Running WSAD and WAS with Oracle: six steps is all it takes: during a recent EAI project, it came to my attention that it is difficult to find documentation on the topic of installing Oracle into WebSphere Studio Application Developer and WebSphere Application Server 5.0. This article will attempt to expedite the search for this information by discussing both installation processes - WSAD - WAS - WSAD/Oracle Tutorial
WebSphere Developer's Journal,  July, 2003  by Troy Holmes

********** WSAD

STEP 1: INSTALL ORACLE

The first step is to install the Oracle drivers and the tnsnames.ora file into our system. To do this, install the Oracle client onto the machine that contains WSAD by following the instructions provided by Oracle. For simplicity's sake, this article assumes use of the defaults provided by the Oracle installation wizard.

STEP 2: SET UP THE DEFAULT USER PASSWORD

This is part of the new J2C security configuration and it is located on the Security tab. In this section, we will create a user ID and password and assign it to an alias ID. This alias is required in Step 5.

• Select the Security tab. It is located three tabs to the right of the Data Source tab.
• Next, add a JAAS Authentication Entry by selecting the Add button next to JAAS Authentication Entries.
• Fill in the following information and select the OK button:
  • Alias: OracleUser
  • User ID: The Oracle-defined user ID
  • Password: The password for the Oracle user
  • Description: Default Oracle user

STEP 3: CREATE A SERVER AND CONFIGURATION

WSAD uses an embedded server to test development code. To use this server we must first create a new server and configuration. Create a new server by selecting New -> Other -> Server/Configuration from the menu.On the first screen enter Test Server as the server name and select Test Environment as the server type. Use the default port of 9080 and click on the Finish button. This will create a new server and configuration in the Server Configuration screen located in the lower panel of WSAD.

STEP 4: ADD THE JDBC DRIVER

This step will link the Oracle driver we installed in Step 1 to the newly created server/configuration.

• First, select the server and select the Data Source tab. This tab sets the configuration on the server.
• From the Data Source tab of the server configuration, select the Add button. This will display a list of databases.
• From this list, select the Oracle database; this will populate the provider types.
• From the provider types list, select JDBC:Thin:Driver.
• Select the Next button and assign the name OracleThinDriver to this driver.
• Finally, select the Finish button.

STEP 5: ADD THE DATA SOURCE

The data source is where we assign the JNDI name and alias users.

• First, highlight the JDBC provider that we created in Step 3 and select the Add button.
• A popup window will appear that requires the selection of a type of driver; here again, select JDBC:Thin: Driver.
• We have two options available on this screen, enabling us to select a version 5.0 data source or a version.4.0 data source. In this article, we are concerned only with new functionality and therefore will not be discussing the 4.0 setup. Select the 5.0 data source and then click the Next button.
• Leave the name and JNDI at their default values.
• Select the Alias list box and choose the alias created in Step 2, OracleUser. Add this alias to both types of authentication.
• Finally, select the Finish button.

STEP 6: EDIT THE RESOURCE

The only required field in the Resources screen is the URL. This field is used by the server to look up the tnsnames.ora file and find the port to the database. Select the URL and make the following modification.The URL format is jdbc:oracle:thin: @xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:1521:dbalias. This URL is broken into four sections delimited by colons. The URL is defined as follows:

• Provider type
• Oracle host IP address
• Oracle listener port
• Oracle database name

This URL needs to match the Oracle configuration for your installation. It is essential that these fields match the corresponding tnsnames.ora file. If any of the information is incorrect, you'll receive errors.

Here is the screen shot of the completed data source.

//JNDI connection code
InitialContext context = new InitialContext();
DataSource dcDS = (DataSource) context.lookup("jdbc/ds3");
conn = dcDS.getConnection();