Chapter 4. Connecting to a Real Database

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Note: In this chapter:

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Modern enterprise applications revolve around relational databases, and our application is no exception. However, up to this point we have barely paid any attention to configuring the all-important database tier. We've been using the embedded Hypersonic database and delegating all the schema management to JBoss. This has allowed us to focus on making our application work first, without needing to bother with the added complexity of a database.

Developing an application with this approach makes a lot of sense, but now that our application is up and running, it's time to turn our attention toward the database, and have our application access a more robust, production-friendly database. We'll use MySQL for the application.