Configuring Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS) - Amazon Relational Database Service
Setting up ORDS 21 and lowerSetting up ORDS 22 and higher

Configuring Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS)

The following topic lists the configuration options for ORDS 21 and 22:

Installing and configuring ORDS 21 and lower

You are now ready to install and configure Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS) for use with Oracle APEX. For APEX version 5.0 and later, use ORDS versions 19.1 to 21. To learn how to install ORDS 22 and higher, see Installing and configuring ORDS 22 and higher.

Install the listener on a separate host such as an Amazon EC2 instance, an on-premises server at your company, or your desktop computer. For the examples in this section, we assume that the name of your host is myapexhost.example.com, and that your host is running Linux.

To install and configure ORDS 21 and lower for use with Oracle APEX

  1. Go to Oracle REST data services, and examine the Readme. Make sure that you have the required version of Java installed.

  2. Create a new directory for your ORDS installation.

    mkdir /home/apexuser/ORDS
cd /home/apexuser/ORDS

  3. Download the file ords.version.number.zip from Oracle REST data services.

  4. Unzip the file into the /home/apexuser/ORDS directory.

  5. If you're installing ORDS in a multitenant database, add the following line to the file /home/apexuser/ORDS/params/ords_params.properties:

    pdb.disable.lockdown=false

  6. Grant the master user the required privileges to install ORDS.

    After the Amazon RDS APEX option is installed, give the master user the required privileges to install the ORDS schema. You can do this by connecting to the database and running the following commands. Replace MASTER_USER with the uppercase name of your master user.

    Important

    When you enter the user name, use uppercase unless you created the user with a case-sensitive identifier. For example, if you run CREATE USER myuser or CREATE USER MYUSER, the data dictionary stores MYUSER. However, if you use double quotes in CREATE USER "MyUser", the data dictionary stores MyUser. For more information, see Granting SELECT or EXECUTE privileges to SYS objects.

    exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_OBJECTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_ROLE_PRIVS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_TAB_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_CONS_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_CONSTRAINTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_OBJECTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_PROCEDURES', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_TAB_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_TABLES', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_VIEWS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('WPIUTL', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_SESSION', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_UTILITY', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
    Note

    These commands apply to ORDS version 19.1 and later.

  7. Install the ORDS schema using the downloaded ords.war file.

    java -jar ords.war install advanced

    The program prompts you for the following information. The default values are in brackets. For more information, see Introduction to Oracle REST data services in the Oracle documentation.

    • Enter the location to store configuration data:

      Enter /home/apexuser/ORDS. This is the location of the ORDS configuration files.

    • Specify the database connection type to use. Enter number for [1] Basic [2] TNS [3] Custom URL [1]:

      Choose the desired connection type.

    • Enter the name of the database server [localhost]: DB_instance_endpoint

      Choose the default or enter the correct value.

    • Enter the database listener port [1521]: DB_instance_port

      Choose the default or enter the correct value.

    • Enter 1 to specify the database service name, or 2 to specify the database SID [1]:

      Choose 2 to specify the database SID.

    • Database SID [xe]

      Choose the default or enter the correct value.

    • Enter 1 if you want to verify/install Oracle REST Data Services schema or 2 to skip this step [1]:

      Choose 1. This step creates the Oracle REST Data Services proxy user named ORDS_PUBLIC_USER.

    • Enter the database password for ORDS_PUBLIC_USER:

      Enter the password, and then confirm it.

    • Requires to login with administrator privileges to verify Oracle REST Data Services schema.

      Enter the administrator user name: master_user

      Enter the database password for master_user: master_user_password

      Confirm the password: master_user_password

      Note

      Specify a password other than the prompt shown here as a security best practice.

    • Enter the default tablespace for ORDS_METADATA [SYSAUX].

      Enter the temporary tablespace for ORDS_METADATA [TEMP].

      Enter the default tablespace for ORDS_PUBLIC_USER [USERS].

      Enter the temporary tablespace for ORDS_PUBLIC_USER [TEMP].

    • Enter 1 if you want to use PL/SQL Gateway or 2 to skip this step. If you're using Oracle Application Express or migrating from mod_plsql, you must enter 1 [1].

      Choose the default.

    • Enter the PL/SQL Gateway database user name [APEX_PUBLIC_USER]

      Choose the default.

    • Enter the database password for APEX_PUBLIC_USER:

      Enter the password, and then confirm it.

