JDBC Data Container Config

1 Introduction

eXo JCR persistent data container can work in two configuration modes:

  • Multi-database: one database for each workspace (used in standalone eXo JCR service mode)
  • Single-database: all workspaces persisted in one database (used in embedded eXo JCR service mode, e.g. in eXo portal)
The data container uses the JDBC driver to communicate with the actual database software, i.e. any JDBC-enabled data storage can be used with eXo JCR implementation.

Currently the data container is tested with the following RDBMS:

  • MySQL (5.x including UTF8 support)
  • PostgreSQL (8.x)
  • Oracle Database (9i, 10g)
  • Microsoft SQL Server (2005)
  • Sybase ASE (15.0)
  • Apache Derby/Java DB (10.1.x, 10.2.x)
  • IBM DB2 (8.x, 9.x)
  • HSQLDB (1.8.0.7)
Each database software supports ANSI SQL standards but has its own specifics too. So, each database has its own configuration in eXo JCR as a database dialect parameter. If you need a more detailed configuration of the database it's possible to do that by editing the metadata SQL-script files.

In case the non-ANSI node name is used it's necessary to use a database with Multilanguage support. Some JDBC drivers need additional parameters for establishing a Unicode friendly connection. E.g. under mysql it's necessary to add an additional parameter for the JDBC driver at the end of JDBC URL. For instance: jdbc:mysql://exoua.dnsalias.net/portal?characterEncoding=utf8

There are preconfigured configuration files for HSQLDB. Look for these files in /conf/portal and /conf/standalone folders of the jar-file exo.jcr.component.core-XXX.XXX.jar or source-distribution of eXo JCR implementation.

By default the configuration files are located in service jars /conf/portal/configuration.xml (eXo services including JCR Repository Service) and exo-jcr-config.xml (repositories configuration). In eXo portal product JCR is configured in portal web application portal/WEB-INF/conf/jcr/jcr-configuration.xml (JCR Repository Service and related serivces) and repository-configuration.xml (repositories configuration).

Read more about Repository configuration.

2 Multi-database Configuration

You need to configure each workspace in a repository. You may have each one on different remote servers as far as you need.

First of all configure the data containers in the org.exoplatform.services.naming.InitialContextInitializer service. It's the JNDI context initializer which registers (binds) naming resources (DataSources) for data containers.

Example (standalone mode, two data containers jdbcjcr - local HSQLDB, jdbcjcr1 - remote MySQL):

<component>
    <key>org.exoplatform.services.naming.InitialContextInitializer</key>
    <type>org.exoplatform.services.naming.InitialContextInitializer</type>
    <component-plugins>
      <component-plugin>
        <name>bind.datasource</name>
        <set-method>addPlugin</set-method>
        <type>org.exoplatform.services.naming.BindReferencePlugin</type>
        <init-params>
          <value-param>
            <name>bind-name</name>
            <value>jdbcjcr</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>class-name</name>
            <value>javax.sql.DataSource</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>factory</name>
            <value>org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory</value>
          </value-param>
          <properties-param>
            <name>ref-addresses</name>
            <description>ref-addresses</description>
            <property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"/>
            <property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:file:target/temp/data/portal"/>
            <property name="username" value="sa"/>
            <property name="password" value=""/>
          </properties-param>
        </init-params>
      </component-plugin>
      <component-plugin>
        <name>bind.datasource</name>
        <set-method>addPlugin</set-method>
        <type>org.exoplatform.services.naming.BindReferencePlugin</type>
        <init-params>
          <value-param>
            <name>bind-name</name>
            <value>jdbcjcr1</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>class-name</name>
            <value>javax.sql.DataSource</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>factory</name>
            <value>org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory</value>
          </value-param>
          <properties-param>
            <name>ref-addresses</name>
            <description>ref-addresses</description>
            <property name="driverClassName" value="com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"/>
            <property name="url" value="jdbc:mysql://exoua.dnsalias.net/jcr"/>
            <property name="username" value="exoadmin"/>
            <property name="password" value="exo12321"/>
            <property name="maxActive" value="50"/>
            <property name="maxIdle" value="5"/>
            <property name="initialSize" value="5"/>
          </properties-param>
        </init-params>
      </component-plugin>
    <component-plugins>
    <init-params>
      <value-param>
        <name>default-context-factory</name>
        <value>org.exoplatform.services.naming.SimpleContextFactory</value>
      </value-param>
    </init-params>
  </component>

We configure the database connection parameters:

  • driverClassName, e.g. "org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver", "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver", "org.postgresql.Driver"
  • url, e.g. "jdbc:hsqldb:file:target/temp/data/portal", "jdbc:mysql://exoua.dnsalias.net/jcr"
  • username, e.g. "sa", "exoadmin"
  • password, e.g. "", "exo12321"
There can be connection pool configuration parameters (org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory):

When the data container configuration is done we can configure the repository service. Each workspace will be configured for its own data container.

