Category: DBaaS

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12 Days of #Cloud: Connecting to #Oracle #DBaaS using #SQLDev

image2212 Days of #Cloud: Day 1

There are two ways for SQL Developer to connect to a DBaaS Cloud Instance.

Review how to create a DBaaS Cloud Instance.

1. Using SQL*Net

By default, the Oracle DBaaS Cloud Service blocks access to 1521 port used by SQL*Net. You have to open the port before you can connect using SQL Developer.

Log in to the Oracle Database Cloud Service and click on the service name to see the details. Note down the Public IP address and the Connect String.

Click on the Database Cloud Service menu and choose “Access Rules”.

Enable the “ora_p2_dblistener” access rule, by clicking the menu under Actions.

Now, you can use SQL Developer from your desktop to connect to the Cloud Database as you would connect to any on-premise database. Use the Public IP address as the hostname and the service name in the connect string.

2. Using SSH

This method is a bit more secure. Let’s turn off the 1521 port to make sure our connection using SSH works indeed. Confirm SSH is enabled.

In SQL Developer menu, click on View –> SSH. Then right click and choose “Create New SSH Host”.

Provide the Cloud Database Service Public IP address and the SSH key file. Enable port forwarding on port 1521.

Oops, I chose a wrong key file. Instead of the private key, selected the public key file. Let me fix by editing the SSH host entry.

Now choose “New Connection” in SQL Developer, and configure a connection using connection type SSH. You still have to enter the service name of the cloud database.

When you click Test button,  you will be asked the SSH key passphrase.

And, that’s it. You are ready to go.

 

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Exploring #Oracle #Cloud #DBaaS – The Start!

Got excited to see Oracle Database 12.2 available on Oracle Cloud DBaaS, and wanted to try it out immediately. This blog is my first experience, and I will continue sharing as I learn Oracle DBaaS myself!

Oracle has provided an excellent step by step quick start document. Though the document is not updated with 12.2 offering, it is pretty good to get started, and hopefully, by the time you read this blog, the updated content would be available.

Reference: Oracle Database Cloud – Database as a Service Quick Start

I followed the steps as is for the following sections in the document:

  • Create SSH Private and Public Keys
  • Creating a Service Instance
    • Invoking the Create Database Cloud Service Wizard
    • Defining the Subscription Type

The next section is “Selecting the Software Release”, here I picked the latest and greatest.

No specific reason why I chose “High Performance” in the next screen, it looked good 🙂

The next screen collects a lot of information and offers choices. The “?” icon is very helpful. The DBaaS service gives not just the database, but a host too, and we can choose the host compute level.

As you can see here, you could have the host as small as 1 OCPU (remember one vCPU is different from one OCPU – An OCPU provides CPU capacity equivalent of one physical core of an Intel Xeon processor with hyper threading enabled. Each OCPU corresponds to two hardware execution threads, known as vCPUs) and 8GB RAM; or as big as 16 OCPU and 240GB RAM.

Service Configuration section is where you specify the database host name (service name), compute size, time zone and the SSH public key file generated in the earlier “Create SSH Private and Public Keys” section.

In the Database Configuration section, specify the storage required for the database, administrator password, database name and the first pluggable database name.

In the Backup and Recovery Configuration section, there are options to perform local backup, cloud backup or no backup. I chose no backup for now, will enable backup at a later time.

In this section, there are also configuration options to choose such as needing a standby database or configuring golden gate. I think these are pretty sleek, simple to the end-user.

Now all required information are entered, and ready to create the DBaaS instance. The confirmation screen is shown.

Fingers crossed, and I clicked 

Got the instance creation progress screen.

I thought this would be quick, waited 15 minutes, progress screen did not change. There are few other places to check status, such as the “Activity” section.

After about 45 minutes, the instance creation was complete.

The instance information screen showed all the details I need to connect to the database.

The instance (host) seems to be down (yellow bar). So clicked on the menu icon, and chose Start.

    

And, there I have my host and database ready to use!

Next, I will share how to connect to this DBaaS instance using SQL Developer.