This guided activity leads you through a set of steps to configure database access for an application. It is assumed that the database software is installed and configured. After completing these steps, your application will be able to access the data from a database. To continue, click Start. In this step, configure the authentication data with an alias so that the credentials can be used in later steps when you configure the data source or deploy the application. Authentication aliases are optional for certain data source types that are available on the z/OS platform. If you are using WebSphere Application Server for z/OS, see the information center article entitled, <A target="help" HREF="http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/wsbroker/redirect?version=phil&product=was-nd-zos&topic=conthidep"> Using thread identity support</A> before making a decision about your data source security configuration. <A HREF="javascript:showHideList('j2cconnectors')"> <IMG SRC="/ibm/console/images/arrow_collapsed.gif" ALT="" ID="j2cconnectorsImg" ALIGN="left" BORDER="0"/> </A> Read more about JDBC and authentication aliases <TABLE id="j2cconnectorsList" style="font-size:100%;margin-left:1em;display:none"> <TR> <TD> Beginning with WebSphere Application Server Version 5.0, the JDBC technology is based on Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition Connector (J2C) standards. J2C connectors define how application servers make and receive connections to external systems. To configure secure access to external systems using J2C, you must configure the authentication data. Authentication data is typically a set of credentials such as a user name and password that is used to verify your permission to access the system. Each piece of authentication data must be created and given a name, called an authentication alias. After the authentication data is configured with an alias name, the alias name is used wherever you want to connect using that authentication data. </TD> </TR> </TABLE> To create a new J2C authentication alias, complete the following steps: <ol> <li>Click Click to perform to load the J2C authentication aliases panel.</li> <li>Click New on the J2C authentication data entries panel.</li> <li>Enter the alias, user ID, password, and description. Click OK. The updated J2C authentication alias list is displayed.</li> <li>To put the alias configuration into effect you may have to stop and start the server. This will be performed later in the Test database connection step of the guided activity. </ol> To continue, click Next step. To access a database, you must first represent the client driver for the database vendor in WebSphere Application Server by creating a JDBC provider. To create a new JDBC provider, complete the following steps: <ol> <li>Click Click to perform to load the JDBC providers panel.</li> <li>Choose a valid scope from the Scope dropdown. <li>Click New and the new JDBC provider wizard is displayed.</li> <li>Select the database type, provider type, implementation type, and name for the new JDBC provider.</li> <li>Click Next to proceed to the next step. </li> <li>Enter the database classpath information for the JDBC provider.</li> <li>Click Next to proceed to the next step.</li> <li>Review the JDBC provider information you have entered and click Finish. </ol> To continue, click Next step. You can define a WebSphere Application Server variable to provide a parameter for some values in the system. After you define the name and value for a variable, the value is used in place of the variable name. Variables most often specify file paths. However, some system components also support the use of variables. To create a new WebSphere Variable for your JDBC provider, complete the following steps: <ol> <li>Look for any <tt>${variable name}</tt>used in your JDBC provider's Classpath and Native library path properties on the Details panel.</li> <li>Click Click to perform to load the WebSphere Variables panel.</li> <li>Specify the scope of the variable. Declare the new variable for the Cell, Cluster, Node or Server and click Apply. </li> <li>On the WebSphere Variables page, click on the variable_name if it exists or click on New to create it.</li> <li>In the Name field, type in the variable_name that you found in the Classpath or Native library path of the JDBC provider's detail panel.</li> <li>In the Value field, type in the path for the location that the WebSphere variable should point to for the scope specified.</li> <li>Click OK. Verify that the variable is displayed in the list of variables. The administrative console does not pick up typing errors. The variable is ignored if it is referred to incorrectly.</li> <li>To put the variable configuration into effect you might have to stop and start the server. This will be performed later in the Test database connection step of the guided activity.</li> </ol> To continue, click Next step. After the JDBC provider is configured, you must use a data source to access the database. To create a new data source, complete the following steps: <ol> <li>Click Click to perform to load the JDBC providers panel.</li> <li>Click on the name of the JDBC provider that you want to create a data source for.</li> <li>Click Data sources under the Additional Properties of the JDBC provider details panel.</li> <li>To create a new data source, click New and the new data source wizard will be displayed.</li> <li>When prompted, enter the data source name and JNDI name.</li> <li>Click Next to proceed to the next step.</li> <li>Enter the required data source properties and choose whether or not the new data source should be used in container managed persistence.</li> <li>Click Next to proceed to the next step.</li> <li>Select the authentication aliases to use. An alias is not required.</li> <li>Click Next to proceed to the next step.</li> <li>Review the data source information you have entered and click Finish. </ol> To continue, click Next step. Click Save in the message at the top of the console panel to update the configuration in the master repository. To continue, click Next step. After you define and save a data source, click Click to perform to select a data source to test. Select the data source and click Test connection on the data sources collection panel or the data source details panel to verify that the parameters in the data source definition are correct. If you have created a new J2C authentication alias or WebSphere Variable, you may need to stop and start your server before proceeding. For more details, see the information center article entitled, <A target="help" HREF="http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/wsbroker/redirect?version=phil&product=was-base-dist&topic=testcon"> Testing a connection with the administrative console</A>.