The Oracle Database 19c is the world’s first converged database.

Oracle Database 19c is also a long term release.

Then in-between long term releases Oracle have now introduced innovation releases:

Oracle delivers Innovation Releases that introduce new features and enhancements which will then be included in the next Long Term Release of Oracle Database.

More details on the differences between long term and innovation releases are in the following blog:

The idea for an innovation release is for customers to exploit new and enhanced functionality for new use cases.

Oracle Database 21c is an innovation release, and has innovative features such as Blockchain tables.

So the next question is where do you get your hands on Oracle Database 21c?

Oracle Cloud

Oracle Database 21c is available in the Oracle Cloud.

And if you’re in the right region, Oracle Database 21c is available in the Free Tier.

It’s also available in the Autonomous Database Free Tier Service in Ashburn (IAD), Phoenix (PHX), Frankfurt (FRA) and London (LHR) regions.

So for those in the following regions, you are already in the right place:

• Ashburn (IAD)
• Phoenix (PHX)
• Frankfurt (FRA)
• London (LHR)

The question is how do you get Oracle Database 21c for free, if your region is not listed in one of the 4 regions above?

The Oracle Vagrant Project

Oracle Database 21c has recently been added to the Oracle Vagrant Project in Github.

Setting up the Oracle Vagrant Project is easy.

Get the latest Oracle Vagrant Project from Github via a git clone:

> git clone https://github.com/oracle/vagrant-projects

Once downloaded, change the directory to Oracle Database 21.3:

> cd ~/vagrant-projects/OracleDatabase/21.3.0

Next, the zip file for Oracle Database 21.3 needs to be downloaded too. ie LINUX.X64_213000_db_home.zip (2.89 GB).

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/database/enterprise-edition/downloads/index.html

Unfortunately we can’t use Curl to download the zip file as the license agreement needs to be acknowledged in a browser.

After downloading, confirm that the zip file is in the vagrant-projects/OracleDatabase/21.3.0 directory.

Now it’s a simple matter of starting the virtual machine:

> vagrant up

The tail of the output will resemble the following:

The Oracle Database 21.3 is built on OEL8.

The last lines of the output will list the password for your login, so note this now as this information is required later.

Now login to the virtual machine.

> vagrant ssh

Once logged in to the virtual machine, switch to the Oracle account with:

> sudo su — oracle

Using the password that you noted earlier, you can now login to Oracle Database 21c.

SQL Developer

SQL Developer is a great tool to connect to the Oracle Database 21c virtual environment from the host.

The Oracle Database 21c virtual environment has local port forwarding setup by default from the guest to the host:

• port 1521 to host port 1521.
• port 5500 to host port 5500.
• port 22 to host port 2222.

Now it’s easy to connect to the Oracle Database 21c virtual environment via SQL Developer.

The hostname is localhost, and we will use host port 1521 as we know that the corresponding guest port is 1521.

Now we’re in — and let the innovation begin with Oracle Database 21c!

Paul Guerin is an international consultant that specialises in Oracle database. Moreover, he has presented at some of the world’s leading Oracle conferences, including Oracle Open World 2013. Since 2015, his work has been featured in the IOUG Best Practices Tip Booklet, and in publications from AUSOUG, Oracle Technology Network, Quest, and Oracle Developers (Medium). In 2019, he was awarded as a most valued contributor for the My Oracle Support Community. He is a DBA OCP, and continues to be a participant of the Oracle ACE program.