Oracle WebLogic Server 12.1.3 Developer Guide: Using Docker with WebLogic Server

Purpose

Docker (http://www.docker.com/) is useful for building system containers that can be copied, executed and shared with a specific configuration.

In this tutorial, a Docker image is constructed for a development installation of WebLogic Server 12c using the Zip Distribution. Then, the WebLogic Server Docker container is also extended with a configuration for a WebLogic Server domain.

This tutorial demonstrates:

• Installing Docker on Oracle Linux 7.x
• Configuring a Docker Container for WebLogic Server 12.1.3
• Extending the Docker Container with a WebLogic Server Domain
• Running the Docker Container for WebLogic Server 12.1.3

Time to Complete

Approximately 45 minutes.

Introduction

Using Docker, developers can build a standardized environment that includes the application platform and dependencies. In this tutorial a Oracle Linux 7.x system is used as the base Docker image and then this tutorial demonstrates the steps to install Docker on Oracle Linux 7.x, configures a container for WebLogic Server 12c and runs the container.

Hardware and Software Requirements

To use Docker with WebLogic Server ensure that you have:

• An Oracle Linux 7.x system
• Download Oracle Linux 7.x here:
  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/server-storage/linux/downloads/.
• Oracle Linux 7.x installation instructions are here:
  http://docs.oracle.com/cd/E52668_01/E54695/html/index.html.
• Sufficient hardware to run Docker and WebLogic Server 12.1.3. For details, see the list of certified platforms:
  http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/ias/downloads/fusion-certification-100350.html
• Access to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork to download the WebLogic Server 12.1.3 Zip Distribution.
• Access to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork to download the Java Development Kit (JDK) RPM.
• Access to https://github.com/oracle/docker to download the WebLogic Server Dockerfile.
• Access to https://registry.hub.docker.com/_/oraclelinux/ to pull the Oracle Linux 7.x Docker image.

Note that this tutorial was tested with these versions of software products:

• Oracle Linux 7.x
• WebLogic 12.1.3 Zip Distribution Update 2
• Docker 1.3.3 and Docker 1.5
• JDK 1.7 revision 79
• The May 6, 2015 release of the docker-master.zip file from https://github.com/oracle/docker.

Prior to installing Docker, several configuration changes are made to the Oracle Linux 7.x system, including:

• Configuring yum repositories to download Docker and Oracle packages
• Creating an oracle user for the system, instead of accessing the system as root
• Granting the oracle user sudo access to execute privileged commands

After the system configuration is complete, Docker is installed via yum. Then, Docker is started and configured for automatic startup.

1. Open an terminal session to the the Oracle Linux 7.x system as root.

2. Configure the yum repository by executing vi /etc/yum.repos.d/public-yum-ol7.repo to edit the file.

3. Set enabled=1 for the ol7_latest, ol7_UEKR3, optional_latest, and ol7_addons yum repositories.

   

4. Enter wq to save and close the /etc/yum.repos.d/public-yum-ol7.repo file.

5. Enter  vi /etc/selinux/config to configure the state of SELinux.

6. Edit the SELINUX setting from enforcing to disabled.

   

7. Enter wq to save and close the /etc/selinux/config file. 

8. Execute yum install oracle-rdbms-server11gR2-preinstall.x86_64 to install the package. 

Installing the oracle-rdbms-server-11gR2-preinstall.x86_64 will create an oracle user and oinstall group that are used instead of root for normal system access.

9. Execute passwd oracle and enter a new password for the oracle user. 

   

Next, grant sudo privileges to the oracle user.

10. Execute visudo /etc/sudoers to edit the /etc/sudoers file.

11. In the editor, add a line after the root line for the oracle user that is similar to the root user: oracle  ALL=(ALL)   ALL.

    

12. Enter wq to save the /etc/sudoers file. 

13. Execute  yum install docker. 

14. Enter 'y' at the prompt to install the packages.

    

Docker finishes installing and displays the complete message.



