Create a Database Link from OCI Autonomous Database to a VM Database in a Different Tenancy

In the previous article, we discussed creating VCN peering between two OCI tenancies in the same region. In this article, we will use the same private networking setup to create a database link from an Oracle Autonomous Database to an Oracle Database running on a VM DB System in a different OCI tenancy. Since VCN peering is already configured between the two tenancies, the database traffic can use private networking instead of traveling over the public internet.

This is a common requirement when organizations manage workloads across multiple OCI tenancies. For example, one tenancy may host an Autonomous Database used for reporting or integration, while another tenancy may host an Oracle Database running on a VM DB System.

Oracle Autonomous Database supports private endpoints, which allow traffic to and from the database to remain within the OCI private network. To route outbound connections through the private endpoint, we need to set the ROUTE_OUTBOUND_CONNECTIONS database property.

 

Item	Example Value
Source tenancy	Tenancy hosting Autonomous Database
Target tenancy	Tenancy hosting VM DB System
Source database	Autonomous Database with private endpoint
Target database	Oracle Database on VM DB System
Source VCN CIDR	192.168.0.0/16
Target VCN CIDR	10.0.0.0/16
Target VM DB private IP	10.0.0.169
Target listener port	1521
Connection type	Private cross-tenancy OCI networking

Create an Autonomous Database in the source tenancy and a standalone Oracle Database on a compute VM in the target tenancy.
On the VM database server, ensure that the listener is running and that the pluggable database service is registered with the listener.

lsnrctl status

Confirm the listener is listening on the expected private IP and port.

Example:

HOST = 10.0.0.169
PORT = 1521

From the VM database server, verify the database service name.

show parameter service_names;

Or check listener services:

lsnrctl services

[oracle@db19c ~]$ lsnrctl status

LSNRCTL for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production on 23-MAY-2026 01:53:09

Copyright (c) 1991, 2025, Oracle.  All rights reserved.

Connecting to (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=10.0.0.169)(PORT=1521)))

STATUS of the LISTENER

------------------------

Alias                     LISTENER

Version                   TNSLSNR for Linux: Version 19.0.0.0.0 - Production

Start Date                23-MAY-2026 01:51:16

Uptime                    0 days 0 hr. 1 min. 52 sec

Trace Level               off

Security                  ON: Local OS Authentication

SNMP                      OFF

Listener Parameter File   /u01/app/oracle/product/19c/dbhome_1/network/admin/listener.ora

Listener Log File         /u01/app/oracle/diag/tnslsnr/db19c/listener/alert/log.xml

Listening Endpoints Summary...

  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=tcp)(HOST=10.0.0.169)(PORT=1521)))

  (DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=ipc)(KEY=EXTPROC1521)))

Services Summary...

Service "513276ca6910454ae06500001727baf7" has 1 instance(s).

  Instance "ORCL", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...

Service "ORCL" has 1 instance(s).

  Instance "ORCL", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...

Service "ORCLXDB" has 1 instance(s).

  Instance "ORCL", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...

Service "orclpdb" has 2 instance(s).

  Instance "ORCL", status READY, has 1 handler(s) for this service...

The command completed successfully

 

Create a Test User in the Target Database

Connect to the target VM database and create a test user.

CREATE USER test IDENTIFIED BY "<YourPasswordHere>";
GRANT CREATE SESSION TO test;
CREATE TABLE test.db_link_test (
    id NUMBER,
    description VARCHAR2(100)
);
INSERT INTO test.db_link_test VALUES (1, 'DB link test from Autonomous Database');
COMMIT;

Confirm Autonomous Database Uses Private Endpoint

In the OCI Console, open the Autonomous Database and verify that it is configured with a private endpoint.

The private endpoint should be placed in the source VCN/subnet that has peering & routing to the target VM DB VCN. The private endpoints allow Autonomous Database traffic to stay off the public internet.

Set Outbound Routing Through Private Endpoint

Connect to Autonomous Database as ADMIN and execute below SQL command.

Kindly note the Autonomous database network connection has been set to Private endpoint access only.  To execute SQL commands, we can invoke SQL Developer web  console from Database Actions in Autonomous database console.

 

In SQL developer web console, provide username as Admin and its password and login into the console.

Execute below command.

ALTER DATABASE PROPERTY SET ROUTE_OUTBOUND_CONNECTIONS = 'PRIVATE_ENDPOINT';

This setting routes outbound connections from Autonomous Database through the private endpoint.

