Oracle continues to invest in making Oracle Databases easier to run on Kubernetes, delivering certified and supported container images via Oracle Container Registry for single-instance, Globally Distributed Database, and Oracle Real Application Clusters (Oracle RAC) deployments. The goal is straightforward: Kubernetes-native automation that reduces day‑to‑day deployment and management effort while improving consistency across environments.

Today, we’re announcing Oracle AI Database Operator for Kubernetes v2.1.0. This release expands platform support and adds new capabilities across RAC operations, PDB lifecycle management, and ORDS configuration—helping teams manage Oracle databases in Kubernetes with more consistency and less manual work.

What makes this release special

Database Operator v2.1.0 strengthens Kubernetes-native database operations with:

  • Updates to the Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Database Controller
  • Introducing the Oracle Private AI Services Container, which lets you securely generate vector embeddings and store them directly in Oracle AI Database 26ai through a simple, OpenAI-compatible REST API.
  • Improved secret management for PDB lifecycle workflows
  • ORDS service enhancements
  • Reliability improvements based on customer and community feedback

These updates are designed to reduce operational friction especially for teams standardizing on GitOps, Kubernetes APIs, and operator-driven automation for stateful services.

What’s new in Database Operator v2.1.0

Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) Database Controller

Running RAC on Kubernetes demands strong lifecycle automation: provisioning, scaling, storage integration, and routine admin tasks without turning every change into a bespoke runbook. 
With v2.1.0, you can:

  • Provision new Oracle RAC databases more easily
  • Scale RAC instances up or down based on workload requirements
  • Integrate ASM (Automatic Storage Management) disks to improve storage management
  • Perform additional maintenance and administrative operations for RAC databases

These RAC controller enhancements aim to make multi-instance database operations feel more Kubernetes-native—supporting controlled changes through declarative configuration and repeatable automation. 

Oracle Private AI Services Container

The Private AI Services Container is a lightweight, containerized web service that exposes a REST API for running inference on supported AI models. It enables you to:

  • Configure both load balancer and Kubernetes internal services to support high availability.
  • Create and manage DeploymentSets for scalable deployments.
  • Simplify day-to-day operations, including replica scaling and resource management.
  • Configure Secrets and ConfigMaps for secure, dynamic environment setup.
  • Run the container wherever you choose—on-premises, in a private cloud, or in a public cloud.

By using the Oracle Private AI Services Container, you can offload compute-intensive AI tasks (such as vector embedding generation) outside of the database—freeing up database resources for core workload needs like indexing and similarity search.

LREST Controller (PDB lifecycle management)

Multitenant deployments benefit from consistent, API-driven pluggable database lifecycle management—especially when PDB creation, cloning, updates, and credential operations need to be standardized across namespaces and clusters. 
This release adds:

  • Oracle Wallet–based secret management
  • More granular trace-level controls for troubleshooting
  • Improved automation and resource detection accuracy
  • The ability to reset passwords online without downtime

Together, these capabilities help reduce the operational overhead around PDB workflows while improving the security posture of credential handling and the quality of troubleshooting signals. 

ORDS service enhancements

As teams expose database functionality through REST-enabled services, ORDS configuration and credential management need to be reliable, automatable, and consistent with Kubernetes patterns. 

Database Operator v2.1.0 improves ORDS configuration and credential management, including:

  • Database password management using standard Kubernetes mechanisms
  • Support for custom tnsnames.ora configurations via Kubernetes Secrets
  • Externalized service settings managed from a centralized configuration server
  • Shared ZIP wallets by defining global mTLS .zip wallets for reuse across multiple database pools

These enhancements are designed to simplify ORDS operations at scale, especially where multiple database pools share common security artifacts (e.g., mTLS wallets) and where centralized configuration is preferred. 

Bug fixes and resilience improvements

Database Operator v2.1.0 includes multiple bug fixes and reliability updates, incorporating issues reported through Oracle Support and GitHub, along with enhancements driven by user and community feedback. The result is a release focused not just on new features, but on operational durability in real-world clusters. 

Expanded database and platform support

Database Operator v2.1.0 supports a broad set of Oracle AI Database configurations, including:

  • Autonomous AI Database (ADB-S and ADB-D): manual failover and switchover including support for JSON, Data Warehouse and Oracle Autonomous AI Lakehouse database
  • Oracle AI Database 26ai: full support, including Free and Free Lite editions
  • Globally Distributed AI Database: sharded topologies and Raft replication
  • Multitenant: improved PDB management via a new LREST-based controller, enhanced ConfigMap support, and deletion-policy controls

This expanded support helps teams standardize on a single operator-driven approach across a range of topologies—from single database deployments to sharded and globally distributed architectures. 

Broad Kubernetes platform support

Database Operator v2.1.0 is tested on:

  • Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Kubernetes Engine (OKE)
  • Red Hat OpenShift 4.16+
  • Oracle Cloud Native Environment (Oracle CNE)
  • Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
  • Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
  • Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
  • Minikube (development)

Also included:

  • Operator Lifecycle Manager (OLM) support
  • Upgraded Kubernetes API (v4) for improved compatibility

This breadth is important for teams operating in hybrid and multi-cloud environments—or those adopting OpenShift for enterprise standardization. 

Getting started

Ready to run Oracle databases on Kubernetes with Database Operator v2.1.0? You can get it from:

For more information, visit the Oracle Databases for Containers and Kubernetes website.

The bottom line

Database Operator v2.1.0 helps teams run Oracle databases in Kubernetes with stronger automation, broader platform coverage, and improved operational controls. Whether you’re deploying a single database or managing sharded and distributed topologies, v2.1.0 supports a more consistent, Kubernetes-native operating mode so you can deploy faster, simplify operations, and manage databases with the same tools and patterns you use for your applications.