Create and Set Up an APEX Service Instance

Set up Oracle APEX Application Development by creating and setting up an APEX Service instance.

Topics:

Create an APEX Service Instance

Create an APEX Service instance on the APEX Instances page.

Upon signing in to OCI, the OCI Console homepage appears. The next step is to use OCI Console to create an APEX Service instance which also creates an underlying Oracle Autonomous Database.

To create an APEX Service instance:

Navigate to the OCI Console Sign-In Page and sign in as described in Access Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.
Next to the Oracle Cloud logo, click the Navigation menu ().
From the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure left navigation list, select Developer Services and then APEX Application Development or APEX Instances.
The APEX Instances page appears.
Choose your Compartment. See Managing Compartments for information on using and managing compartments.
At the top of the APEX Instances page, click Create APEX service.
Enter the basic information:
1. Compartment - Choose a compartment within your OCI tenancy. See Managing Compartments.
2. Display Name - Specify a user-friendly name to help you easily identify the resource. The display name does not have to be unique.
3. Database name - Enter the database name. It must consist of letters and numbers only. The maximum length is 30 characters. The same database name cannot be used for multiple Autonomous Databases in the same tenancy in the same region.
Configure the APEX Service:
1. Always Free - Enable this switch to sign up for Always Free APEX Service. See Always Free Oracle APEX Application Development.
  
  Note:
  Enabling Show only Always Free configuration options disables some options described in this task.
2. Choose Database version - Displays the available database version (for example, 19c).
3. ECPU (or OCPU) count - Specify the number of ECPU (or OCPUs if your service uses OCPUs) for your database. The minimum value is 2 ECPU (or 1 OCPU).
4. Compute auto scaling - By default compute auto scaling is enabled which allows the database to use up to three times more CPU and IO resources than specified by the number of ECPUs (OCPUs if your database uses OCPUs) as shown in the ECPU count or OCPU count field on the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Console. If you do not want to use compute auto scaling then deselect this option.
5. Storage - Specify the storage you wish to make available to your database. Max storage allowed is 393216 GB (384 TB).
6. Storage unit size - Specify the storage to allocate in the storage size units.
7. Storage auto scaling - By default storage auto scaling is disabled. Select if you want to enable storage auto scaling to allow the system to automatically expand to use up to three times more storage.
8. Show advanced options - Click Show advanced options to view the following:
  - Enable resource pool - See Create or Join a Resource Pool While Provisioning or Cloning in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
  - Compute model - Shows the selected compute model. Oracle offers two compute models when you create or clone an instance: ECPU and legacy OCPU.
    
    Click Change compute model to change the compute model. After you select a different compute model, click Save.
    
    Note:
    To learn more about compute models see Configure Autonomous Database Built-in Tools in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
Backup retention:

Automatic backup retention period in days - You have the option to select the automatic backup retention period, in a range from 1 to 60 days. You can restore and recover your database to any point-in-time in this retention period.

This option is not available with the legacy OCPU compute model.

See About Backup and Recovery on Autonomous Database in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
Create administrator credentials:
1. Username - The default username is ADMIN. This option is read-only and is not editable.
2. Password - Enter a password.
3. Confirm Password - Enter your password again.
  
  Tip:
  Make a note of the username, ADMIN, and your password. You need these credentials to sign in to the Oracle APEX Administration Services application (Administration Services) and Database Actions.
Choose network access. Access Types include:
- Secure access from everywhere - By default, secure connections are allowed from everywhere.
- Secure access from allowed IPs and VCNs only - Restricts connections to the database according to the access control lists (ACLs) you specify. To add multiple ACLs for your database, click Add Access Control Rule.
  
  See Configure Access Control Lists When You Provision or Clone an Instance in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless for more information.
- Private endpoint access only - Assigns a private endpoint, private IP, and hostname to your database. Specifying this option allows traffic only from the VCN you specify; access to the database from all public IPs or VCNs is blocked. This enables you to define security rules, ingress/egress, at the Network Security Group (NSG) level and to control traffic to your database.
  