SELECT property_name, property_value
FROM database_properties
WHERE property_name = 'ROUTE_OUTBOUND_CONNECTIONS';

Expected result:

ROUTE_OUTBOUND_CONNECTIONS    PRIVATE_ENDPOINT

Test Network Reachability from Autonomous Database

Create credential at Autonomous database for VM database.

BEGIN
  DBMS_CLOUD.CREATE_CREDENTIAL(
    credential_name => 'VMDB_CRED',
    username        => 'TEST',
    password        => 'YourPasswordHere'
  );
END;
/

From Autonomous Database, use DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN to test whether the target host and port are reachable.

BEGIN
  DBMS_CLOUD_ADMIN.CREATE_DATABASE_LINK(
    db_link_name     => ‘<DB_LINK_NAME>’,
    hostname         => ‘<VM_DB_Hostname>’,
    port             => '1521',
    service_name     => ‘<PDB_SERVICE_NAME>’,
    credential_name  => 'VMDB_CRED',
    directory_name   => NULL,
    private_target   => TRUE
  );
END;
/

The database link requires a hostname in the hostname argument. In this setup, the target VM database private IP is 10.0.0.169. Since Autonomous Database may not resolve the VM hostname by default, create a private DNS zone in the VCN associated with the Autonomous Database private endpoint and add an A record for the VM database hostname.

Query the Target Database Through the DB Link

Run a simple query from Autonomous Database:

SELECT *
FROM test.db_link_test@VMDB_LINK;

Expected result:

ID   DESCRIPTION
1    DB link test from Autonomous Database

 

In this article, we created a database link from an OCI Autonomous Database to a VM database located in a different OCI tenancy using private networking. The key requirements are cross-tenancy VCN peering, correct route table and security rule configuration, an Autonomous Database private endpoint, outbound routing through the private endpoint, private DNS hostname resolution, and a valid database credential. After these components were configured, the Autonomous Database was able to query the target VM database through the database link successfully.

Cross Connect Across OCI Tenancies through VCN Peering

In OCI, workloads are often distributed across different tenancies for reasons such as organizational separation or project isolation. In such cases, there may still be a requirement for private communication between resources hosted in separate tenancies. We will see how we can make the cross connectivity across regions.

In this exercise the tenancies are in the same region. We have used DRG to make the connectivity between them. Since both VCNs are in the same OCI region, this exercise uses a cross-tenancy VCN attachment to a DRG. RPC is used for DRG-to-DRG remote peering scenarios, commonly across regions or where separate DRGs are peered. In this article, we are not using RPC.

 First create IAM policy and define policy statements in both tenancies. Basically, we are making the tenancies know each other.

For this exercise we name the tenancies as below.

Requestor tenancy: owns the DRG.
Acceptor tenancy: owns the VCN that will be attached to the requestor DRG.

As per the prerequisites, we need OCID of both the tenancies and we need an IAM group on both the side to manage this attachment. In this exercise we have chosen Administrators group as we are going to have this setting at tenancy level.  DRG and VCN are available already in the respective tenancies. For connectivity testing purpose, we can windows VM at requestor tenancy and a Database VM in the acceptor tenancy.

Source Tenancy Name : Requestor
Requestor OCID:  ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaacq5gprsqz26em4koaokcntrxxxxxxxx
IAM Group in Requestor: ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaa5xhfg6q6pefhbvwmtvzelih2kiuxgjwxxxxxxxxx

VCN CIDR Range: 192.168.0.0/16

Target Tenancy Name:   Acceptor
Acceptor OCID: ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaargwveli3zwyyeywzeex6x4zxqodjkxxxxxxx
IAM Group name in Acceptor:  ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaat4idcm3dbat2zlgqarxxxxxxxxx

VCN CIDR Range: 10.0.0.0/16

 

At the requestor tenancy, Goto OCI Console -> Identity & Security -> Policy.

Create Policy in root compartment. But if there is a requirement that peering has to be done between particular compartment, then we can create the policy in those compartments.

Click Policy editor and provide below policy statements.

Define tenancy AcceptorTenancy as ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaargwveli3zwyyeywzeex6x4zxqodjkbvnde4la7j5cckwioxqfncq

Define group VCN-Admin as ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaat4idcm3dbat2zlgqar3wzvxkz4hqlxynwkyo3gztsbtgg4on2xhq

Endorse group Default/Administrators to manage drg-attachment in tenancy AcceptorTenancy

Admit group VCN-Admin of tenancy AcceptorTenancy to manage drg in tenancy

Endorse group Default/Administrators to manage virtual-network-family in tenancy AcceptorTenancy

 

Let me explain the policy statements.

