It is assumed that the reader of these notes is already familiar with JAVA and JDBC.

General information on JAVA may be found at java.sun.com/reference.

General information on JDBC may be found at java.sun.com/products/jdbc/index.html.

Oracle provides the following Oracle JDBC for Rdb drivers.

• Native driver for client-side use with an Oracle Rdb installation
• Thin driver, a 100% Java driver for client-side use without an Oracle Rdb installation, particularly with applets

The Oracle JDBC for Rdb drivers provide the same basic functionality. They both support the following standards and features.

• JDK 1.2.x / JDBC 2.0
• Same syntax and API's

The Rdb JDBC drivers implement standard Sun Microsystems java.sql interfaces.

Oracle JDBC for Rdb Native Driver

The Native driver is a Type II driver for use with client-server Java applications. This driver requires an Rdb client installation, and therefore is Rdb-specific and not suitable for applets.

The Native driver, written in a combination of Java and C, converts JDBC invocations to calls to SQLMOD modules, using native methods to call C-entry points.

The Native driver uses the Rdb libraries on the client machine on which it is installed.

Oracle JDBC for Rdb Thin Driver

The Thin driver is a 100% pure Java, Type IV driver. Because it is written entirely in Java, this driver is platform-independent. It does not require any additional Oracle software on the client side.

For applets it can be downloaded into a browser along with the Java applet being run. The HTTP protocol is stateless, but the Thin driver is not. The initial HTTP request to download the applet and the Thin driver is stateless. Once the Thin driver establishes the database connection, the communication between the browser and the database is stateful and in a two-tier configuration.

The Thin driver allows a direct connection to any Rdb database via the Oracle JDBC for Rdb servers using TCP/IP on top of Java sockets.

Note:
When the Rdb Thin driver is used with an applet, the client browser must have the capability to support Java sockets.

Oracle JDBC for Rdb Servers

Oracle JDBC for Rdb servers are the server-side components that service JDBC requests issued by applications using the Oracle Rdb Thin driver.

There are three types of Oracle JDBC for Rdb servers:

• Oracle JDBC for Rdb Thin server
• Oracle JDBC for Rdb Multi-process server
• Oracle JDBC for Rdb Pool server

Each server is multi-threaded, able to handle multiple client requests at the same time.

Oracle JDBC for Rdb servers should be installed and invoked on each node from which you wish to serve Oracle Rdb databases.

The Oracle JDBC for Rdb Thin driver communicates with the Oracle JDBC for Rdb servers using Java sockets over TCP/IP.

System Requirements

Oracle JDBC for Rdb requires the following software products and versions to be installed.

On the client side, the use of the Oracle JDBC for Rdb thin driver requires the following software product and versions to be installed.

In addition, if you require the ability to start and stop Rdb JDBC for Rdb servers using Oracle SQL/Services the following product and version must be installed.

Detailed information about installing the HP Java for OpenVMS system may be found at:

• www.hp.com/java

Documentation for HP's Java for OpenVMS system may be found at:

• h18012.www1.hp.com/java/documentation/index.html

Click here to download the Oracle JDBC for Rdb kit.