Types of JDBC Drivers

Overview

JDBC drivers are available from a number of vendors. The drivers support different versions of the JDBC API. JDBC driver might be written purely in Java or in a mixture of the Java and Java native (JNI) methods.

There are basic four types of JDBC Drivers. They are categorized as follows:

Type 1 – JDBC-ODBC Bridge Driver
Type 2 – Native API partly Java Driver
Type 3 – Middleware Driver
Type 4 – Pure Java Driver

Type 1

Type 1 drivers implement the JDBC API as a mapping to another data access API. The JDBC-ODBC (Open Data Base Connectivity) Bridge driver is an example of this driver. Type 1 drivers are dependent on the native library, so they are not portable to other machine architectures.

JBDC-ODBC Bridge Driver

Type 2

Type 2 drivers are written partly in the Java language and partly in native API. These drivers use a native client library specific to the data source to which they connect.

Type 3

Type 3 drivers use a pure Java client and communicate through the network with the middleware using a database-independent protocol. The middleware server then communicates the JDBC client’s requests to the data source.

Type 4

Type 4 drivers are pure 100% Java and implement the network protocol for a specific data source. The JDBC client connects directly to the data source. These drivers are platform-independent and can be used in Java applications.

Example:

Oracle JDBC Thin Driver is a Type 4 driver. Oracle JDBC driver can be client-side or server-side. Oracle thin driver is stateful.

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