Configuring external authentication for JDBC clients

If you want to use JDBC with strong password encryption, you enable the use of the OpenSSL by using JDBC connection properties. You must also ensure that the solidDB JDBC driver has access to the solidDB linked library access (LLA) and OpenSSL libcrypto libraries.

Note The solidDB server does not have to be an LLA server in order to configure external authentication. However, the LLA library includes functions that the solidDB JDBC driver requires in order for a JDBC client user to be externally-authenticated, and so the LLA library must be installed on the JDBC client.

To configure external authentication on a JDBC client, complete the following steps:

1 Install and configure the OpenSSL libcrypto library on the client computer, see Installing and configuring the OpenSSL toolkit.

2 Copy the LLA library to the client computer and add the location of the LLA library to the LD_LIBRARY_PATH or LIBPATH (Linux and UNIX) or PATH (Windows) environment variable. For details, see Linking the application to the LLA library.

3 Set the connection property solid_use_strong_encryption to yes.

4 Set the connection property solid_crypto_path to point to the directory where the OpenSSL libcrypto library is installed. Use the operating system conventions for defining the directory path.

5 If you are using SSL (TLS) to secure your network connection, you must set additional properties, see Using SSL to encrypt the network connection between a JDBC client and a server.

Example: Settings in Windows environments when connecting with Driver Manager

Properties props = new Properties(); // enable OpenSSL libcrypto encryption
props.put("solid_use_strong_encryption", "yes"); // define OpenSSL library
path props.put("solid_crypto_path", "solidDBinstalldir\solid_client\bin");

Example: Settings in AIX environments when defining connection properties in the connect string

The following example enables the use of OpenSSL by defining the connection property in the connect string. The OpenSSL libcrypto library path is defined in the PATH environment variable.

Connection c = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:solid://10.11.22.314:1315//admin?T3stus3r?solid_use_strong_encryption=yes?solid_crypto_path=home/admin/solid_client/bin");