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Install Oracle Database XE on Apple Sillicon

For the past year, I’ve had the privilege of working with MacBook Pro computers, and incredible machine like M3 PRO. I have to say they’re outstanding: fast, efficient, incredible battery life, …

But I had a problem… while tinkering with Oracle Database, it wasn’t possible to install Oracle Database XE on Mac computers with M1 chips.

The issue is that Docker Desktop on Mac with Apple Sillicon cannot run images that are not built for arm64 architectures. While it can sometimes emulate amd64-based images, it comes with a warning that performance may be unstable.

Colima logo

Fortunately, open source comes in handy, and now there’s a solution! The key is Colima, a lightweight Linux virtual machine that runs on Apple Silicon Macs and enables compatibility with x86-based Docker images.

Install the required software

  • Install Homebrew (if you haven’t already) 👉 Homebrew Installation Guide
  • Install Colima using Homebrew brew install colima
  • Install Docker brew install docker

Start Colima

colima start --arch x86_64 --memory 4

These parameters ensure that Colima runs in x86_64 mode, allowing us to use non-arm64 images.

Run the container

We now have to run the container with persistent storage to keep your database data after a restart, pass the default database password, as well as expose the database port to our machine.

docker run -d --name oracle_database -p 1521:1521 -e ORACLE_PASSWORD=<your_password> -v oracle-volume:/opt/oracle/oradata gvenzl/oracle-xe

This setup ensures that database modifications remain saved, even if you stop and restart the container.

Accessing the Database

The container is already configured for direct access using the SYS user and the password you set when running docker run.

docker exec -it oracle_database sqlplus

For sure you can use SQLDeveloper as well to connect to the database.

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And that’s it! 🚀 Now you have Oracle Database XE running on your Mac with Apple Sillicon with a simple and efficient setup.