DefaultDomain in SOA Studio 12.2.1.4

The Cloud drift has impacted all Oracle on-premises products and tools. Far from ideal SOA Studio 11g was followed by half-baked 12c releases. I always struggle to configure internal WebLogic 12.2.x server and domain. Finally, Oracle Support helped me to complete the SOA/BPM Studio 12.2.1.4 configuration and make this circus fly. Let me save you some time and neurons.

1. First of all, you would need a JDK8. Don't even think about 1.8.0_251 from the April CPU, just go to the Java Archives and download 1.8.0_141. You can upgrade your JDK later; for now, use the old one.
2. Complete the binaries installation and configuration. The quick setup is pretty straightforward and looks like any other Oracle Middleware installations. If you have never installed any Oracle product, you find plenty of how-to instructions everywhere.
3. In case if you have shared installation (Linux VM with multiple users), make sure that your account has write access to the $ORACLE_HOME folders.
4. Open your $ORACLE_HOME/jdeveloper/ide/bin/jdk.conf and add a new line: AddVMOption -Dfile.encoding=UTF8
5. I hope you have an Oracle Support account and can install the latest 12.2.1.4 patches: WebLogic 12.2.1.4 update 30970477, SOA 12.2.1.4 bundle patch 30995852. In this case, please don't forget the Coherence update 30729380, it will save you plenty of time.

Now, you are prepared for the internal configuration. I'm not sure if the patches are essential, but it's always better to have updated software.

Update: Use of the Outdate JDK is not the best idea. During startup, the WebLogic domain urges you to upgrade to at least JDK1.8.0_181. Fortunately, Oracle has a documented and painless JDK update approach.