Example (two workspaces ws - jdbcjcr, ws1 - jdbcjcr1):

<workspaces>
  <workspace name="ws" auto-init-root-nodetype="nt:unstructured">
    <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
    <properties>
      <property name="source-name" value="jdbcjcr"/>
      <property name="dialect" value="hsqldb"/>
      <property name="multi-db" value="true"/>
      <property name="max-buffer-size" value="200K"/>
      <property name="swap-directory" value="target/temp/swap/ws"/>   
    </properties>
    </container>
    <cache enabled="true">
      <properties>
        <property name="max-size" value="10K"/><!-- 10Kbytes -->
        <property name="live-time" value="30m"/><!-- 30 min -->
      </properties>
    </cache>
    <query-handler class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
    <properties>
      <property name="index-dir" value="target/temp/index"/>
    </properties>
    </query-handler>
    <lock-manager>
    <time-out>15m</time-out><!-- 15 min -->
    <persister class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.lock.FileSystemLockPersister">
      <properties>
      <property name="path" value="target/temp/lock/ws"/>
      </properties>
    </persister>
    </lock-manager>
  </workspace>
  <workspace name="ws1" auto-init-root-nodetype="nt:unstructured">
    <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
    <properties>
      <property name="source-name" value="jdbcjcr1"/>
      <property name="dialect" value="mysql"/>
      <property name="multi-db" value="true"/>
      <property name="max-buffer-size" value="200K"/>
      <property name="swap-directory" value="target/temp/swap/ws1"/>   
    </properties>
    </container>
    <cache enabled="true">
      <properties>
        <property name="max-size" value="10K"/>
        <property name="live-time" value="5m"/>
      </properties>
    </cache>
    <query-handler class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
    <properties>
      <property name="index-dir" value="target/temp/index"/>
    </properties>
    </query-handler>
    <lock-manager>
    <time-out>15m</time-out><!-- 15 min -->
    <persister class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.lock.FileSystemLockPersister">
      <properties>
      <property name="path" value="target/temp/lock/ws1"/>
      </properties>
    </persister>
    </lock-manager>
  </workspace>
</workspaces>

  • source-name - a javax.sql.DataSource name configured in InitialContextInitializer component (was sourceName prior JCR 1.9);
  • dialect - a database dialect, one of "hsqldb", "mysql", "mysql-utf8", "pgsql", "oracle", "oracle-oci", "mssql", "sybase", "derby", "db2", "db2v8".
  • multi-db - enable multi-database container with this parameter (set value "true");
  • max-buffer-size - a threshold (in bytes) after which a javax.jcr.Value content will be swapped to a file in a temporary storage. I.e. swap for pending changes.
  • swap-directory - a path in the file system used to swap the pending changes.
In this way we have configured two workspace which will be persisted in two different databases (ws in HSQLDB, ws1 in MySQL).

NOTE: Starting from v.1.9 repository configuration parameters supports human-readable formats of values (e.g. 200K - 200 Kbytes, 30m - 30 minutes etc)

3 Single-database configuration

It's more simple to configure a single-database data container. We have to configure one naming resource.

Example (embedded mode for jdbcjcr data container):

<external-component-plugins>
    <target-component>org.exoplatform.services.naming.InitialContextInitializer</target-component>
    <component-plugin>
        <name>bind.datasource</name>
        <set-method>addPlugin</set-method>
        <type>org.exoplatform.services.naming.BindReferencePlugin</type>
        <init-params>
          <value-param>
            <name>bind-name</name>
            <value>jdbcjcr</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>class-name</name>
            <value>javax.sql.DataSource</value>
          </value-param>
          <value-param>
            <name>factory</name>
            <value>org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory</value>
          </value-param>
          <properties-param>
            <name>ref-addresses</name>
            <description>ref-addresses</description>
            <property name="driverClassName" value="org.postgresql.Driver"/>
            <property name="url" value="jdbc:postgresql://exoua.dnsalias.net/portal"/>
            <property name="username" value="exoadmin"/>
            <property name="password" value="exo12321"/>
            <property name="maxActive" value="50"/>
            <property name="maxIdle" value="5"/>
            <property name="initialSize" value="5"/>
          </properties-param>
        </init-params>
    </component-plugin>
  </external-component-plugins>

And configure repository workspaces in repositories configuration with this one database. Parameter "multi-db" must be switched off (set value "false").

