J2EE Connector Architecture Resource Adapters

The J2EE Connector Architecture defines a standard structure for connecting the J2EE platform to Enterprise Information Systems (EIS). Examples of EIS include mainframe transaction processing, database systems, and legacy applications that are not written in the Java programming language. The J2EE Connector Architecture allows you to integrate EIS with application servers and enterprise applications. The J2EE Connector Architecture defines a standard set of system-level contracts between an application server and the EIS to ensure compatibility between them. The resource adapter implements the EIS part of these system-level contracts.

The J2EE Connector Architecture also defines a standard Service Provider Interface (SPI) for integrating the transaction, security, and connection management of an application server with those of a transactional resource manager. The JDBC specification (http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/jcp/jdbc-4_1-mrel-spec/jdbc4.1-fr-spec.pdf) provides more information about the relationship of JDBC to the SPI specified in the J2EE Connector Architecture.

The product supports JDBC functionality through the J2EE Connector Architecture SPI using resource adapters. A resource adapter is a system-level software driver used by an application server to connect to an EIS. The resource adapter communicates with the server to provide transaction, security, and connection pooling.

The DataDirect Connect Series for JDBC resource adapters conform to the J2EE Connector Architecture 1.0 specification. The resource adapters are provided in resource archive (RAR) files as shown in the following table.