    • Enter 1 to specify passwords for Application Express RESTful Services database users (APEX_LISTENER, APEX_REST_PUBLIC_USER) or 2 to skip this step [1]:

      Choose 2 for APEX 4.1.1.V1; choose 1 for all other APEX versions.

    • [Not needed for APEX 4.1.1.v1] Database password for APEX_LISTENER

      Enter the password (if required), and then confirm it.

    • [Not needed for APEX 4.1.1.v1] Database password for APEX_REST_PUBLIC_USER

      Enter the password (if required), and then confirm it.

    • Enter a number to select a feature to enable:

      Enter 1 to enable all features: SQL Developer Web, REST Enabled SQL, and Database API.

    • Enter 1 if you wish to start in standalone mode or 2 to exit [1]:

      Enter 1.

    • Enter the APEX static resources location:

      If you unzipped APEX installation files into /home/apexuser, enter /home/apexuser/apex/images. Otherwise, enter unzip_path/apex/images, where unzip_path is the directory where you unzipped the file.

    • Enter 1 if using HTTP or 2 if using HTTPS [1]:

      If you enter 1, specify the HTTP port. If you enter 2, specify the HTTPS port and the SSL host name. The HTTPS option prompts you to specify how you will provide the certificate:

      • Enter 1 to use the self-signed certificate.

      • Enter 2 to provide your own certificate. If you enter 2, specify the path for the SSL certificate and the path for the SSL certificate private key.

  8. Set a password for the APEX admin user. To do this, use SQL*Plus to connect to your DB instance as the master user, and then run the following commands.

    EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_apex_admin_role;
grant APEX_ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE to master;
@/home/apexuser/apex/apxchpwd.sql

    Replace master with your master user name. When the apxchpwd.sql script prompts you, enter a new admin password.

  9. Start the ORDS listener. Run the following code.

    java -jar ords.war

    The first time you start ORDS, you are prompted to provide the location of the APEX Static resources. This images folder is located in the /apex/images directory in the installation directory for APEX.

  10. Return to the APEX administration window in your browser and choose Administration. Next, choose Application Express Internal Administration. When you are prompted for credentials, enter the following information:

    • User name – admin

    • Password – the password you set using the apxchpwd.sql script

    Choose Login, and then set a new password for the admin user.

Your listener is now ready for use.

Installing and configuring ORDS 22 and higher

You are now ready to install and configure Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS) for use with Oracle APEX. For the examples in this section, we assume that the name of your separate host is myapexhost.example.com, and that your host is running Linux. The instructions for ORDS 22 differ from the instructions for previous releases.

To install and configure ORDS 22 and higher for use with Oracle APEX

  1. Go to Oracle REST data services, and examine the Readme for the ORDS version that you plan to download. Make sure that you have the required version of Java installed.

  2. Create a new directory for your ORDS installation.

    mkdir /home/apexuser/ORDS
cd /home/apexuser/ORDS

  3. Download the file ords.version.number.zip or ords-latest.zip from Oracle REST data services.

  4. Unzip the file into the /home/apexuser/ORDS directory.

  5. Grant the master user the required privileges to install ORDS.

    After the Amazon RDS APEX option is installed, give the master user the required privileges to install the ORDS schema. You can do this by logging in to the database and running the following commands. Replace MASTER_USER with the uppercase name of your master user.

    Important

    When you enter the user name, use uppercase unless you created the user with a case-sensitive identifier. For example, if you run CREATE USER myuser or CREATE USER MYUSER, the data dictionary stores MYUSER. However, if you use double quotes in CREATE USER "MyUser", the data dictionary stores MyUser. For more information, see Granting SELECT or EXECUTE privileges to SYS objects.

    exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_OBJECTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_ROLE_PRIVS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_TAB_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_CONS_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_CONSTRAINTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_OBJECTS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_PROCEDURES', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_TAB_COLUMNS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_TABLES', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('USER_VIEWS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('WPIUTL', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_SESSION', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_UTILITY', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);

exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_LOB', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_ASSERT', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_OUTPUT', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_SCHEDULER', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('HTP', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('OWA', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('WPG_DOCLOAD', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_CRYPTO', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_METADATA', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_SQL', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('UTL_SMTP', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBMS_NETWORK_ACL_ADMIN', 'MASTER_USER', 'EXECUTE', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('SESSION_PRIVS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_USERS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_NETWORK_ACL_PRIVILEGES', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_NETWORK_ACLS', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
exec rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_sys_object('DBA_REGISTRY', 'MASTER_USER', 'SELECT', true);
    Note

    The preceding commands apply to ORDS 22 and later.

