SAP with Oracle JDBC: FAQ. Questions and Answers

In this post we provide the information about Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) on Oracle in the SAP environment.

Other Terms: Java, J2EE, JDBC, driver, Oracle

1. What is Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)?

Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) is an API that lets you access and manipulate a relational database from the Java programming language.

Typically, a database vendor such as Oracle provides a Java library that implements the JDBC functionality, the so-called JDBC driver. SAP uses this driver to access the Oracle database through Java.

2. Which Oracle JDBC driver types are supported by SAP?

There are several different types of Oracle JDBC drivers. Of these different types, SAP supports the so-called Oracle Thin JDBC driver only. This driver is a self-contained pure Java driver, i.e. it does not need any additional binary library.

3. Which SAP release goes with which Oracle JDBC driver?

The SAP J2EE engine always uses an Oracle JDBC driver that is suited for the Java version the engine is running on.

This implies that the JDBC driver in use may change after an SAP upgrade, after which the SAP J2EE engine runs on a higher Java version.

 The following section provides a bit of a more precise mapping, taking into consideration the fact that one and the same Oracle JDBC driver may cover more than one Java version, and that Oracle JDBC driver files of the same name may originate from different Oracle major versions:

4. Which Oracle JDBC driver goes with which Java version?

 2) Depending on the Oracle client installed, 11 or 12, JDBC driver file ojdbc6.jar has different Oracle versions. Both are supported to run against the underlying database.

5. Is the JDBC driver I use still in Oracle support?

SAP has a special agreement with Oracle to support JDBC drivers even if the Oracle major version they belong to is out of regular or extended Oracle support.

6. Where do I find the JDBC driver used by the SAP system?

See note 915079 for details where to find the JDBC driver used by the SAP system.

7. How do I update the JDBC driver used by the SAP system?

See note 915079 for details on updating the JDBC driver used by the SAP system.

8. How to determine the Oracle version of the JDBC driver used by the SAP system?

In order to find out the version of the JDBC driver you can use the attached program in the SAP Note 86176.

              1) Download attached file
JdbcCheckup.sar to a temporary directory

              2) Extract the file with the command:

sapcar –xvf JdbcCheckup.sar

              3) Find the location and file
name of the driver (SAP note 915079)

              4) Compile the program

javac –classpath <path to
driver>/<driver filename>:. JdbcCheckup.java

(On Windows, use semi-colon “;” instead of colon
“:”)

              5) Execute the program

java –classpath <path to driver>/<driver filename>:. JdbcCheckup

(On Windows, use semi-colon “;” instead of colon
“:”)

The program request the information needed to connect to the database (username, password, TNSNAME entry, hostname and listener port) and returns the database and JDBC driver version.

The required information can be found on the Secure Store in ConfigTool (if you can connect to the NW Database they are correct)

jdbc/pool/<SID>/User (usually SAPSR3DB)

jdbc/pool/<SID>/Password

jdbc/pool/<SID>/Url (DB server, port, SID are here)

The port can also be found out on the listener.ora file located on the $ORACLE_HOME/admin/listener on the database Server.