Chapter 18. Configuring MS Access, MySQL, and Oracle9i

Topics in This Chapter

• Configuring a DSN to connect to Microsoft Access

• Installing and configuring MySQL

• Creating databases and users in MySQL

• Installing and configuring Oracle9i

• Using the Database Configuration Assistant to create a database in Oracle9i

• Manually creating a database in Oracle9i

• Creating users in Oracle9i

• Testing your database through a JDBC connection

• Determining the JDBC version of your database driver

• Setting up the example music table

In this chapter, we provide details for configuring three popular databases for use with JDBC: Microsoft Access, MySQL, and Oracle9i.

The first database, Microsoft Access, is an excellent database for practice and experimentation because the Java SDK (or JDK) already includes the appropriate JDBC driver and many developers already have Access installed. However, you would be unlikely to use Microsoft Access for serious applications, since it is not designed to handle a large number of concurrent connections. For details on configuring Microsoft Access, see Section 18.1.

The second database, MySQL, is a production-quality database and probably the best free option. In Section 18.2 we provide details for installing and configuring MySQL. In addition, we provide information for downloading and using the appropriate MySQL JDBC driver in your Web applications.

The third database, Oracle9i, though not free, is an excellent production database. See Section 18.3 for details on installing and configuring Oracle9i. The installation and database creation process is quite lengthy. However, Oracle9i is widely used in industry, so taking the time to gain experience with the product is well worth the effort. After the installation and database creation, we provide information for installing the correct Oracle JDBC driver for use with various versions of the Java SDK.

Lastly, we provide programs to test your database and load the example database table used in this book.