🚀 Oracle Simplifies PDB Management with Bulk Enablement in OCI


Oracle has just rolled out a major productivity boost for cloud DBAs: the ability to bulk enable Diagnostics & Management for all Pluggable Databases (PDBs) associated with a Container Database (CDB) - directly within the OCI Database Management service.

If you’re managing multitenant Oracle Databases in OCI, this enhancement will drastically reduce your operational overhead, save time, and improve consistency across environments.

What’s New?

With the latest update, you can now:

  • Enable Diagnostics & Management for all PDBs within a CDB in one step

  • Use a common user with CONTAINER=ALL privileges to enable monitoring at the CDB level

  • View and manage health, metrics, and status for all PDBs centrally

  • Avoid repetitive configuration tasks for each individual PDB

This update complements Oracle’s vision of reducing manual effort in database management and paves the way for true multitenant observability in OCI.

Why It Matters

Before this feature, enabling monitoring for each PDB involved:

  • Navigating to each PDB individually

  • Manually setting up credentials, secrets, and access

  • Repeating the process for each container — a tedious and error-prone task

Now, with bulk enablement, you:

  • Configure once using a common user

  • Monitor everything in one place

  • Streamline compliance, patch planning, and performance management

How to Enable Bulk Diagnostics & Management for PDBs

Here’s a summarized guide to help you get started:

✅ Step 1: Sign in to OCI Console

Log in and ensure you are in the correct region where your databases reside.

✅ Step 2: Navigate to Database Management

  • Open the navigation menu

  • Go to Observability & Management > Database Management > Administration

✅ Step 3: Select Your Deployment

  • Filter by Compartment and Deployment Type (Base DB, Exadata, etc.)

✅ Step 4: Click “Enable Diagnostics & Management”

You’ll see this option on the Managed Databases page.

✅ Step 5: Select the Target Database

Choose:

  • Database system (for Base DB Service)

  • VM Cluster (for Exadata Cloud/Cloud@Customer)

  • Then pick the correct Database Home and Database Name

✅ Step 6: Bulk Enable for All PDBs (New Feature! 🚀)

In the Diagnostics & Management panel:

  • Choose:
    “Enable Diagnostics & Management for all PDBs”

  • Ensure your common database user has the CONTAINER=ALL privilege

This allows Oracle to collect metrics at the CDB level without requiring a separate connection to each PDB. A sample SQL script to create this user is available in My Oracle Support Note KB57458.

📌 Tip: Only available for Oracle Database 19c and later.

✅ Step 7: Configure Connectivity and Credentials

  • Choose TCP or TCPS protocol

  • Enter the port (e.g., 1521)

  • Select or create secrets for:

    • Database Wallet (for TCPS)

    • Monitoring User Password

  • Choose your connection mode (Private Endpoint or Management Agent)

  • Configure security rules for ingress/egress traffic

✅ Step 8: Review & Submit

Click “Enable Diagnostics & Management” — and you're done!

You’ve just enabled monitoring for every PDB in your CDB in one click.

Security and Access Considerations

To enable this feature:

  • A common user with the required privileges must exist in the CDB

  • IAM policies must allow access to secrets stored in OCI Vault

  • If using TCPS, configure/reconfigure after enabling Data Guard

📘 See:

Real-World Use Cases

  • 📊 Enterprise Monitoring: Manage hundreds of PDBs with unified visibility

  • 🧪 Dev/Test Labs: Quickly onboard and observe new environments

  • 🧯 Incident Response: Investigate cross-PDB issues from a central point

  • 💸 Cost Optimization: Identify idle PDBs and automate shutdowns

Useful Links

Final Thoughts

This bulk enablement capability is a strategic leap forward in simplifying how organizations manage large Oracle multitenant environments in OCI.

It’s time to stop clicking endlessly and start managing smartly.

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