# The Java EE 7 Tutorial

# 3.2 DataSource Objects and Connection Pools

To store, organize, and retrieve data, most applications use a relational database. Java EE 7 components may access relational databases through the JDBC API. For information on this API, see `http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/jdbc/`.

In the JDBC API, databases are accessed by using `DataSource` objects. A `DataSource` has a set of properties that identify and describe the real-world data source that it represents. These properties include such information as the location of the database server, the name of the database, the network protocol to use to communicate with the server, and so on. In GlassFish Server, a data source is called a JDBC resource.

Applications access a data source by using a connection, and a `DataSource` object can be thought of as a factory for connections to the particular data source that the `DataSource` instance represents. In a basic `DataSource` implementation, a call to the `getConnection` method returns a connection object that is a physical connection to the data source.

A `DataSource` object may be registered with a JNDI naming service. If so, an application can use the JNDI API to access that `DataSource` object, which can then be used to connect to the data source it represents.

`DataSource` objects that implement connection pooling also produce a connection to the particular data source that the `DataSource` class represents. The connection object that the `getConnection` method returns is a handle to a `PooledConnection` object rather than a physical connection. An application uses the connection object in the same way that it uses a connection. Connection pooling has no effect on application code except that a pooled connection, like all connections, should always be explicitly closed. When an application closes a connection that is pooled, the connection is returned to a pool of reusable connections. The next time `getConnection` is called, a handle to one of these pooled connections will be returned if one is available. Because connection pooling avoids creating a new physical connection every time one is requested, applications can run significantly faster.

A JDBC connection pool is a group of reusable connections for a particular database. Because creating each new physical connection is time consuming, the server maintains a pool of available connections to increase performance. When it requests a connection, an application obtains one from the pool. When an application closes a connection, the connection is returned to the pool.

Applications that use the Persistence API specify the `DataSource` object they are using in the `jta-data-source` element of the `persistence.xml` file:

    <jta-data-source>jdbc/MyOrderDB</jta-data-source>

This is typically the only reference to a JDBC object for a persistence unit. The application code does not refer to any JDBC objects.