  See Configure a Private Endpoint with Autonomous Database in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless for more information.
(Optional) Provide contacts for operational notifications and announcements:
1. Contact Email - Enter a valid email address.
2. Click Add Contact to add additional email addresses.
(Optional) Show advanced options - Click Show advanced options to configure:
- Encryption key - By default, Encrypt using an Oracle-managed key is selected. Using Oracle-managed keys, Autonomous Database creates and manages the encryption keys that protect your data and Oracle handles rotation of the TDE master key.
  For more information, see Use Customer Managed Encryption Keys with Keys on Local Tenancy in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
- Maintenance - By default, Patch level is Regular. Select Early to configure the instance with the early patch level. You cannot change the patch level after you provision an instance.
  See Set Patch Level in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
- Management - Choose a character set and a national character set for your database.
  See Choose a Character Set for Autonomous Database in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
- Tools -View or customize the tools configuration.
  See Configure Autonomous Database Built-in Tools when You Provision or Cone an Instance in Using Oracle Autonomous Database Serverless.
- Tags - Tagging is a metadata system that enables you to organize and track resources within your tenancy. Tags are composed of keys and values which can be attached to resources. To use Tags, enter the Tag key and Tag value.
  See Overview of Tagging in Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Documentation.
(Optional) Save as stack - Save the resource configuration as a stack by clicking Save as stack. You can then use the stack to create the resource through the Resource Manager service.
Enter the following details on the Save as Stack dialog and click Save.
- Name - Enter a name for the stack.
- Description - Enter a description for this stack.
- Save in compartment - Select a compartment where this Stack will reside.
- Tag namespace, Tag key, and Tag value - Apply tags to the stack.
For requirements and recommendations for Terraform configurations used with Resource Manager, see Where to Store Your Terraform Configurations. To provision the resources defined in your stack, apply the job. See Creating an Apply Job.
Click Create APEX service.

The APEX Instances Details displays again.

When the provisioning process completes, the APX logo turns from orange to green and the Launch APEX and Launch Database Actions buttons are enabled.
Next, complete the process of setting up your APEX Service instance and create a workspace and APEX user account as described in the next topic.

Set Up a New APEX Service

Before using a new APEX Service, you must set up your APEX Service instance by completing two tasks: create an initial APEX workspace and create an APEX user account.

This topic describes how to perform these tasks from the APEX Instance Details page.

Tip:

To perform these tasks from APEX Instances page, find your APEX Service instance, click the three dots (or Row menu) and select Launch APEX.

To create an initial APEX workspace and APEX user account:

On the APEX Instance Details, click Launch APEX.

The Administration Services Sign In page appears.

Description of the illustration admin_services_sign_in.png
On the Administration Services Sign In dialog:
1. Password - Enter the password your specified when you created your APEX Service.
2. Click Sign In to Administration.
A Welcome page appears and prompts you to create a workspace.
On the Welcome page, click Create Workspace.
On the Create Workspace:
1. Specify how to create your workspace. If you are just getting started, choose New Schema.
  Options include:
  - New Schema - Create a new database schema for your workspace:
    - Workspace Name - Enter a name for the workspace. A workspace is a shared work area where multiple developers can build applications.
    - Workspace Username - Enter the username of the workspace administrator.
    - Workspace Password - Enter a password for the workspace administrator. See Help for details about default password complexity rules.
    - Advanced - Optionally expand the Advanced region and edit the following:
      
      Advanced , Database Password - Enter a password for the workspace database user. See Help for details about default password complexity rules.
      
      Advanced , Workspace ID - Leave Workspace ID blank to have the new Workspace ID automatically generated. A Workspace ID must be a positive integer greater than 100000.
  - Existing Schema - Associate your workspace with an existing database schema:
    - Database User - Select the existing database user for the workspace. Applications will be created against database objects from this schema
    - Workspace Name - Enter a name for the workspace. A workspace is a shared work area where multiple developers can build applications.
    - Workspace Username - Enter the username of the workspace administrator.
    - Workspace Password - Enter a password for the workspace administrator. See Help for details about default password complexity rules.
    - Advanced - Optionally expand the Advanced region and edit the following:
      
      Workspace ID - Leave Workspace ID blank to have the new Workspace ID automatically generated. A Workspace ID must be a positive integer greater than 100000.
  Note:
  Make a note of the Workspace Name, Workspace Username, and Workspace Password. You will use these credentials to sign in to your workspace.
2. Click Create Workspace.
Administration Services appears. Use Administration Services to perform tasks such as managing user accounts, creating workspaces, monitoring workspace activity, and viewing log files.

You should have received a welcome email from Oracle which includes direct links to APEX Administration Services, APEX Application Development (your workspace), and Database Actions.
Sign out of Administration Services:

Tip:
You can skip this step by clicking your workspace name in the message at the top of the page which indicates your workspace has been created.
1. Click the Account menu in the header region.
2. Click Sign out.
3. Click Return to Sign in Page.
On the Oracle APEX Sign In page, enter your workspace administrator account credentials:
1. Workspace - Enter the name of your workspace.
2. Username - Enter your user name.
3. Enter your case-sensitive password.
Click Sign In.

The Workspace home page appears.