First statement defines the Acceptor tenancy OCID.
Second statement defines VCN-Admin as OCID of group available at acceptor
Third statement endorses that at acceptor tenancy the requestor tenancy group (administrators) can manage DRG attachment. This is required since the VCN at the acceptor going to be attached with DRG of requestor as shown in the picture.
Fourth statement is equivalent of third, but in the reverse order.
Fifth statement is required to make the group to manage virtual network family in acceptor tenancy. I was getting Privilege error without this statement. I suggest not to ignore this policy.

 

After policy are entered, click create button to create the policy.

At the Acceptor tenancy, Goto OCI Console -> Identity & Security -> Policy.

Create Policy in root compartment. But if there is a requirement that peering has to be done between particular compartment, then we can create the policy in those compartments.

Click Policy editor and provide below policy statements.

Define tenancy RequestorTenancy as ocid1.tenancy.oc1..aaaaaaaacq5gprsqz26em4koaokcntrpey4adi7mzzgve53cm44ozbxa4z4a

Define group DRG-Admin as ocid1.group.oc1..aaaaaaaa5xhfg6q6pefhbvwmtvzelih2kiuxgjwf5bg6bfqseeewjapd5mha

Admit group DRG-Admin of tenancy RequestorTenancy to manage virtual-network-family in tenancy

Admit group DRG-Admin of tenancy RequestorTenancy to manage drg-attachment in tenancy

Endorse group Default/Administrators to manage drg in tenancy RequestorTenancy

Let me explain the policy statements.

First statement defines the Requestor tenancy OCID.
Second statement defines DRG-Admin as OCID of group available at requestor
Third statement admits that DRG-Admin of tenancy can manage network in acceptor tenancy. Again, I suggest not to this policy. I was getting privilege error without this policy.

Fourth statement admits that DRG-Admin can also manage drg-attachment in acceptor tenancy.

Fifth statement is endorses acceptor group (administrators) can manage DRG in requestor tenancy.

 

Click Create and complete the policy creation.

Now we have created policies at both tenancies and we can go ahead and create the connectivity.

In the Acceptor tenancy, open the DBVCN VCN.
Go to Resources → Dynamic Routing Gateway Attachments.

Click Create DRG Attachment.

Choose Another tenancy.
Provide the DRG OCID from the Requestor tenancy.
Create the attachment.

It will create Attachment with DRG.

You can find the cross-tenancy column as “Yes”.

The tenancies are connected now. You can find the same in DRG of requestor.

In the requestor tenancy, Go to Networking -> Customer Connectivity -> Dynamic Routing Gateway.

Choose the DRG. In the DRG page, move to Attachments section. We could see VCN attachments.

This confirms that cross-tenancy connection is successful at requestor side as well. But currently only connection has established, but Security list and Route table needs to be updated to allow the connection s between these tenancies. For quick lab validation, we temporarily allowed broader traffic. For production, restrict the rules to the required ports and source CIDRs.

Security list – Requestor

Route table – Requestor

Destination CIDR: 10.0.0.0/16
Target: DRG

Security list – Acceptor

Route table – Acceptor

Destination CIDR: 192.168.0.0/16
Target: DRG

Connectivity testing

Requestor Windows VM to VM database connectivity.

 

VM Database server to Windows VM

 

This completes the cross-tenancy network foundation. In the next article, we will build on this setup and create a database link from an OCI Autonomous Database private endpoint to the VM-based Oracle Database across tenancies.

Troubleshooting Network Problems in OCI using VCN Flow logs

In our earlier article, we discussed how to enable VCN Flow Logs in OCI. Once the logs are enabled, the next step is to use them for troubleshooting.

This is where VCN Flow Logs become very useful.

When a connection does not work, we look for did the traffic reach the target? was it allowed? was it rejected? Which source IP and port were involved? Which destination IP and port were involved?

VCN Flow Logs help us answer these questions because they record details about traffic that has been accepted or rejected based on the security rules in the VCN. These logs are useful for auditing traffic and for troubleshooting security lists and NSGs. Each flow log record contains traffic information for a single VNIC.