Example (two workspaces ws - jdbcjcr, ws1 - jdbcjcr):

<workspaces>
  <workspace name="ws" auto-init-root-nodetype="nt:unstructured">
    <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
    <properties>
      <property name="source-name" value="jdbcjcr"/>
      <property name="dialect" value="pgsql"/>
      <property name="multi-db" value="false"/>
      <property name="max-buffer-size" value="200K"/>
      <property name="swap-directory" value="target/temp/swap/ws"/>
    </properties>
    </container>
    <cache enabled="true">
    <properties>
      <property name="max-size" value="10K"/>
      <property name="live-time" value="30m"/>
    </properties>
    </cache>
    <query-handler class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.query.lucene.SearchIndex">
    <properties>
      <property name="index-dir" value="../temp/index"/>
    </properties>
    </query-handler>
    <lock-manager>
    <time-out>15m</time-out>
    <persister class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.lock.FileSystemLockPersister">
      <properties>
      <property name="path" value="target/temp/lock/ws"/>
      </properties>
    </persister>
    </lock-manager>
  </workspace>
  <workspace name="ws1" auto-init-root-nodetype="nt:unstructured">
    <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
    <properties>
      <property name="source-name" value="jdbcjcr"/>
      <property name="dialect" value="pgsql"/>
      <property name="multi-db" value="false"/>
      <property name="max-buffer-size" value="200K"/>
      <property name="swap-directory" value="target/temp/swap/ws1"/>
    </properties>
    </container>
    <cache enabled="true">
    <properties>
      <property name="max-size" value="10K"/>
      <property name="live-time" value="5m"/>
    </properties>
    </cache>
    <lock-manager>
    <time-out>15m</time-out>
    <persister class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.core.lock.FileSystemLockPersister">
      <properties>
      <property name="path" value="target/temp/lock/ws1"/>
      </properties>
    </persister>
    </lock-manager>
  </workspace>
</workspaces>

In this way we have configured two workspaces which will be persisted in one database (PostgreSQL).

3.1 Configuration without DataSource

Repository configuration without using of the javax.sql.DataSource bounded in JNDI.

This case may be usable if you have a dedicated JDBC driver implementation with special features like XA transactions, statements/connections pooling etc:

  • You have to remove the configuration in InitialContextInitializer for your database and configure a new one directly in the workspace container.
  • Remove parameter "source-name" and add next lines instead. Describe your values for a JDBC driver, database url and username.
But be careful in this case JDBC driver should implement and provide connection pooling. Connection pooling is very recommended for use with JCR to prevent a database overload.

<workspace name="ws" auto-init-root-nodetype="nt:unstructured">
  <container class="org.exoplatform.services.jcr.impl.storage.jdbc.JDBCWorkspaceDataContainer">
    <properties>
      <property name="dialect" value="hsqldb"/>
      <property name="driverClassName" value="org.hsqldb.jdbcDriver"/>
      <property name="url" value="jdbc:hsqldb:file:target/temp/data/portal"/>
      <property name="username" value="su"/>
      <property name="password" value=""/> 
      ......

3.2 Dynamic Workspace Creation

Workspaces can be added dynamically during runtime.

This can be performed in two steps:

  • Firstly, ManageableRepository.configWorkspace(WorkspaceEntry wsConfig) - register a new configuration in RepositoryContainer and create a WorkspaceContainer.
  • Secondly, the main step,ManageableRepository.createWorkspace(String workspaceName) - creation of a new workspace.

4 Notes for Microsoft Windows users

The current configuration of eXo JCR uses Apache DBCP connection pool (org.apache.commons.dbcp.BasicDataSourceFactory). It's possible to set a big value for maxActive parameter in configuration.xml. That means usage of lots of TCP/IP ports from a client machine inside the pool (i.e. JDBC driver). As a result the data container can throw exceptions like "Address already in use". To solve this problem you have to configure the client's machine networking software for the usage of shorter timeouts for opened TCP/IP ports.

Microsoft Windows has MaxUserPort, TcpTimedWaitDelay registry keys in the node HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetServicesTcpipParameters, by default these keys are unset, set each one with values like these:

  • "TcpTimedWaitDelay"=dword:0000001e, sets TIME_WAIT parameter to 30 seconds, default is 240.
  • "MaxUserPort"=dword:00001b58, sets the maximum of open ports to 7000 or higher, default is 5000.
A sample registry file is below:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters]
"MaxUserPort"=dword:00001b58
"TcpTimedWaitDelay"=dword:0000001e


Creator: Gennady Azarenkov on 06/03/2007
Copyright (c) 2000-2009. Allright reserved - eXo platform SAS
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