Setting up APEX and Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS) - Amazon Relational Database Service
Adding APEX optionsUnlocking the public user account Configuring RESTful servicesPreparing to install ORDS on a separate hostSetting up Oracle APEX listener

Setting up APEX and Oracle Rest Data Services (ORDS)

The following topic lists the steps required to set up APEX and ORDS

Adding the APEX and APEX-DEV options to your DB instance

To add the APEX and APEX-DEV options to your RDS for Oracle DB instance, do the following:

  1. Create a new option group, or copy or modify an existing option group.

  2. Add the APEX and APEX-DEV options to the option group.

  3. Associate the option group with your DB instance.

When you add the Amazon RDS APEX options, a brief outage occurs while your DB instance is automatically restarted.

Note

APEX_MAIL is available when the APEX option is installed. The execute privilege for the APEX_MAIL package is granted to PUBLIC so you don't need the APEX administrative account to use it.

To add the APEX options to a DB instance

  1. Determine the option group that you want to use. You can create a new option group or use an existing option group. If you want to use an existing option group, skip to the next step. Otherwise, create a custom DB option group with the following settings:

    1. For Engine, choose the Oracle edition that you want to use. The APEX options are supported on all editions.

    2. For Major engine version, choose the version of your DB instance.

    For more information, see Creating an option group.

  2. Add the options to the option group. If you want to deploy only the Oracle APEX runtime environment, add only the APEX option. To deploy the full development environment, add both the APEX and APEX-DEV options.

    For Version, choose the version of APEX that you want to use.

    Important

    If you add the APEX options to an existing option group that is already attached to one or more DB instances, a brief outage occurs. During this outage, all the DB instances are automatically restarted.

    For more information about adding options, see Adding an option to an option group.

  3. Apply the option group to a new or existing DB instance:

    • For a new DB instance, you apply the option group when you launch the instance. For more information, see Creating an Amazon RDS DB instance.

    • For an existing DB instance, you apply the option group by modifying the instance and attaching the new option group. When you add the APEX options to an existing DB instance, a brief outage occurs while your DB instance is automatically restarted. For more information, see Modifying an Amazon RDS DB instance.

Unlocking the public user account on your DB instance

After the Amazon RDS APEX options are installed on your DB instance, make sure to do the following:

  1. Change the password for the APEX public user account.

  2. Unlock the account.

You can do this by using the Oracle SQL*Plus command line utility. Connect to your DB instance as the master user, and issue the following commands. Replace new_password with a password of your choice. 

ALTER USER APEX_PUBLIC_USER IDENTIFIED BY new_password;
ALTER USER APEX_PUBLIC_USER ACCOUNT UNLOCK;

Configuring RESTful services for Oracle APEX

To configure RESTful services in APEX (not needed for APEX 4.1.1.V1), use SQL*Plus to connect to your DB instance as the master user. After you do this, run the rdsadmin.rdsadmin_run_apex_rest_config stored procedure. When you run the stored procedure, you provide passwords for the following users:

  • APEX_LISTENER

  • APEX_REST_PUBLIC_USER

The stored procedure runs the apex_rest_config.sql script, which creates new database accounts for these users.

Note

Configuration isn't required for Oracle APEX version 4.1.1.v1. For this Oracle APEX version only, you don't need to run the stored procedure.

The following command runs the stored procedure.

EXEC rdsadmin.rdsadmin_run_apex_rest_config('apex_listener_password', 'apex_rest_public_user_password');

Preparing to install ORDS on a separate host

Install ORDS on a separate host such as an Amazon EC2 instance, an on-premises server at your company, or your desktop computer. The examples in this section,assume that your host runs Linux and is named myapexhost.example.com.

Before you can install ORDS, you need to create a nonprivileged OS user, and then download and unzip the APEX installation file.