  6. Install the ORDS schema using the downloaded ords script. Specify directories to contain configuration files and log files. Oracle Corporation recommends not placing these directories inside the directory that contains the ORDS product software.

    mkdir -p /home/apexuser/ords_config /home/apexuser/ords_logs

/home/apexuser/ORDS/bin/ords \
  --config /home/apexuser/ords_config \
  install --interactive --log-folder /home/apexuser/ords_logs

    For DB instances running the container database (CDB) architecture, use ORDS 23.2 and higher and pass the --pdb-skip-disable-lockdown argument when installing ORDS.

    /home/apexuser/ORDS/bin/ords \
  --config /home/apexuser/ords_config \
  install --interactive --log-folder /home/apexuser/ords_logs --pdb-skip-disable-lockdown

    The program prompts you for the following information. The default values are in brackets. For more information, see Introduction to Oracle REST data services in the Oracle documentation.

    • Choose the type of installation:

      Choose 2 to install ORDS schemas in the database and create a database connection pool in the local ORDS configuration files.

    • Specify the database connection type to use. Enter number for [1] Basic [2] TNS [3] Custom URL:

      Choose the desired connection type. This example assumes that you choose 1.

    • Enter the name of the database server [localhost]: DB_instance_endpoint

      Choose the default or enter the correct value.

    • Enter the database listener port [1521]: DB_instance_port

      Choose the default 1521 or enter the correct value.

    • Enter the database service name [orcl]:

      Enter the database name used by your RDS for Oracle DB instance.

    • Provide database user name with administrator privileges

      Enter the master user name for your RDS for Oracle DB instance.

    • Enter the database password for [username]:

      Enter the master user password for your RDS for Oracle DB instance.

    • Enter the default tablespace for ORDS_METADATA and ORDS_PUBLIC_USER [SYSAUX]:

    • Enter the temporary tablespace for ORDS_METADATA [TEMP]. Enter the default tablespace for ORDS_PUBLIC_USER [USERS]. Enter the temporary tablespace for ORDS_PUBLIC_USER [TEMP].

    • Enter a number to select additional feature(s) to enable [1]:

    • Enter a number to configure and start ORDS in standalone mode [1]:

      Choose 2 to skip starting ORDS immediately in standalone mode.

    • Enter a number to select the protocol [1] HTTP

    • Enter the HTTP port [8080]:

    • Enter the APEX static resources location:

      Enter the path to APEX installation files (/home/apexuser/apex/images).

  7. Set a password for the APEX admin user. To do this, use SQL*Plus to connect to your DB instance as the master user, and then run the following commands.

    EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_util.grant_apex_admin_role;
grant APEX_ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE to master;
@/home/apexuser/apex/apxchpwd.sql

    Replace master with your master user name. When the apxchpwd.sql script prompts you, enter a new admin password.

  8. Run ORDS in standalone mode using the ords script with the serve command. For production deployments, consider using supported Java EE application servers such as Apache Tomcat or Oracle WebLogic Server. For more information, see Deploying and Monitoring Oracle REST Data Services in the Oracle Database documentation.

    /home/apexuser/ORDS/bin/ords \
  --config /home/apexuser/ords_config serve \
  --port 8193 \
  --apex-images /home/apexuser/apex/images

    If ORDS is running but unable to access the APEX installation, you might see the following error, particularly on non-CDB instances. 

    The procedure named apex_admin could not be accessed, it may not be declared, or the user executing this request may not have been granted execute privilege on the procedure, or a function specified by security.requestValidationFunction configuration property has prevented access.

    To fix this error, change the request validation function used by ORDS by running the ords script with the config command. By default, ORDS uses the ords_util.authorize_plsql_gateway procedure, which is only supported on CDB instances. For non-CDB instances, you can change this procedure to the wwv_flow_epg_include_modules.authorize package. See the Oracle Database documentation and Oracle Support for best practices on configuring the proper request validation function for your use case.

  9. Return to the APEX administration window in your browser and choose Administration. Next, choose Application Express Internal Administration. When you are prompted for credentials, enter the following information:

    • User name – admin

    • Password – the password you set using the apxchpwd.sql script

    Choose Login, and then set a new password for the admin user.

Your listener is now ready for use.