we need to open the firewall to traffic for the database listening port 1521, and Enterprise Manager Express port 5502. Run the following commands as root user:

    firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=1521/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --zone=public --add-port=5502/tcp --permanent
firewall-cmd --reload

Create the database

The Oracle software is already installed on the Marketplace image. Create a sample database as follows.

  1. Switch to the oracle user:

    sudo su - oracle

  2. Start the database listener

    lsnrctl start

    The output is similar to the following:

    LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on 20-OCT-2020 01:58:18

Copyright (c) 1991, 2019, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Starting /u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1/bin/tnslsnr: please wait...

TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Log messages written to /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/vmoracle19c/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening on: (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=vmoracle19c.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com)(PORT=1521)))

Connecting to (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=)(PORT=1521))
STATUS of the LISTENER
------------------------
Alias                     LISTENER
Version                   TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production
Start Date                20-OCT-2020 01:58:18
Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 0 min. 0 sec
Trace Level               off
Security                  ON: Local OS Authentication
SNMP                      OFF
Listener Log File         /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/vmoracle19c/listener/alert/log.xml
Listening Endpoints Summary...
  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=vmoracle19c.eastus.cloudapp.azure.com)(PORT=1521)))
The listener supports no services
The command completed successfully

  3. Create a data directory for the Oracle data files:

    mkdir /u02/oradata

  4. Run the Database Creation Assistant:

    dbca -silent \
   -createDatabase \
   -templateName General_Purpose.dbc \
   -gdbname oratest1 \
   -sid oratest1 \
   -responseFile NO_VALUE \
   -characterSet AL32UTF8 \
   -sysPassword OraPasswd1 \
   -systemPassword OraPasswd1 \
   -createAsContainerDatabase false \
   -databaseType MULTIPURPOSE \
   -automaticMemoryManagement false \
   -storageType FS \
   -datafileDestination "/u02/oradata/" \
   -ignorePreReqs

    It takes a few minutes to create the database.

    You will see output that looks similar to the following:

        Prepare for db operation
   10% complete
   Copying database files
   40% complete
   Creating and starting Oracle instance
   42% complete
   46% complete
   50% complete
   54% complete
   60% complete
   Completing Database Creation
   66% complete
   69% complete
   70% complete
   Executing Post Configuration Actions
   100% complete
   Database creation complete. For details check the logfiles at: /u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/oratest1.
   Database Information:
   Global Database Name:oratest1
   System Identifier(SID):oratest1
   Look at the log file "/u01/app/oracle/cfgtoollogs/dbca/oratest1/oratest1.log" for further details.

  5. Set Oracle variables

    Before you connect, you need to set the environment variable ORACLE_SID:

        export ORACLE_SID=oratest1

    You should also add the ORACLE_SID variable to the oracle users .bashrc file for future sign-ins using the following command:

    echo "export ORACLE_SID=oratest1" >> ~oracle/.bashrc

Automate database startup and shutdown

The Oracle database by default doesn't automatically start when you restart the VM. To set up the Oracle database to start automatically, first sign in as root. Then, create and update some system files.

  1. Sign on as root

    sudo su -

  2. Run the following command to change the automated startup flag from N to Y in the /etc/oratab file:

    sed -i 's/:N/:Y/' /etc/oratab

  3. Create a file named /etc/init.d/dbora and paste the following contents:

    #!/bin/sh
# chkconfig: 345 99 10
# Description: Oracle auto start-stop script.
#
# Set ORA_HOME to be equivalent to $ORACLE_HOME.
ORA_HOME=/u01/app/oracle/product/19.0.0/dbhome_1
ORA_OWNER=oracle

case "$1" in
'start')
    # Start the Oracle databases:
    # The following command assumes that the Oracle sign-in
    # will not prompt the user for any values.
    # Remove "&" if you don't want startup as a background process.
    su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbstart $ORA_HOME" &
    touch /var/lock/subsys/dbora
    ;;

'stop')
    # Stop the Oracle databases:
    # The following command assumes that the Oracle sign-in
    # will not prompt the user for any values.
    su - $ORA_OWNER -c "$ORA_HOME/bin/dbshut $ORA_HOME" &
    rm -f /var/lock/subsys/dbora
    ;;
esac

  4. Change permissions on files with chmod as follows:

    chgrp dba /etc/init.d/dbora
chmod 750 /etc/init.d/dbora

  5. Create symbolic links for startup and shutdown as follows:

    ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc.d/rc0.d/K01dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc.d/rc3.d/S99dbora
ln -s /etc/init.d/dbora /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S99dbora

  6. To test your changes, restart the VM:

    reboot

Clean up resources

Once you have finished exploring your first Oracle database on Azure and the VM is no longer needed, you can use the az group delete command to remove the resource group, VM, and all related resources.

az group delete --name myResourceGroup

Next steps

Understand how to protect your database in Azure with Oracle Backup Strategies

Learn about other Oracle solutions on Azure.

Try the Installing and Configuring Oracle Automated Storage Management tutorial.