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Reconfigure Oracle Database

This guide will show you how to use KubeDB Ops-manager operator to reconfigure an Oracle database.

Before You Begin

  • At first, you need to have a Kubernetes cluster, and the kubectl command-line tool must be configured to communicate with your cluster. If you do not already have a cluster, you can create one by using kind.

  • Install KubeDB Provisioner and Ops-manager operator in your cluster following the steps here.

  • To keep things isolated, this tutorial uses a separate namespace called demo throughout this tutorial.

$ kubectl create ns demo
namespace/demo created

Note: YAML files used in this tutorial are stored in docs/examples/oracle/reconfigure folder in GitHub repository kubedb/docs.

Oracle images are pulled from container-registry.oracle.com. Every Oracle CR must reference an image pull secret (named orclcred in this tutorial) through spec.podTemplate.spec.imagePullSecrets. Create an Oracle Container Registry token, if you haven’t created one already, by following the instructions in the guide below: here

Deploy Oracle

In this section, we are going to deploy an Oracle standalone database. Below is the YAML of the Oracle CR that we are going to create,

apiVersion: kubedb.com/v1alpha2
kind: Oracle
metadata:
  name: oracle-sa-sample
  namespace: demo
spec:
  podTemplate:
    spec:
      imagePullSecrets:
        - name: orclcred
  version: "21.3.0"
  edition: enterprise
  mode: Standalone
  storageType: Durable
  replicas: 1
  storage:
    storageClassName: "local-path"
    accessModes:
      - ReadWriteOnce
    resources:
      requests:
        storage: 10Gi
  deletionPolicy: WipeOut

Let’s create the Oracle CR we have shown above and wait until it becomes Ready,

$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2026.10.12/docs/examples/oracle/reconfigure/standalone-minimal.yaml
oracle.kubedb.com/oracle-sa-sample created

Reconfigure using a config Secret

Now we will reconfigure this database to set PROCESSES = 800.

At first, create a Secret with the new configuration. The Secret key must be oracle.cnf:

apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: oracle-custom
  namespace: demo
type: Opaque
stringData:
  oracle.cnf: |
    PROCESSES = 800    

$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2026.10.12/docs/examples/oracle/reconfigure/oracle-custom-config-secret.yaml
secret/oracle-custom created

Create OracleOpsRequest

Now, we will use this Secret to reconfigure the database via an OracleOpsRequest. Below is the YAML of the OracleOpsRequest CR that we are going to create,

apiVersion: ops.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
kind: OracleOpsRequest
metadata:
  name: standalone-reconfigure
  namespace: demo
spec:
  type: Reconfigure
  databaseRef:
    name: oracle-sa-sample
  configuration:
    configSecret:
      name: oracle-custom

Here,

  • spec.type specifies that we are performing a Reconfigure operation.
  • spec.databaseRef.name specifies that we are reconfiguring the oracle-sa-sample database.
  • spec.configuration.configSecret.name points to the Secret (with key oracle.cnf) that holds the new configuration. You can alternatively set spec.configuration.applyConfig to provide the configuration inline, or spec.configuration.removeCustomConfig: true to drop a previously applied custom configuration.

Let’s create the OracleOpsRequest,

$ kubectl create -f https://github.com/kubedb/docs/raw/v2026.10.12/docs/examples/oracle/reconfigure/standalone-reconfigure.yaml
oracleopsrequest.ops.kubedb.com/standalone-reconfigure created

Verify the new configuration

Let’s wait for the OracleOpsRequest to become Successful,

$ kubectl get oracleopsrequest -n demo standalone-reconfigure
NAME                     TYPE          STATUS       AGE
standalone-reconfigure   Reconfigure   Successful   118s

We can see the full progress in the kubectl describe output,

$ kubectl describe oracleopsrequest -n demo standalone-reconfigure
Name:         standalone-reconfigure
Namespace:    demo
...
Status:
  Conditions:
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:56:21Z
    Message:               Oracle ops-request has started to reconfigure Oracle nodes
    Reason:                Reconfigure
    Status:                True
    Type:                  Reconfigure
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:56:37Z
    Message:               successfully reconciled the Oracle with new configuration
    Reason:                UpdatePetSets
    Status:                True
    Type:                  UpdatePetSets
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:56:38Z
    Message:               successfully setup wallet from secret
    Reason:                WalletSetup
    Status:                True
    Type:                  WalletSetup
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:57:29Z
    Message:               Successfully Restarted Oracle nodes
    Reason:                RestartNodes
    Status:                True
    Type:                  RestartNodes
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:57:24Z
    Message:               Pod oracle-sa-sample-0 restarted and healthy
    Status:                True
    Type:                  RestartedPod--oracle-sa-sample-0
    Last Transition Time:  2026-06-22T18:57:29Z
    Message:               Successfully completed reconfiguring for Oracle
    Reason:                Successful
    Status:                True
    Type:                  Successful
  Phase:                   Successful

Finally, let’s connect to the database and confirm that PROCESSES is now 800,

$ kubectl get secret -n demo oracle-sa-sample-auth -o jsonpath='{.data.password}' | base64 -d
# (use the printed password below)

$ kubectl exec -n demo oracle-sa-sample-0 -c oracle -- bash -lc \
    "echo -e 'SHOW PARAMETER processes;\nexit;' | sqlplus -s sys/<password>@localhost:1521/ORCL as sysdba"

NAME                                 TYPE        VALUE
------------------------------------ ----------- -----
processes                            integer     800

The processes parameter has been updated to 800, confirming the reconfiguration was applied successfully.

Reconfiguring a DataGuard cluster

The same OracleOpsRequest works for a DataGuard cluster — point spec.databaseRef.name at the DataGuard database:

apiVersion: ops.kubedb.com/v1alpha1
kind: OracleOpsRequest
metadata:
  name: dataguard-reconfigure
  namespace: demo
spec:
  type: Reconfigure
  databaseRef:
    name: oracle-dg-sample
  configuration:
    configSecret:
      name: oracle-custom

The new configuration is merged, the PetSets are reconciled to mount it, and the operator performs a rolling restart of all DataGuard pods so each re-applies the ALTER SYSTEM settings.

Cleaning up

To clean up the Kubernetes resources created by this tutorial, run:

kubectl delete oracleopsrequest -n demo standalone-reconfigure
kubectl delete secret -n demo oracle-custom
kubectl patch -n demo oracle/oracle-sa-sample -p '{"spec":{"deletionPolicy":"WipeOut"}}' --type="merge"
kubectl delete oracle -n demo oracle-sa-sample
kubectl delete ns demo

Next Steps

⚠️ Legal Notice

Oracle® and Oracle Database® are registered trademarks of Oracle Corporation. KubeDB is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Oracle Corporation.

KubeDB provides only orchestration and management tooling for Kubernetes. It does not distribute, bundle, ship, or include any Oracle Database software or binaries.

Users must provide their own Oracle container images and hold valid Oracle licenses. Users are solely responsible for compliance with Oracle’s licensing terms, including all rules regarding containers, Docker, and Kubernetes environments.

KubeDB makes no representations or warranties regarding Oracle licensing compliance.

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