Connect to Data Using JDBC

You can use JDBC to connect to databases that aren’t listed as connection types on the Create Connection dialog.

You use drivers in a JDBC JAR file to connect to databases.

Check with your administrator that the JDBC driver version must match the database version, even when using an Oracle database. A version mismatch can result in data issues.

For the connection criteria:

• Avoid using instance-specific connection names such as host names, because the same connection can be configured against different databases in different environments, for example, development and production.
• Check the driver documentation and the JAR file for specifying the URL of your JDBC data sources.
• Find the driver class name in the JAR file or from wherever you downloaded the JAR file.
• For the Host value, enter the connection string provided by your administrator for the JDBC driver that you're using, for example, jdbc:oracle:thin:@host:port/database.
• For the Driver Class Name value, enter the text provided by your administrator for the JDBC driver that you're using, for example, oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver.

1. Ask your administrator to set up the required JDBC driver.
   (The administrator copies the required JDBC driver’s JAR file to the OracleHome/user_projects/domains/bi/lib folder on the Oracle Analytics Server machine.)
2. On the Data or Home page, click Create, then click Connection.
3. In the Create Connection dialog, locate and click the JDBC icon.
4. Enter the connection criteria.
5. Click Save.
   You can now create datasets from the connection.

If you import a workbook containing a JDBC connection into an Oracle Analytics installation where the JDBC driver isn’t installed, the import still works. However, the connection doesn’t work when you try to run the workbook or Data Flow. You must recreate the JDBC connection and JDBC driver to a suitable data source.