Creating a test data source in WebSphere 7

If you need to quickly set up a test database and a corresponding JDBC data source in WebSphere 7, you can use the preconfigured Derby JDBC provider for that purpose. Here is the procedure:

  • Choose a directory to store the database files. Make sure that the user ID running the server process has write access to the parent directory. Don’t create the directory yet. It will be created automatically by Derby.

  • In the admin console, create a new data source with the following properties:

    • JDBC Provider: Derby JDBC Provider (existing)

    • Database name: the path of the directory chosen above

    • Authentication aliases: none

  • Go to the “Custom properties” page for the data source and change the value of the createDatabase property to create.

  • Save the changes to the master configuration.

  • In the “Data sources” overview page, select the newly created data source and click “Test connection”. This should create and start the database (you can verify this by looking at the configured file system directory).

When you no longer need the database, just remove the data source and delete the database directory.

Note that the following restrictions apply to data sources created using this procedure:

  • The database will be empty. Thus, the approach works best for applications able to create the database schema themselves (with JTA, use the openjpa.jdbc.SynchronizeMappings property in persistence.xml).

  • The database can’t be used in a cluster.

  • The data source doesn’t support XA.