JBoss 7 multiple data source declarations for multiple applications

[kdolan1]

I'm new to JBoss 7, reading its documentation and attempting to migrate a set of applications from an earlier version of JBoss.  I'm trying to confirm if a way of doing something is no longer available or if I've missed an alternative way of doing it.

In the past, data source declarations were done w/ *-ds.xml files.  Based on what I read, these are gone and one now needs to declare them in standalone.xml (or domain.xml).

In my situation, I have developed several "components" that run w/in the same JBoss instance.  Each component has its own installer.  One component is an application and this lays down an instance of JBoss.  Other components are "plug-ins" to the application component or other small applications that simply want to run w/in the same JBoss instance.  They expect JBoss to already be installed.  However, they have their own different data source.

With earlier versions of JBoss, the separate *-ds.xml files were great because each installer simply added its file.  Based on what I'm reading for JBoss 7, it seems now each installer would need to modify the existing standalone.xml file and add its data source declaration.  This makes me very nervous because it's risky...an installer could screw up the modification.  It also complicates uninstall...the file must be modified to remove the declaration vs. removing a file.

QUESTIONS: Are there alternatives?  Can JBoss be started to reference multiple standalone.xml configuration files such that each "component" has its own?  Does JBoss 7 even consider a deployment model driven by script (e.g., installer)?  Or am I stuck w/ one standalone.xml configuration file?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Kelly

[cpuffalt]

If you're using v7.1.x then you can put your datasource declarations in separate -ds.xml files as you did in the past.  Unfortunately, it looks like the documentation wasn't updated.  The v7.1.0 release notes do mention it under the "Developer Usability Enhancements" section.  The only real documentation on this that I can find is in a blog posting unfortunately.

If you need to support earlier versions of v7 or run into the documented limitations with -ds.xml files your best bet is likely to use the command line interface which can be used non-interactively.

Hope this helps.

Corey

Edit: Actually, I stand corrected.  The documentation linked above does actually mention deploying datasources as standalone -dx.xml files at the bottom of the page.

[kdolan1]

Oh thank you!  I will try this and report back.

[wdfink]

It is recommended to not use such -ds.xml deployment in production as mentioned.

mention it under the "Developer Usability Enhancements" section

Also the way to configure JBoss AS7 goes in the direction to use Web-Admin and CLI interface and not change the XML configuration (ok. some initial configuration are necessary).

I would use the CLI interface for the installer to add datasources, or even other stuff. This ensure also that the changes are validated before applied and you might do this as a batch job which can do this as all-or-nothing.

[kdolan1]

Ok, I hear you so I spent most of today removing my -ds.xml files and trying to use the CLI to create my data source.  I'm having a horrible experience and still do not have anything working.  Can you see what I'm doing wrong?

My CLI Command

At a command prompt I'm executing the following:

jboss-cli.bat --connect controller=myserver:myport --file=mycmds.cli

The "mycmds.cli" file contains the following:

xa-data-source add --name=MyDB --jndi-name=java:jboss/datasources/MyDB --user-name=myName --password=myPassword --driver-name=oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver --xa-datasource-class=oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource --same-rm-override=false --no-tx-separate-pool=true --check-valid-connection-sql="select count(*) from MYTABLE"

Edit: I should add that I haven't figured out yet how to specify the URL. There is no connection-url parameter for the xa-data-source command.

My original -ds.xml file (from JBoss 4.x) I'm trying to convert to JBoss 7.x contained the following:

  <xa-datasource>

    <jndi-name>MyDB</jndi-name>

    <track-connection-by-tx>true</track-connection-by-tx>

    <isSameRM-override-value>false</isSameRM-override-value>

    <xa-datasource-class>oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource</xa-datasource-class>

          <!-- The line below is used only for mysql installations.  -->

          <!--new-connection-sql>set autocommit=1</new-connection-sql-->

    <xa-datasource-property name="URL">jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:XE</xa-datasource-property>

    <xa-datasource-property name="User">myUser</xa-datasource-property>

    <xa-datasource-property name="Password">myPassword</xa-datasource-property>

    <no-tx-separate-pools />

    <check-valid-connection-sql>select count(*) from MYTABLE</check-valid-connection-sql>

  </xa-datasource>

Oracle driver (ojdbc14.jar)

I first deployed this as a regular JAR by copying it to the standalone/deployments folder and added a .dodeploy file.  It deployed successfully but when I ran my CLI command above, it said "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" not installed.

