If you like the simplicity of Docker, but would like to continue with Virtualbox, then Vagrant is for you. After the conference in Dublin, OUG Ireland, I got this challenge:
@OyvindIsene agreed to be my guinea pig for my @vagrantup files. That’s what you get when going to a conference! ;) https://t.co/pJDisr4Mhp
— Gerald Venzl (@GeraldVenzl) March 24, 2017
Not much of a challenge, of course, since he has done all the work, it is just “Download and Go”. Just follow the instructions in the README part on the page linked to in his Tweet. I did this on my Mac at the airport (I found a downloaded copy of 12.2 after all). The only comment I could make is that the git command creates a directory (oracle-12.2-vagrant) and you copy the downloaded zip file (linuxx64_12201_database.zip) into that directory.
In the oracle-12.2-vagrant directory there is of course the Vagrantfile that you can edit if you want. In case you have a listener already running on port 1521, you can easily change the Vagrantfile so the port 1521 from the VM will be forwarded to another port. I actually just did vagrant up on my server at home when preparing for this post, and it failed because port 1521 was already in use. No problem, just edit Vagrantfile (line number 19), and repeat the command, nothing to clean up first.
Do check out this blog post that came out today: Oracle Linux Vagrant boxes by Mikael Sandström. He has been using Vagrant a lot and actually created a box for many versions of Oracle Linux. Which means that if you want to try an upgrade on one specific version of Oracle Linux you can use one of his boxes easily. There are some other useful tips on Vagrant in the post too.
I will continue to play around with both Docker and VirtualBox/Vagrant. Creating new lab environments has become very easy so we can focus on more important stuff than just installing software.