Why VCN Flow Logs Help in Troubleshooting

Mostly when network connection fails, the issue can be caused by:

·        a missing ingress rule

·        a missing egress rule

·        a wrong port

·        traffic going to the wrong IP

·        an NSG or security list blocking the traffic

VCN Flow Logs help us look at actual traffic metadata. In simple terms, VCN Flow Logs give us a traffic story.

Open the Log and Use “Explore with Log Search”

Once flow logs are enabled and traffic has started flowing, we can open the log details page in OCI Logging. Click Observability & Management -> Logging -> Search.

Also, we can invoke the search from the Logs page. Choose the Log (which has been enabled for VCN/Subnet/Resource as discussed in the Enablement point in the previous article) and then click Explore log and Explore with Log search as shown in the picture.

This opens the Search page with that specific log already selected, so we can perform deeper analysis and investigation directly on the Search page.

This is one of the most useful options for troubleshooting because it takes us from a simple log view into a search and analysis view.

When we open Explore with Log Search, OCI Logging lets us do several useful things.

the Logging Search page can:

·        search logs in basic or advanced mode

·        filter by fields, text, log groups, and time range

·        visualize results

·        open each log line in raw JSON

·        export search results to JSON

 

The Logging Search page supports time-based filtering, and searches can be limited to a selected time range. OCI also notes that log searches are available only for a 14-day range.

We have VCN Flow logs enabled on a Subnet. Let’s try to connect an instance created in that subnet and then check the logs whether it has been captured and what all other options or information we can collect from logs.

We have connected to the instance. Now we could see Flow log has started capturing the events.

Let’s try Explore log search also.

The Logging Search supports both Basic mode and Advanced mode. Basic mode lets us use filters directly in the interface, while Advanced mode lets us type custom queries. The default advanced query is:

search "ocid1.tenancy.oc1..<unique_id>" | sort by datetime desc

The Log search page has list of events happened in the particular time frame. By default, it will list events seen in last 5 minutes. We can increase and also choose custom timeframe.  If we expand any event, it will list the details in JSON format.

Important Fields to Check in VCN Flow Logs

There are several fields in a VCN Flow Log record. It will be shown in JSON format. In JSON view, we can expand fields, inspect values, and copy the data.

Some of the most useful ones for troubleshooting are these:

data.action

This tells us whether the traffic was ACCEPT or REJECT. Oracle says ACCEPT means the traffic was accepted by the security lists, and REJECT means it was rejected.

data.sourceAddress

This shows the IP address of the source. This helps us confirm where the traffic came from and which host started the traffic. The source IP address is in IPv4 or IPv6 notation.

data.sourcePort

This shows the source port used by the traffic. This helps us see which source port was used.

data.destinationAddress

This shows the target IP address. The destination IP address is in IPv4 or IPv6 notation.

data.destinationPort

This shows the destination port. This is one of the most useful troubleshooting fields. It tells us which service port the traffic was trying to reach, such as:

·        22 for SSH

·        80 for HTTP

·        443 for HTTPS

·        1521 for Oracle database

data.protocolName

This shows the protocol name such as TCP. It also includes the protocol number in data.protocol.

data.packets and data.bytesOut

These fields help us understand how much traffic was recorded in the capture window.

data.status

This tells us whether the log record is normal or if data was missing. Oracle documents OK, NODATA, and SKIPDATA as possible values.

Lets take an example

·        data.action = REJECT

·        data.sourceAddress = "45.33.12.122"

·        data.destinationAddress = "10.0.0.41"

·        data.destinationPort = 111

·        data.protocolName = TCP

it usually means traffic from 45.33.12.122 to 10.0.0.41 on port 111 was blocked by network rules. It makes clear that the action field shows whether the traffic was accepted or rejected based on VCN security rules.

In the Explore Log search we can filter the search using the attributes for example data.sourceaddress or data.sourceport.

In the above screenshot, we have done the log search for specific destination ipaddress. This helps us quickly narrow the log data without typing complicated queries.

We can use filter the search events by clicking left click on the list.

Filter matching – it will list all events matching to the chosen event in the defined timeframe.

Filter not matching – it will list all events omitting the chosen event in the defined timeframe.

Example use cases: SSH connection is failing

If SSH to a private instance is not working, we can search for records where the destination port is 22. Then we can check:

• source IP
• destination IP
• action = ACCEPT or REJECT

If the action is REJECT, that points us toward NSG or security list rules.

Application port is blocked

If an application should listen on port 8080 or 443, we can filter for that destination port and see whether the traffic was accepted or rejected. The destination port and action fields are especially useful here.