I then tried adding to the jar the java.sql.Driver file (as described in the JBoss documentation) to the JAR thinking this might be the problem.  It redeployed successfully but I still received the CLI error message.

Finally, I undeployed the Oracle driver as a regular JAR and added it as a module.  I created a modules/oracle/jdbc/main folder, copied the original JAR into this folder and added a module.xml file.  The module.xml file contains

<module xmlns="urn:jboss:module:1.1" name="oracle.jdbc">

        <resources>

                <resource-root path="ojdbc14.jar"/>

        </resources>

        <dependencies>

                <module name="javax.api"/>

        </dependencies>

</module>

I restarted JBoss, retried my CLI command and received the same error message.  I also tried changing the driver name from "oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver" to "oracle.jdbc" and "ojdbc14.jar".  In both cases, I still receive the CLI error message "XXX is not installed".

Ultimately, I'm fine setting up Oracle as a module (vs. deployment) because I must also support MySQL and I found in the JBoss documentation it must be configured as a module because it's "is jdbc compliant" method always returns false or something like that.  Since I must configure that as a module, I might as well be consistent w/ Oracle.

Thanks!

Kelly

[shadowcreeper]

It sounds like you haven't setup your driver correctly.

In standalone/configuration/standalone.xml (or domain or whatever you are using) there is a subsystem node with {code:xml}<datasources><datasource jndi-name=...>{code} (you may build an entry for your datasource here which should use the name mentioned later -- likely {code:xml}<driver>ORACLE</driver>{code}) there should also be (in that same subsystem node) {code:xml}<datasources><drivers><driver>{code} nodes (at least one should already exist by default with name="h2", you now need to add one with name="ORACLE" or whatever you prefer -- to be used in the above {code:xml}<datasources><datasource><driver>{code} node).

Note: The name attribute may not work if you put punctuation marks in it as some of those appear to be treated special (like ".").

[kdolan1]

I thought about and believe I tried that w/ no luck.  Specifically, I edited my standalone.xml file, added the following and then restarted JBoss before trying the CLI command again.

<drivers>

     ...

    <driver name="oracle" module="oracle.jdbc">

        <driver-class>oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver</driver-class>

        <xa-datasource-class>oracle.jdbc.xa.client.OracleXADataSource</xa-datasource-class>

    </driver>

</drivers>

The CLI command for xa-data-source still did not work.  I tried providing "oracle", "oracle.jdbc", and "oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver" as names.  I was expecting "oracle" to work.

[shadowcreeper]

Pick one or the other ("driver-class" or "xa-datasource-class") as I don't think you can have both in the same driver definition.

And yes, I too would expect "oracle" to be the correct one.

[kdolan1]

Thanks!  I'll try that and post back. 

One small detail that was mentioned in my lengthy list of details was the fact that with the CLI command for xa-data-source I could find no way to provide the URL connection.  In the original *-ds.xml file, this was specified as

<xa-datasource-property name="URL">jdbc:oracle:thin:@localhost:1521:XE</xa-datasource-property>

But with the CLI command I could not find its corresponding option.  There is a connection URL option/parameter for the regular data-source CLI command, but not one for the XA version.  Any ideas?

[shadowcreeper]

I'm not using xa-datasource, so your mileage may differ, but I provide that in the datasource definition via the <connection-url>jdbc:....</connection-url> node.

{code:xml}

<datasources>

   <datasource jndi-name="java:/jboss/datasources/MyDS"

               pool-name="MyDS"

               enabled="true"

               use-java-context="true">

      <connection-url>@database.url@</connection-url>

      <driver>@database.driver@</driver>

      <pool>

         <min-pool-size>100</min-pool-size>

         <max-pool-size>200</max-pool-size>

      </pool>

      <security>

         <user-name>@database.username@</user-name>

         <password>@database.password@</password>

      </security>

      <statement>

         <prepared-statement-cache-size>100</prepared-statement-cache-size>

         <share-prepared-statements>true</share-prepared-statements>

      </statement>

   </datasource>

</datasources>

{code}

The @database.*@ lines obviously need to be replaced with your database setup.

EDIT: Oh right, you mean via the cli tool... I just created my datasource xml by hand.

[kdolan1]

For <xa-datasource>, the connection URL is configured as <xa-datasource-property name="URL">@db.url@</xa-datasource-property>.  The CLI options do not seem to provide a way to specify the connection URL as that specifically or as a property name/value.  I tried providing the connection-url parameter that is supported by the CLI data-source command but it didn't like it.