# Using Derby as a J2EE resource manager

J2EE, or the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition, is a standard for development of enterprise applications based on reusable components in a multi-tier environment. In addition to the features of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE), J2EE adds support for Enterprise Java Beans (EJBs), Java Server Pages (JSPs), Servlets, XML and many more. The J2EE architecture is used to bring together existing technologies and enterprise applications in a single, manageable environment.

Derby is a J2EE-conformant component in a distributed J2EE system. As such, it is one part of a larger system that includes, among other things, a JNDI server, a connection pool module, a transaction manager, a resource manager, and user applications. Within this system, Derby can serve as the resource manager.

For more information on J2EE and how to work in this environment, see the J2EE specification available at http://java.sun.com/j2ee/docs.html.

Note: This chapter does not show you how to use Derby as a Resource Manager. Instead, it provides details specific to Derby that are not covered in the specification. This information is useful to programmers developing other modules in a distributed J2EE system, not to end-user application developers.

In order to qualify as a resource manager in a J2EE system, J2EE requires these basic areas of support. These three areas of support involve implementation of APIS and are described in "J2EE Compliance: Java Transaction API and javax.sql Extensions" in the Derby Reference Manual.

This chapter describes the Derby classes that implement the APIs and provides some implementation-specific details.

- Classes that pertain to resource managers
  Derby provides two variants of each DataSource interface defined by the JDBC API.
- Getting a DataSource
  Normally, you can simply work with the interfaces for javax.sql.DataSource, javax.sql.ConnectionPoolDataSource, and javax.sql.XADataSource, as shown in the following examples.
- Shutting down or creating a database
  If you need to shut down or create a database, it is easiest just to work with the Derby-specific implementations of interfaces, as shown in these examples.