15. Execute systemctl start docker.service  to start the Docker service. 

    

16. Execute systemctl enable docker.service to set the Docker service to automatically start at system startup. 

    

17. Execute docker ps to list the running Docker containers. 

    The results of the command displays that there aren't any containers on this system.

    

18. Execute docker images to list the Docker images. 

    The results of the command displays that there aren't any images on this system.

    

19. Execute  mkdir /u01 to create a directory for the Dockerfile and scripts.

20. Execute  chown oracle:oinstall /u01 to change the ownership of /u01 to oracle:oinstall. 

The next steps in this tutorial will build a WebLogic Server12c Developer Docker Image.

There are several components to build the WebLogic Server 12c Developer Docker image, including: the Dockerfile, build scripts, WebLogic Server Zip Distribution, and the JDK.

At the time this tutorial was developed, the WebLogic Docker project required the wls1213_dev_update2.zip file and the JDK 7u79 RPM file jdk-7u79-linux-x64.rpm. Also, the downloaded JDK and WebLogic Server files need to be in the same directory as the Dockerfile; in this tutorial, that is /u01/docker-master/OracleWebLogic/dockerfiles/12.1.3.

Note that the set of files and scripts provided at https://github.com/oracle/docker may be updated or changed to reflect newer versions of the JDK and WebLogic Server. Please review the readme in the Git repository and the directory docker/OracleWebLogic/dockerfiles/12.1.3 for the most current set of JDK and WebLogic Server files supported.

1. In the Oracle Linux 7.x system, open a browser and navigate to the URL  https://github.com/oracle/docker.

2. In the browser, click the Download ZIP button.

   

3. In the browser, save the docker-master.zip file to the Oracle Linux 7.x system in the /u01 directory.

   

4. In the Oracle Linux 7.x system, open an terminal session to the the Oracle Linux 7.x system as the oracle user.

5. In the terminal session, change directory to /u01 by executing cd /u01.

6. In the terminal session, expand the docker-master.zip file in the /u01 directory. Execute  unzip docker-master.zip.

   

   The files from the docker-master.zip file are extracted.

   

7. In the browser, download the JDK 7u75 Linux RPM file, jdk-7u79-linux-x64.rpm, to /u01/docker-master/OracleWebLogic/dockerfiles/12.1.3. Browse to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads.

   The Docker image is configured for this specific version of the JDK.

8. In the browser, download the WebLogic 12c Developer Zip distribution file WebLogic Server1213_dev_update2.zip. and save it to /u01/docker-master/OracleWebLogic/dockerfiles/12.1.3.  Browse to http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/middleware/weblogic/downloads/wls-for-dev-1703574.html

   The Docker image is configured for this specific version of WebLogic 12c Zip Distribution.

With the JDK and WebLogic Server files downloaded, the system is prepared to build the WebLogic Server Docker Image.

In this tutorial, the objective is to build a Docker image for WebLogic Server 12.1.3 Zip Distribution development installation. When this tutorial was created, the buildDockerImage.sh script accepts arguments for development (-d) and generic (-g).

1. In the Oracle Linux 7.x system, open an terminal session to the the Oracle Linux 7.x system as oracle.

2. Execute  cd /u01/docker-master/OracleWebLogic/dockerfiles to change to the dockerfiles directory. 

   

3. Execute  sudo ./buildDockerImage.sh -d. to start the script to build the WebLogic Server Docker image.

   The sudo command runs buildDockerImage.sh file as root. The -d argument specifies development distribution.

   

The buildDockerImage.sh script builds the Docker Image.



In addition to validating the JDK file and WebLogic Server file downloads, the script creates directories and installs Java in the Docker image.

Finally, the buildDockerImage.sh script installs WebLogic Server and exits with output that the Docker image is ready to be extended.



4. Execute sudo docker images.

   docker images is the command to list the current set of Docker images available in the repository.

