Getting started with JDBC

The Java™ Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver shipped with Java on IBM® i is called the IBM Developer Kit for Java JDBC driver. This driver is also commonly known as the native JDBC driver.

To select which JDBC driver suits your needs, consider the following suggestions:

• Programs running directly on a server where the database resides should use the native JDBC driver for performance. This includes most servlet and JavaServer Pages (JSP) solutions, and applications written to run locally on a system.
• Programs that must connect to a remote IBM i server, use IBM Toolbox for Java JDBC classes. The IBM Toolbox for Java JDBC driver is a robust implementation of JDBC and is provided as part of IBM Toolbox for Java. Being pure Java, the IBM Toolbox for Java JDBC driver is trivial to set up for clients and requires little server setup.
• Programs that run on a IBM i server and need to connect to a remote, non-IBM i database use the native JDBC driver and set up a Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) connection to that remote server.