Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release is available

 Yesterday 3rd April 2023 at the regional Oracle Cloud World (OCW) in Singapore it got announced: Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release is available for download from now on.

Where can you download it?

That is most likely the most important link you are looking for. You can download the Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release from here: Download Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Release. You will download an RPM.

Installation : 

Please note that Oracle Database 23c on Linux requires your OS to be either OL8 or RHEL8.

You can find the preinstall package here:

§  Release 8

 Gerald Venzl provides a Docker image :

§  Docker Image – Oracle Database 23c Free Developer Edition

Step 1: Install Docker desktop on windows pc.

Step 2:Pull the image from docker hub and install 

 These steps are a summary, and you may need additional steps depending on your use case Install using VM.

1. Install Oracle Linux 8 from https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-isos.html
2. Download the database pre-install package: https://yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL8/developer/x86_64/getPackage/oracle-database-preinstall-23c-1.0-0.5.el8.x86_64.rpm
   and install it as root in your OL8 machine:
   sudo dnf install -y oracle-database-preinstall-23c-1.00.5.el8.x86_64.rpm
3. Download the Oracle Database 23c Free RPM:
   https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/otn_software/db-free/oracle-database-free-23c-1.0-1.el8.x86_64.rpm
   and install it as root:
   sudo dnf install -y oracle-database-free-23c-1.0–1.el8.x86_64.rpm
4. Run the initialization script as directed, entering the privileged user password when prompted:
   sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-free-23c configure
5. Make sure the DB is auto-started when the machine boots:
   sudo systemctl enable oracle-free-23c
6. Open up a firewall port so I can access the DB from other machines:
   sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1521/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
7. Back on the VirtualBox GUI on the host, after shutting down the VM, I then enabled port forwarding for port 1521 by navigating to VM settings->Network->Advanced->Port Forwarding and clicking the “+” icon. I added a TCP rule for host port 1521 mapping to guest port 1521. (Scroll right if you don’t see the guest port column).
8. Reboot the VM (in my case). I can then connect to the DB from my host machine like sqlplus system@localhost/freepdb1These steps are a summary, and you may need additional steps depending on your use case.
   1. Install Oracle Linux 8 from https://yum.oracle.com/oracle-linux-isos.html
   2. Download the database pre-install package: https://yum.oracle.com/repo/OracleLinux/OL8/developer/x86_64/getPackage/oracle-database-preinstall-23c-1.0-0.5.el8.x86_64.rpm
      and install it as root in your OL8 machine:
      sudo dnf install -y oracle-database-preinstall-23c-1.00.5.el8.x86_64.rpm
   3. Download the Oracle Database 23c Free RPM:
      https://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/otn_software/db-free/oracle-database-free-23c-1.0-1.el8.x86_64.rpm
      and install it as root:
      sudo dnf install -y oracle-database-free-23c-1.0–1.el8.x86_64.rpm
   4. Run the initialization script as directed, entering the privileged user password when prompted:
      sudo /etc/init.d/oracle-free-23c configure
   5. Make sure the DB is auto-started when the machine boots:
      sudo systemctl enable oracle-free-23c
   6. Open up a firewall port so I can access the DB from other machines:
      sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-port=1521/tcp
sudo firewall-cmd --reload
   7. Back on the VirtualBox GUI on the host, after shutting down the VM, I then enabled port forwarding for port 1521 by navigating to VM settings->Network->Advanced->Port Forwarding and clicking the “+” icon. I added a TCP rule for host port 1521 mapping to guest port 1521. (Scroll right if you don’t see the guest port column).
   8. Reboot the VM (in my case). I can then connect to the DB from my host machine like sqlplus system@localhost/freepdb1

What else is important to know and bookmark?

Support will be given through the Oracle Forum. 

Furthermore, you’ll find more information here:

• Documentation
• New Features
• Announcement blog

Most likely, the documentation generally but especially the New Features Guide are the best starting point.

Happy downloading and learning!

Important New features:

• JSON Relational Duality: Developers can build applications in either relational or JSON paradigms with a single source of truth and benefit from the strengths of both, relational and document models. Data is held once but can be accessed, written, and modified with either approach. Developers benefit from the best of both JSON and relational models, including ACID-compliant transactions and concurrency controls, which means they no longer have to make tradeoffs between complex object-relational mappings or data inconsistency issues.

“With Oracle Database 23c Free—Developer Release, developers get early access to new app dev features highlighted by JSON Relational Duality. This release finally gives developers an opportunity to try out a feature that unifies and synchronizes the documents and relational worlds. It enables developers and data engineers to access formats for each use case without worrying about data structure, data mapping, data consistency or performance tuning. They can now also run graph analytics on top of both relational and JSON data. Oracle’s JSON Relational Duality, a truly revolutionary solution, is perhaps one of the most important innovations in information science in 20 years,” said Carl Olofson, Research Vice President, Data Management Software, IDC.

• JavaScript Stored Procedures (powered by GraalVM): JavaScript code can now be executed closer to data than ever before by writing JavaScript Stored Procedures or loading existing JavaScript libraries into the Oracle Database. Support for JavaScript code improves developer productivity by allowing reuse of existing business logic straight inside the data tier and reuse of JavaScript developer skills. JavaScript code invocation can be intermixed with SQL and PL/SQL, providing polyglot programming language support.

• JSON Schema: Developers can now ensure and validate JSON document structures via industry-standard JSON Schemas, enabling the confident and reliable use of the JSON data format.

• Operational Property Graphs: Developers can now build both transactional and analytical property graph applications with Oracle Database, using its industry-leading, new SQL standard property graph queries support, including running graph analytics on top of relational and JSON data.

• Oracle Kafka APIs: Kafka applications can now run against Oracle Database Transactional Event Queues with minimal code changes enabling much more robust microservices built using transactional events that perform event operations and database changes in a single atomic transaction.

• SQL Domains: The new domain construct can act as lightweight type modifiers that centrally document intended data usage, extending and drastically improving SQL standard domains. This allows developers to better understand how the data is used and improves overall data quality, without the complexity and incompatibility of usage-specific data types or user-defined types.

• Annotations: Database metadata can now be stored directly alongside the data with the new Annotation mechanism inside the Oracle Database. Developers can annotate common data model attributes for tables, columns, views, indexes, etc., providing a central, lightweight, declarative facility to register and exchange usage properties across applications. Storing the metadata along with the data guarantees consistency and universal accessibility to any user or application that uses the data.