   

Note that this WebLogic Server 12c Docker image does not have a WebLogic Server domain configured yet - this Docker image is just an installation of the WebLogic Server Zip Distribution; another Docker image with a WebLogic Server domain will be created in the next step.

This step in the tutorial uses the Docker image with WebLogic installed and a sample script supplied from GitHub to create a WebLogic Server domain with a single WebLogic Administration server.

1. Execute cd /u01/docker-master/OracleWebLogic/samples/12c-domain to change to the directory with the WebLogic domain extension dockerfile.

   

2. Execute sudo docker build --force-rm=true --rm=true -t=weblogic12c --tag=base_domain .

   Note that the period (.) at the end of the command is required - it indicates that the command should use the current directory for the dockerfile.

   

The docker build command builds an image using the current Dockerfile and the --force-rm and --rm will remove intermediate images.



The docker build command completes the image by creating the domain, base_domain, exposing WebLogic Server network ports, and setting startWebLogic.sh as the container command.



3. Execute  sudo docker images.



There is a new image named base_domain that the docker build command created.

Next, the Docker Image with the WebLogic Server 12c domain is run as a Docker container.

1. Execute  cd /u01.

2. Execute sudo docker run -d --name=12c_base_domain base_domain:latest to start the Docker image with the WebLogic Server domain.

   

Docker starts the WebLogic Server container as a daemon (the -d parameter) and returns the command prompt.



3. Execute sudo docker ps.

   

   The running containers are displayed, including the running 12c_base_domain.

4. Execute sudo docker inspect --format '{{ .NetworkSettings.IPAddress }}' 12c_base_domain.

   The Docker inspect command returns the container's network address.

   

   The Docker container's address is typically of the form 172.17.x.y. This tutorial uses the address 172.17.0.9. 

   Use the address returned by Docker for the next steps.

5. In the Oracle Linux 7.x system, open a browser and navigate to http://172.17.0.9:8001/console.

   

6. In the WebLogic Server Administration Console log in using weblogic for Username and welcome1 for Password.

   

   The WebLogic Server console for base_domain displays.

   

7. Execute sudo docker exec -i -t 12c_base_domain bash.

   

   The docker exec command is a useful tool to obtain a bash shell into a running Docker container.

8. In the terminal shell into the running Docker container, execute ps -ef|grep java.

   

   As expected, the Java process running WebLogic Server displays.

9. Type exit to leave the Docker container.

10. Execute sudo docker stop 12c_base_domain.

    

    The docker stop command terminates a running Docker container.

11. Execute sudo docker ps.

    

    There aren't any running Docker containers.

Some next steps that might be useful working with the WebLogic Server 12c Docker container include:

• Using Docker Data Volumes, which are writeable mounts inside a Docker container, to store persistent data. Browse to: https://docs.docker.com/userguide/dockervolumes/.

• Exporting/Importing Docker Images for use in other systems running Docker. Browse to: https://docs.docker.com/reference/commandline/cli/#export and https://docs.docker.com/reference/commandline/cli/#import.

• Learn to use the Docker Hub to store Docker Images or create your own private repository. Browse to: http://docs.docker.com/userguide/dockerrepos/ and/or https://github.com/docker/docker-registry.

Summary

In this tutorial, you learned to:

• Install Docker on Oracle Linux 7.x
• Configure a Docker Container for WebLogic Server 12.1.3
• Extend the WebLogic Server Docker Container with a WebLogic Server Domain
  
• Run the Docker Container for WebLogic Server 12.1.3

Resources

• Docker Images from Oracle - for WebLogic Server, Coherence and MySQL
• WebLogic Server 12.1.3 Documentation
• To learn more about WebLogic Server refer to additional Oracle By Example tutorials in the Oracle Learning Library

Credits

• Lead Curriculum Developer: Tom Eliason
• Other Contributors: TJ Palazzolo