Configure a JDBC provider using the administrative console

To create connections between an application and a relational database, the application server uses the driver implementation classes encapsulated by the JDBC provider. Each JDBC provider is essentially an object that represents vendor-specific JDBC driver classes to the application server, for establishing access to that particular vendor database. JDBC providers are prerequisites for data sources, which supply applications with the physical connections to a database. Consult the JDBC provider table to identify the appropriate JDBC provider for our database and application requirements. Configure at least one JDBC provider for each database server to use at a particular scope within the application server environment.

Tasks

1. Open the administrative console and go to:
   Resources > JDBC > JDBC Providers

2. Select the scope at which applications can use the JDBC provider. The scope selected becomes the scope of any data source associated with this provider. We can choose a cell, node, cluster, or server.

3. Click New

   The Create a new JDBC Provider wizard launches.

4. Select the database type of the JDBC provider to create.

   Select User-Defined for the database type if...

   • We do not see the database type.
   • We cannot select the JDBC provider type needed

   The user-defined wizard panel prompts for

   • database class path
   • database-specific properties

5. Select the JDBC provider type in the second drop-down list.

   Select Show Deprecated to trigger the display of both current and deprecated providers. If we cannot find our provider in this expanded list, select User-Defined from the previous list of database types.

6. From the third drop-down list, select the implementation type necessary for the application.

   XA Data Source	The application requires connections that support two-phase commit transactions. Applications with this configuration can use container-managed transaction recovery.
   Connection Pool Data Source	If the application does not require that connections support two-phase commit transactions

   After selecting an implementation type, the wizard fills the name and the description fields for our JDBC provider. We can type different values for these fields; they exist for administrative purposes only.

7. Click Next to see the Enter database class path information wizard panel.

8. In the class path field, type the full path location of the database JDBC driver class files.

   The class path information becomes the value of the WebSphere environment variable displayed on this panel, in the form of ${DATABASE_JDBC_DRIVER_PATH}. We can put in a literal fully qualified class path (/path/to/ojdbc8.jar).

   For MS SQL Server the application server supports multiple versions of the selected JDBC driver for the DataDirect ConnectJDBC type 4 driver. Each version has a unique class path. Select the appropriate version.

9. The Native library path field is used to specify additional class files that the JDBC driver might require to function properly on the application server platform. Type the full directory path name of these class files.

   If we are using an Oracle OCI driver as the JDBC provider, specify the path to where the native libraries are stored. If not specified the first time we try to connect using this provider, class loader errors occur..

10. Click Next to see a summary of our JDBC provider settings.

11. Click Finish.

    You now see the JDBC provider collection panel, which displays the new JDBC provider in a table along with other providers configured for the same scope.

What to do next

The next step is to create a data source to associate with the JDBC provider. For detailed information, see the information center topic on configuring a data source using the administrative console.

If we modify configuration of a JDBC provider, like the class path, native library path, or custom properties, click OK and then restart every application server within the scope of that JDBC provider.

Subtopics

• JDBC provider collection
  
• JDBC provider settings
  
• JDBC provider summary
  

Related:

JDBC providers

Data sources

Configure a data source

Data source minimum required settings, by vendor

Data source settings

Administrative console scope settings