These container images are for the Oracle Instant Client 'Basic', 'SDK' and 'SQL*Plus' packages. They can be used to build and run Oracle Call Interface (OCI), Oracle C++ Call Interface (OCCI), and JDBC-OCI applications applications. The SQL*Plus command-line query tool allows quick ad-hoc SQL and PL/SQL execution. The container images can be extended with optional Instant Client packages for ODBC, or to include tools such as Oracle SQL*Loader.
The base images support building and using scripting language APIs that internally call OCI. These include Python's cx_Oracle, Node.js's node-oracledb, PHP's OCI8, Go's godror and Ruby's ruby-oci8.
The Oracle Instant Client is a repackaging of Oracle Database libraries, tools and header files usable to create and run applications that connect to a remote (or local) Oracle Database.
Oracle client-server version interoperability is detailed in Doc ID 207303.1. In summary, applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 21 can connect to Oracle Database 12.1 or later. Applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 19, 18 or 12.2 can connect to Oracle Database 11.2 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.
Pre-built images for Instant Client are in the GitHub Container Registry:
https://github.com/orgs/oracle/packages/container/package/oraclelinux8-instantclient https://github.com/orgs/oracle/packages/container/package/oraclelinux7-instantclient
They are built from the Dockerfiles in this repository.
For example, to pull an Oracle Linux 8 image with Oracle Instant Client 21c already installed, execute:
docker pull ghcr.io/oracle/oraclelinux8-instantclient:21
Prebuilt containers for some language images are also available in the registry.
Change directory to oraclelinux7/21 or
oraclelinux8/21 and run:
docker build --pull -t oracle/instantclient:21 .
The build process automatically installs Instant Client using RPMs directly from the Oracle Instant Client repository (OL8) or Oracle Instant Client repository (OL7).
Applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 21 can connect to Oracle Database 12.1 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.
Change directory to oraclelinux7/19 or
oraclelinux8/19 and run:
docker build --pull -t oracle/instantclient:19 .
The build process automatically installs Instant Client using RPMs directly from the Oracle Instant Client repository (OL8) or Oracle Instant Client repository (OL7).
Applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 19 can connect to Oracle Database 11.2 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.
Change directory to oraclelinux7/18 and run:
docker build --pull -t oracle/instantclient:18 .
The build process will automatically install the Instant Client using RPMs sourced directly from the Oracle Instant Client repository.
Applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 18 can connect to Oracle Database 11.2 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.
Download the following three RPMs from the Instant Client download page on the Oracle Technology Network:
oracle-instantclient12.2-basic-12.2.0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpmoracle-instantclient12.2-devel-12.2.0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpmoracle-instantclient12.2-sqlplus-12.2.0.1.0-1.x86_64.rpm
Place the downloaded Oracle Instant Client RPMs (from the previous step) in the
oraclelinux7/12.2.0.1 directory, then switch to that
directory and run:
docker build --pull -t oracle/instantclient:12.2.0.1 .
Applications using Oracle Call Interface (OCI) 12.2 can connect to Oracle Database 11.2 or later. Some tools may have other restrictions.
These Dockerfiles include SQL*Plus so you can interactively run a container to execute ad-hoc SQL and PL/SQL statements against your database, for example:
docker run -ti --rm oracle/instantclient:19 sqlplus hr@example.com/orclpdb1
Optional Oracle Network and Oracle client configuration files can be
copied or mounted to the default configuration file directory
/usr/lib/oracle/<version>/client64/lib/network/admin. Optional
files include tnsnames.ora, sqlnet.ora, oraaccess.xml and
cwallet.sso.
When files are in the default directory, you do not need to set
Oracle's TNS_ADMIN environment variable.
For Instant Client 12.2, and earlier, you must explicitly create the directory.
Oracle Wallets allow database connection over TLS and/or without requiring database credentials.
To use a wallet with Instant Client, obtain your wallet files and place them in a secure host directory. Then, when running a container, use a volume to mount the files to the default Instant Client network configuration file directory, for example:
docker run -v /my/host/wallet_dir:/usr/lib/oracle/19.11/client64/lib/network/admin:Z,ro . . .
You should review which volume options are required. The Z option is needed
when selinux is in effect, see "Configure the selinux label" in Use bind
mounts.
If you have a wallet zip downloaded from an Oracle Cloud Database then you
should unzip it and, in this example, place the extracted files in
/my/host/wallet_dir on your host. Cloud database wallets provide connection
strings for the database service and enable mutual TLS. Your container
applications should use one of the connection strings from tnsnames.ora and
also supply a valid database username and password for connection. If you are
using C based applications (including database drivers for Python, Node.js, Go,
Ruby or PHP) you only need the tnsnames.ora, sqlnet.ora and cwallet.sso
files from the zip file. Keep the files secure.
To extend the image with optional Oracle Database drivers, follow your desired
driver installation steps. The Instant Client libraries are in
/usr/lib/oracle/<version>/client64/lib and the Instant Client headers are in
/usr/include/oracle/<version>/client64/.
The Instant Client libraries are in the default library search path.