I have for a few years created a play environment in a similar way. Getting a database installed in a VM is not too hard. But I found that I did it fairly often and not always in the same way and not always without having to resolve problems I know I had solved before but since forgotten the solution for.
Right, write everything down. Yes, it was time for that.
So I now have my notes in order so I can run through the creation of a new VM when a new version of any software I want to have installed becomes available.
Since 12c is out and more importantly 12.2 was released just a week ago it was time to include multi tenant in the model.
This is what I want to have in my VM I use to test and evaluate Oracle Database stuff.
- Oracle Linux 7.3
- Oracle Database 12.2
- CDB
- PDB dev
- PDB test
- PDB prod
- Oracle APEX 5.1 installed in each PDB
- ORDS 3.0
- Glassfish 3.1
Thus, with this I have three PDBs simulating dev, test , and prod when I want to model migrating things through an environment. Each of them has APEX so that too can be tested for migrating through an environment.
Including ORDS and glassfish makes then installation complete and not only allows using all features of APEX but also prepares the VM to be used for REST services.
For database work this is to me a very complete VM to test and learn new things with.
I’d recommend that you do the same for what you want. There is the Oracle Developer VM you can get and lots of other ones too. But I find you learn a lot by creating your own. If you install yourself you also get it to be set up the way you want it.
The one I create, I set up as a template and then I clone it to have one that I con make changes to. That allows me to have a pristine version to clone from. Yes, I could use snapshots to achieve much of the same. Having a separate template makes maintaining it much easier in my experience.
When you do install, remember to make a snapshot at least after each individual product has been installed and configured. You will end up going back and redoing it when you run into problems or think of improvements to your install.
The template I create I share with friends and coworkers who may not want to do their own installation. While installing teaches you lots, for some it is not worth it. They just want to play. For those people using mine or the Oracle App Development VM is a quick way to do that. Oracle provides a lot of different ones for that or when you want to try something new. All of them can be found here.
To finish up, I just have to link to Tim Hall. He has a fantastic number of articles and for this stuff his write up of installing Oracle DB 12.2. When I find a problem it is most of the time already covered in his article. Even more impressing is that he gets it out before you even get your VirtualBox loaded. I think he had the 12.2 version of this updated and posted within four hours of the release of 12.2.
GO! Create your own VM and get hacking. 12.2 has too much cool stuff in it to not keep you hacking for a long time.
Make hacking a legal sport. 🙂