OCI - Understanding OCID Nomenclature for Oracle Cloud Resources
Tags: oci, oracle, resources, database
Published: 2023-12-04 16:12:01

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All public clouds have various cloud resources deployed in it and a customer chooses the required resources and Oracle Cloud is no different. However for Cloud Engineers it is important to understand the nomenclature of these cloud resources.

Understanding the Cloud resource nomenclature makes it much easier to work with Cloud resources.

OCID stands for Oracle Cloud resource identifier.
The Oracle reference documentation for OCID is below 

https://docs.oracle.com/en-us/iaas/Content/General/Concepts/identifiers.htm


The Cloud resource nomenclature is as below which is self explanatory , each resource will have a unique ID as below.


```
ocid1.<RESOURCE TYPE>.<REALM>.[REGION][.FUTURE USE].<UNIQUE ID>
```

Lets take some common examples of 

## Compute Instance 

A Compute Instance would be identified as below , note the resource type "instance" as below 

```
ocid1.instance.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
```

## Network Resources 

There are many network resources , some of the common ones are 
listed below with examples of noemnclature for them.

```
--- VCN
ocid1.vcn.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

--- Subnet
1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx							
ocid1.subnet.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx						

--- Load Balancer 
ocid1.loadbalancer.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx				

--- Public Load Balancer 
ocid1.networkloadbalancer.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx			

--- Site to Site VPN Tunnels
ocid1.ipsectunnel.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx					
```

## Storages 
There are three kinds of OCI Storages , which are Block volumes, File Storage , and Object Storage Buckets which are listed below with the corresponding nomenclature.


```
--- Block Volumes 
ocid1.volume.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx			

--- File Storage 
ocid1.filesystem.oc1.ap_mumbai_1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx		

--- Object Storage 
ocid1.bucket.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx			
```

## OCI Cloud Managed Databases Systems 

OCI Managed Database Systems are Databases , VM's and Storage bundled into a logical configuration , there are three kinds of Cloud Managed Databases Systems which are  Autonomous Databases ExaCS and Database Systems , the nomenclature of these are as below. 

```
--- ExaCS 
ocid1.cloudexadatainfrastructure.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx	

--- DB Systems
ocid1.dbsystem.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx					

--- Autonomous Databases 
ocid1.autonomousdatabase.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
```

## Database Backups 
Backups taken for Cloud Databases will inturn have a cloud backup ID , the nomenclature is as below.

```
--- Database Backups 
ocid1.dbbackup.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
```


## Work Requests 

Work requests are cloud configurations activity for the activity performed on the cloud resources , for e.g moving a cloud resource from one region to another or adding additional compute capacity to a particular cloud resource will have a recource ID as shown in the nomenclature below.

```
ocid1.coreservicesworkrequest.oc1.geo-region-1.xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx			
```

There are hundreds of more such cloud resources , the above are some examples to get a grip of the OCID Nomenclature.


The understanding of OCI Cloud resources is important to perform automation tasks on these resources , these resources can be logically segregated into further environments such as Dev , Test and Prod ,

I would strogly recommend to refer my blog on my ocidtab utility where you can further learn on OCI Cloud automation 

https://dev.to/abhilash8/the-ocidtab-e7n