WebSphere Application Server support policy for JDBC databases and drivers
This blog provides additional details about our support policy for JDBC databases and drivers. We hope this blog will help clarify most of the questions customers ask IBM support every day.
General Support Statement for customers concerned about whether a DB is supported: Scenario 1 : I am using WebSphere Application Server 9.0 , can i use oracle OJDC6.0 driver ? Yes its supported as long as you are using OJDC6.0 driver which is compliant to the latest JDK version , in this case JDK 8. Make sure Vendor provides the driver which supports JDK8.
Yes it is supported.
Note : Oracle 10g end of support in 2013 and extended support ended in November 2014. Though we supported the release in early version of WAS 8.5.5 we can longer support completely due to the end of support.. You can still use the database with WAS, but if there are errors in the JDBC driver or Oracle specific APIs, you may have to contact Vendor Support team. Its applicable to all database. http Yes . Its compatible with all 4 versions. Scenario 5 : We are on Websphere Commerce fep7 fix pack 8 running on WAS 7.0.0.29.The commerce database version is DB2 v10.5 Fixpack 6 , due to an ongoing issue we would like to upgrade the fixpack level to DB2 v10.5 Fixpack 9. Is it supported on WAS 7.0.0.29 ? Yes . There is no restriction in upgrading the database fixpack to the latest level. Its applicable to all databases not just Db2. If you have more question on other stack products, please refer to Scenario 9.
Scenario 6 : Does WAS support database failover ? Is there any functionality in WAS to achieve database failover. Yes. Database failover is supported using the Resource workload routing feature described in this IBM Knowledge Center topic.
Scenario 7 : Can I use 32 bit driver to connect to 64 bit database and vice versa ? It depends on the vendor stating support. You may have to check with vendor support team. We support only 64 bit in V9 (32 might work). The best practice is to match the driver and database bit version.
Scenario 8 : The above referenced compatibility reports states traditional WAS supports JDBC 4.1, is JDBC 4.2 also supported? Yes, but only those API's in the JDBC 4.1 spec. Because JDBC 4.2 is backwards compatible with JDBC 4.1, an application written to use the 4.1 spec will work with a 4.2 driver. But, your application may not use any new function added to the 4.2 spec.
Scenario 9 : Does WebSphere Application server v8.5.5.x support JDBC 4.1 ? Liberty 8.5.5.X supports JDBC 4.1 but Traditional WebSphere Application server doesn't completely support 4.1 Spec. As explained in the above scenario, though you may be able to use JDBC 4.1 the feature/function introduced in 4.1 will not work.
Scenario 10: I'm using an IBM product like WebSphere Commerce (WC), WebSphere Portal Server (WPS) and , IBM Operational Decision Manager (ODM), etc and I want to use the latest database and jdbc driver from my vendor. I looked at the Software Product Compatibility Reports for WebSphere Application Server and because the JDBC driver is JDBC spec compliant, the app server supports it. But, when I look at the compatibility report for the IBM product like WC, WPS, ODM, etc and it doesn't show it as supported. Who's correct?
The Software Product Compatibility Reports for the specific IBM product you're using is correct. Products like WC, WPS and ODM are known as "stack products" and are built on top of the application server. Stack products control their compatibility support statements independently of the application server. Because of this, the stack products may be more restrictive in their support statements than the application server. If you need support for a newer database/JDBC driver, you may open a Request For Enhancement (RFE) at http
Conclusion : WebSphere Application Server supports every Database and JDBC driver as long as they conform to the JDBC specification and are being used in a specification compliant fash
Keywords : Db2, JDBC, Support , Compatibility Reports, Driver, J2C, database, DB, WebSphere, upgrade, WAS
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