Setting up OCI8 and Oracle XE with Docker on macOS

Integrating OCI8 with a PHP environment can be challenging, but recent updates have simplified the process significantly. Follow this guide to get everything set up seamlessly.

Adding OCI8 support to PHP

Oracle has streamlined the process for adding OCI8 support to PHP. Clear, user-friendly instructions are available in this Gist. Follow the steps outlined to prepare your PHP environment for OCI8.

Setting up Oracle XE in Docker

Once your PHP environment is ready, you can move on to Docker setup. We’ll use the Oracle XE image available on Docker Hub: gvenzl/oracle-xe.

Installing Colima

First, ensure you have Colima installed. Installation is straightforward using Homebrew:

brew install colima

After installing Colima, start it with the following command:

colima start --arch x86_64 --memory 4

Configuring Docker Context

Next, switch the Docker context to Colima:

docker context use colima

Running the Oracle XE Docker Image

Finally, run the Oracle XE container using the command below:

docker run -d --name oracle-xe -p 1521:1521 \
    -e ORACLE_RANDOM_PASSWORD=true \
    -e APP_USER=ORACLE \
    -e APP_USER_PASSWORD=ORACLE \
    gvenzl/oracle-xe

Conclusion

That’s it! With OCI8 support in PHP and Oracle XE running in Docker, your environment is ready.