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Pulling logs from oracle with node-oracledb in thick mode

  • June 10, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 58 views
Alain Plante

Is it possible to install cribl stream and use node-oracledb in thick mode or there is no way to let cribl stream know that there is an oracle instant client package installed available in the podman container?

 

thanks

Best answer by Dan Schmitz

Short answer: You don't need to — and currently can't — configure Cribl Stream's Database Collector to use node-oracledb in Thick mode. Cribl Stream uses node-oracledb in Thin mode only, which doesn't require Oracle Instant Client at all.

Details:

Cribl Stream's Database Collector for Oracle uses the node-oracledb library in Thin mode. This is called out in the Database Collector docs:

"Cribl Stream supports Oracle database version 12.1 and newer. Queries can retrieve up to 1 GB of large objects (CLOBS, LOBS, and NCLOBS) per field and use the node-oracledb library in Thin mode."

What Thin mode means for you:

  • No Oracle Instant Client needed — Thin mode connects directly to Oracle Database using pure JavaScript (no native C libraries required)
  • No LD_LIBRARY_PATH, ORACLE_HOME, or client library configuration needed in your Podman container
  • Supports Oracle 12.1+ with standard Easy Connect or Oracle Net connection strings
  • Supports connection pooling (homogeneous), TLS connections, and most common Oracle features

What Thin mode does NOT support (compared to Thick mode):

  • Kerberos/RADIUS/PKI authentication services
  • Oracle Native Network Encryption and Checksumming
  • External authentication
  • Heterogeneous connection pooling (homogeneous only in Thin mode)
  • LDAP connections via tnsnames.ora/sqlnet.ora configuration files

If you need Thick-mode-only features (like Kerberos auth or Native Network Encryption), this isn't currently supported by Cribl's built-in Database Collector. You could explore:

  1. A custom REST Collector — build a sidecar service that uses node-oracledb Thick mode (or any Oracle client) and exposes data via an HTTP endpoint that Cribl can collect from
  2. File-based approach — have an external script dump Oracle query results to files, then use Cribl's File Collectors to pick them up

For most standard Oracle log/audit data collection scenarios, Thin mode works great — just configure your Database Connection with the appropriate connection string and credentials.

    1 reply

    D
    • Dan Schmitz
    • Employee
    • Answer
    • June 10, 2026

    Short answer: You don't need to — and currently can't — configure Cribl Stream's Database Collector to use node-oracledb in Thick mode. Cribl Stream uses node-oracledb in Thin mode only, which doesn't require Oracle Instant Client at all.

    Details:

    Cribl Stream's Database Collector for Oracle uses the node-oracledb library in Thin mode. This is called out in the Database Collector docs:

    "Cribl Stream supports Oracle database version 12.1 and newer. Queries can retrieve up to 1 GB of large objects (CLOBS, LOBS, and NCLOBS) per field and use the node-oracledb library in Thin mode."

    What Thin mode means for you:

    • No Oracle Instant Client needed — Thin mode connects directly to Oracle Database using pure JavaScript (no native C libraries required)
    • No LD_LIBRARY_PATH, ORACLE_HOME, or client library configuration needed in your Podman container
    • Supports Oracle 12.1+ with standard Easy Connect or Oracle Net connection strings
    • Supports connection pooling (homogeneous), TLS connections, and most common Oracle features

    What Thin mode does NOT support (compared to Thick mode):

    • Kerberos/RADIUS/PKI authentication services
    • Oracle Native Network Encryption and Checksumming
    • External authentication
    • Heterogeneous connection pooling (homogeneous only in Thin mode)
    • LDAP connections via tnsnames.ora/sqlnet.ora configuration files

    If you need Thick-mode-only features (like Kerberos auth or Native Network Encryption), this isn't currently supported by Cribl's built-in Database Collector. You could explore:

    1. A custom REST Collector — build a sidecar service that uses node-oracledb Thick mode (or any Oracle client) and exposes data via an HTTP endpoint that Cribl can collect from
    2. File-based approach — have an external script dump Oracle query results to files, then use Cribl's File Collectors to pick them up

    For most standard Oracle log/audit data collection scenarios, Thin mode works great — just configure your Database Connection with the appropriate connection string and credentials.

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