To prepare for ORDS installation

  1. Log in to myapexhost.example.com as root.

  2. Create a nonprivileged OS user to own the listener installation. The following command creates a new user named apexuser. 

    useradd -d /home/apexuser apexuser

    The following command assigns a password to the new user. 

    passwd apexuser;

  3. Log in to myapexhost.example.com as apexuser, and download the APEX installation file from Oracle to your /home/apexuser directory:

  4. Unzip the file in the /home/apexuser directory.

    unzip apex_version.zip

    After you unzip the file, there is an apex directory in the /home/apexuser directory.

  5. While you are still logged into myapexhost.example.com as apexuser, download the Oracle REST Data Services file from Oracle to your /home/apexuser directory: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/developer-tools/apex-listener/downloads/index.html.

Setting up Oracle APEX listener

Note

Oracle APEX Listener is deprecated.

Amazon RDS for Oracle continues to support APEX version 4.1.1 and Oracle APEX Listener version 1.1.4. We recommend that you use the latest supported versions of Oracle APEX and ORDS.

Install Oracle APEX Listener on a separate host such as an Amazon EC2 instance, an on-premises server at your company, or your desktop computer. We assume that the name of your host is myapexhost.example.com, and that your host is running Linux.

Preparing to install Oracle APEX listener

Before you can install Oracle APEX Listener, you need to create a nonprivileged OS user, and then download and unzip the APEX installation file.

To prepare for Oracle APEX listener installation

  1. Log in to myapexhost.example.com as root.

  2. Create a nonprivileged OS user to own the listener installation. The following command creates a new user named apexuser. 

    useradd -d /home/apexuser apexuser

    The following command assigns a password to the new user. 

    passwd apexuser;

  3. Log in to myapexhost.example.com as apexuser, and download the APEX installation file from Oracle to your /home/apexuser directory:

  4. Unzip the file in the /home/apexuser directory.

    unzip apex_<version>.zip

    After you unzip the file, there is an apex directory in the /home/apexuser directory.

  5. While you are still logged into myapexhost.example.com as apexuser, download the Oracle APEX Listener file from Oracle to your /home/apexuser directory.

Installing and configuring Oracle APEX listener

Before you can use APEX, you need to download the apex.war file, use Java to install Oracle APEX Listener, and then start the listener.

To install and configure Oracle APEX listener

  1. Create a new directory based on Oracle APEX Listener and open the listener file.

    Run the following code:

    mkdir /home/apexuser/apexlistener
cd /home/apexuser/apexlistener 
unzip ../apex_listener.version.zip

  2. Run the following code.

    java -Dapex.home=./apex -Dapex.images=/home/apexuser/apex/images -Dapex.erase -jar ./apex.war

  3. Enter information for the program prompts following:

    • The APEX Listener Administrator user name. The default is adminlistener.

    • A password for the APEX Listener Administrator.

    • The APEX Listener Manager user name. The default is managerlistener.

    • A password for the APEX Listener Administrator.

    The program prints a URL that you need to complete the configuration, as follows.

    INFO: Please complete configuration at: http://localhost:8080/apex/listenerConfigure
Database is not yet configured

  4. Leave Oracle APEX Listener running so that you can use Oracle Application Express. When you have finished this configuration procedure, you can run the listener in the background.

  5. From your web browser, go to the URL provided by the APEX Listener program. The Oracle Application Express Listener administration window appears. Enter the following information:

    • Username – APEX_PUBLIC_USER

    • Password – the password for APEX_PUBLIC_USER. This password is the one that you specified earlier when you configured the APEX repository. For more information, see Unlocking the public user account on your DB instance.

    • Connection type – Basic

    • Hostname – the endpoint of your Amazon RDS DB instance, such as mydb.f9rbfa893tft.us-east-1.rds.amazonaws.com.

    • Port – 1521

    • SID – the name of the database on your Amazon RDS DB instance, such as mydb.

  6. Choose Apply. The APEX administration window appears.

  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. 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.