Create a pluggable database manually in Oracle 12c

Oracle has introduced new Multitenant Option from Oracle 12cR1 and this option allows a single container database (CDB) to host multiple pluggable databases.

Related articles:

Create Container Database (CDB) in Oracle 12c using DBCA
Create Container database (CDB) in silent mode
Drop a container database in silent mode

In this post I will describe how to create a pluggable database (PDB) from seed. We will cover the following steps:

1. Create a directory to store new PDB datafiles
2. Create PDB database using SQL*PLUS
3. Check the newly created PDB status
4. Open the PDB database

1. Create a directory to store new PDB Datafiles

mkdir /u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdb2/pdb2

2. Create PDB database using SQL*PLUS

CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE pdb2 
ADMIN USER admin_user IDENTIFIED BY Oracle_#123
CREATE_FILE_DEST='/u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdb2/pdb2';

Output:

SQL> CREATE PLUGGABLE DATABASE pdb2
  2  ADMIN USER admin_user IDENTIFIED BY Oracle_#123
  3  CREATE_FILE_DEST='/u01/app/oracle/oradata/cdb2/pdb2';

Pluggable database created.

SQL>

3. Check the newly created pdb status

Status of the PDBs can be checked using v$pdbs view,

select name, open_mode from v$pdbs;
show pdbs;

SQL> select name, open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME            OPEN_MODE
--------------- ----------
PDB$SEED        READ ONLY
PDB1            READ WRITE
PDB2            MOUNTED

SQL> show pdbs;

    CON_ID CON_NAME                       OPEN MODE  RESTRICTED
---------- ------------------------------ ---------- ----------
         2 PDB$SEED                       READ ONLY  NO
         3 PDB1                           READ WRITE NO
         4 PDB2                           MOUNTED
SQL>

4. Open the PDB database in read-write mode

alter pluggable database pdb2 open;
select name, open_mode from v$pdbs;

Output:

SQL> alter pluggable database pdb2 open;

Pluggable database altered.

SQL> select name, open_mode from v$pdbs;

NAME            OPEN_MODE
--------------- ----------
PDB$SEED        READ ONLY
PDB1            READ WRITE
PDB2            READ WRITE

We have created a new PDB pdb2 from seed database and opened it in read-write mode.

Hope this helps…