How to Check and Manage Oracle DB in Docker
Commands to manage the Oracle database running in Docker
Link to install the docker image from Oracle container registry: How to login in Docker for download the images from Oracle Registry
Check the running status of Oracle database container with docker command
docker psubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
36ede553a527 container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:latest “/bin/sh -c ‘exec $O…” 10 days ago Up About an hour (healthy) 0.0.0.0:1521->1521/tcp, [::]:1521->1521/tcp oracledb
Login with Docker Bash Shell using SQL*Plus to Oracle Database
Note: oracledb is container name running in docker
docker exec -it oracledb bash
Example:
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker exec -it oracledb bash
bash-4.4$ sqlplus / as sysdba
SQL*Plus: Release 23.26.1.0.0 – Production on Fri Feb 20 11:38:18 2026
Version 23.26.1.0.0
Copyright (c) 1982, 2025, Oracle. All rights reserved.
Connected to:
Oracle AI Database 26ai Enterprise Edition Release 23.26.1.0.0 – Production
Version 23.26.1.0.0
SQL>
Check if the Oracle database is running.
docker ps -a shows all running and stopped containers.
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
36ede553a527 container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:latest “/bin/sh -c ‘exec $O…” 10 days ago Up About an hour (healthy) 0.0.0.0:1521->1521/tcp, [::]:1521->1521/tcp oracledb
Stop the Oracle DB container or stop the Oracle database
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker stop oracledb
oracledb
Check the database log using a Docker command.
docker log oracledb
docker log oracledb
— you can see the alert log directly
2026-02-20T11:41:52.001694+00:00
Stopping change tracking
Database closed.
Database dismounted.
2026-02-20T11:41:52.173929+00:00
Thread 1 closed at log sequence 2
Successful close of redo thread 1
Completed: ALTER DATABASE CLOSE NORMAL
2026-02-20T11:41:52.426231+00:00
ALTER DATABASE DISMOUNT
Completed: ALTER DATABASE DISMOUNT
2026-02-20T11:41:52.543410+00:00
JIT: pid 2641 requesting stop
JIT: pid 2641 requesting stop
ORACLE instance shut down.
Start the Oracle database Docker container.
Before starting the Oracle database service, check if the OracleDB container is not in a running or exited state by using the docker ps -a command. You can verify running instances of OracleDB with the docker ps command.
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker ps -a
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
36ede553a527 container-registry.oracle.com/database/enterprise:latest “/bin/sh -c ‘exec $O…” 10 days ago Exited (143) 4 minutes ago oracledb
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker ps
CONTAINER ID IMAGE COMMAND CREATED STATUS PORTS NAMES
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$
— Start the database container
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$ docker start oracledb
oracledb
ubuntu01@ubuntu01-VirtualBox:~/Desktop$
Now we will check the logs, its open or nor
#docker logs oracledb
23.26.1.0.0 – Production
Version 23.26.1.0.0
The Oracle base remains unchanged with value /opt/oracle
DB is in good health on startup
The Oracle base remains unchanged with value /opt/oracle
#########################
DATABASE IS READY TO USE!
#########################
The following output is now a tail of the alert.log:
2026-02-20T11:54:05.670123+00:00
CLID: P
PDB$SEED(2):Autotune of undo retention is turned on.
2026-02-20T11:54:12.246423+00:00
PDB$SEED(2):Opening pdb with no Resource Manager plan active
ORCLPDB1(3):Autotune of undo retention is turned on.
2026-02-20T11:54:18.242310+00:00
ORCLPDB1(3):Opening pdb with no Resource Manager plan active
Completed: Pluggable database ORCLPDB1 opened read write
Completed: alter database open