🚀 Getting Started with Oracle Autonomous Database (Free Tier) – My First Hands-on Experience

As part of my learning journey in the Oracle ecosystem, I recently explored the Oracle Cloud Free Tier and worked with Oracle Autonomous Database. In this blog, I’ll walk through my first hands-on experience, including setting up the database and running basic SQL operations.

☁️ What is Oracle Autonomous Database?

Oracle Autonomous Database is a cloud-based database service that automates many routine tasks such as provisioning, patching, tuning, and backups. It allows developers to focus more on building applications rather than managing infrastructure.

🎯 Objective

The goal of this task was simple:

Create an Autonomous Database using Oracle Cloud Free Tier Perform basic SQL operations (Create, Insert, Select) Understand how Oracle database tools work in a real environment

🛠️ Step 1: Creating the Autonomous Database

I logged into Oracle Cloud and created a new Autonomous Database instance with the following configuration:

Workload Type: Transaction Processing Deployment Type: Shared Infrastructure Plan: Always Free

Once created, the database status became Available, indicating it was ready to use.

💻 Step 2: Using SQL Worksheet

After setting up the database, I accessed the Database Actions → SQL Worksheet, which provides a web-based interface to run SQL queries.

🧪 Step 3: Running SQL Queries

I performed the following operations:

1. Create Table CREATE TABLE students ( id NUMBER, name VARCHAR2(50) );

2. Insert Data INSERT INTO students VALUES (1, 'Mudassar');

3. Retrieve Data SELECT * FROM students; 📊 Output

The query successfully returned the inserted data:

ID NAME 1 | Mudassar

This confirms that the table was created and data was inserted correctly.

What i Learned

How to create and configure an Oracle Autonomous Database How to use SQL Worksheet for executing queries Basic SQL operations in Oracle environment The simplicity and power of Oracle Cloud Free Tier

🚀 Conclusion

This hands-on experience gave me a solid introduction to Oracle Cloud and database management. The Autonomous Database makes it incredibly easy for beginners to get started without worrying about infrastructure setup.