Importing JDBC driver files for data sources

An IBM Cloud Pak for Data administrator can upload JDBC driver files (JAR files) that are needed to create custom JDBC connectors, create Generic JDBC connections, or to use some of the predefined connectors.

Important: Uploading JDBC drivers is disabled by default and users cannot view the list of JDBC drivers in the web client.

An instance administrator must enable users to upload or view JDBC drivers.

Who needs to complete this task?
To complete this task, you must have both of the following permissions in Cloud Pak for Data:
  • Administer platform
  • Manage configurations
When do you need to complete this task?
Complete this task if you want to:
  • Upload drivers for Generic JDBC connections
  • Upload drivers for custom JDBC connectors
  • Upload drivers for the following predefined connectors:
    • Exasol
    • Hive via Execution Engine for Hadoop
    • IBM Db2 for i
    • IBM Db2 for z/OS
    • Impala via Execution Engine for Hadoop
    • SAP BAPI
    • SAP Bulk Extract
    • SAP Delta Extract
    • SAP HANA
    • SAP IDoc

Before you begin

Before you can upload JDBC driver files, an instance administrator must complete Enabling users to upload JDBC drivers.

Check the prerequisites for the connector to learn if a JDBC driver is required.

Important: Ensure that the JDBC driver files originate from a trustworthy source and does not contain malware or malicious code.

About this task

Common core services This feature is available only when the Cloud Pak for Data common core services are installed. The common core services are automatically installed by services that rely on them. If you don't see the Platform connections page, it's because none of the services that are installed on your environment rely on the common core services.

File size limits

By default, you can upload:

  • A single JAR file up to 150 MB
  • Multiple JAR files up to 750 MB total

The limits prevent malicious uploads of large files and the consumption of storage on the persistent volume.

However, if you cannot upload a JAR file that you need, a cluster administrator or instance administrator can increase the upload file size limit. For more information, see Increasing the file size limits for JDBC driver file uploads.

Procedure

To import a JDBC driver:

  1. Log in to Cloud Pak for Data.
  2. From the navigation menu, select Data > Connectivity.
  3. Select the Connectors tab. Click the JDBC driver files link.
    An instance administrator must enable users to upload or view JDBC drivers.
  4. Browse for the JAR file or files that are required to connect to the data source.
  5. Click Upload.
    Important: Duplicate file names are not allowed. If you upload the same file again, for example, to upload a newer version of a file that has security fixes, (1) is appended to the file name.

    Users must edit connections that use the original JDBC driver file to use the new driver file.

    If any custom JDBC connectors use the original JDBC driver file, an administrator must edit the custom JDBC connector to use the new driver files. For details, see Custom JDBC connector.

Results

The JDBC drivers are uploaded, and the upload is included in audit records.

What to do next

Best practice: Test the JDBC drivers that you import to ensure that they are compatible with the tools you use to connect to data sources. Example tools include Jupyter Notebooks, SPSS Modeler, and DataStage.

After you test the drivers, users can create a Generic JDBC connection to a data source from the Platform connections page, catalogs, or projects.

Administrators of the Platform assets catalog can create Custom JDBC connectors, which enables users to create consistent connections to data sources.