Install Oracle Instant client into Docker container for Python cx_Oracle

Question

I'm trying to connect to an Oracle database at my company through my docker container that contains some of my python scripts with the package cx_Oracle. After i build and run the container, i get the following error:

conn = cx_Oracle.connect("{0}/{1}@{2}".format(configOracle["username"], configOracle["password"],r"ed03:1521/configOracle["servername"]))
cx_Oracle.DatabaseError: DPI-1047: Cannot locate a 64-bit Oracle Client library: "libclntsh.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory". See https://oracle.github.io/odpi/doc/installation.html#linux for help

I have an Oracle config file where the username, password, and server name are coming from and being filled in correctly. I can't seem to get it to work even after downloading the latest client from https://www.oracle.com/database/technologies/instant-client/linux-x86-64-downloads.html.

My directory structure looks like this:

--TopDirectory
----instantclient
-------instantclient-basic-linux.x64-19.5.0.0.0dbru.zip
-------instantclient-sdk-linux.x64-19.5.0.0.0dbru.zip
----hello_oracle.py
----Dockerfile
----requirements.txt
----configOracle.json

Here is my Dockerfile:

FROM python:3.7.5

#Oracle Client setup
ENV ORACLE_HOME /opt/oracle/instantclient_19_5
ENV LD_RUN_PATH=$ORACLE_HOME

COPY instantclient/* /tmp/

RUN \
    mkdir -p /opt/oracle && \
    unzip "/tmp/instantclient*.zip" -d /opt/oracle && \
    ln -s $ORACLE_HOME/libclntsh.so.19.1 $ORACLE_HOME/libclntsh.so

# Working directory
WORKDIR /src
# Copying requirements.txt before entire build step
COPY requirements.txt /src/requirements.txt

RUN pip install --upgrade pip
# Installing necessary packages
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
# Copying rest of files
COPY . /src
CMD ["python3", "/src/hello_oracle.py"]

Here is my requirements.txt file:

pandas
numpy
matplotlib
keras
cx_Oracle
sklearn
tensorflow
pyopenssl
ndg-httpsclient
pyasn1

Answer 1

After many hours trying it, I finally solved it with this Dockerfile

Note I am using python 3.7, Django 3.0, Oracle Database 12c and Pipenv for package management

FROM python:3.7.5-slim-buster

# Installing Oracle instant client
WORKDIR    /opt/oracle
RUN        apt-get update && apt-get install -y libaio1 wget unzip \
            && wget https://download.oracle.com/otn_software/linux/instantclient/instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip \
            && unzip instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip \
            && rm -f instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip \
            && cd /opt/oracle/instantclient* \
            && rm -f *jdbc* *occi* *mysql* *README *jar uidrvci genezi adrci \
            && echo /opt/oracle/instantclient* > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle-instantclient.conf \
            && ldconfig

WORKDIR    /app
COPY       . .  # Copy my project folder content into /app container directory
RUN        pip3 install pipenv
RUN        pipenv install
EXPOSE     8000
# For this statement to work you need to add the next two lines into Pipfilefile
# [scripts]
# server = "python manage.py runserver 0.0.0.0:8000"
ENTRYPOINT ["pipenv", "run", "server"]

Answer 2

Oracle has Python Dockerfiles at https://github.com/oracle/docker-images/tree/master/OracleLinuxDevelopers

Update: Oracle has containers at https://github.com/orgs/oracle/packages

There is a two-part blog post series Docker for Oracle Database Applications in Node.js and Python that shows various ways to install. Also there is an Oracle webcast recording discussing cx_Oracle and Docker here.

For example, one solution is to use:

FROM python:3.7.4-slim-buster

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y libaio1 wget unzip

WORKDIR /opt/oracle
RUN wget https://download.oracle.com/otn_software/linux/instantclient/instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip && \
    unzip instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip && rm -f instantclient-basiclite-linuxx64.zip && \
    cd /opt/oracle/instantclient* && rm -f *jdbc* *occi* *mysql* *README *jar uidrvci genezi adrci && \
    echo /opt/oracle/instantclient* > /etc/ld.so.conf.d/oracle-instantclient.conf && ldconfig
RUN python -m pip install cx_Oracle

If you use a different base image you may not need to explicitly install unzip or libaio1. If you're happy using ADD, then you won't need wget either.