JDBC Architecture

JDBC insulates Java applications from variations in database access implementations through the JDBC API, a set of class libraries distributed as a standard part of core Java. Instead of using calls to vendor-specific interfaces, JDBC applications use the JDBC API.

The JDBC API is distributed as the package java.sql and is included with the JavaSoft JDK (Version 1.4 or later), so any environment that supports a recent Java compiler can be used to develop JDBC applications.

Calls to the JDBC API are managed by the JDBC driver manager. The JDBC driver manager can support multiple drivers connecting to different databases. When an application tries to connect to a particular database, the driver manager loads the appropriate JDBC driver and routes subsequent calls through the driver.

A JDBC driver is a database-specific software that receives calls from the JDBC driver manager, translates them into a form that the database can process, and returns data to the application.

The following figure shows the different components of the JDBC architecture.