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Database technology - SQL

If you want to use an SQL database for your Genesis application, the following technologies are supported:

PostgreSQL
MS SQL Server
Oracle

This page covers the common configuration options for setting up these databases in your Genesis application. Then, for each technology, it gives details of jdbc URL formats for connecting to the database, along with any other specific requirements.

Finally, since the first thing you will need to do is to provide a username and password to connect, we provide some simple examples of configurations that achieve this.

Common system definitions

Whichever SQL technology you are using, you need to configure it correctly in your genesis-system-definitions.kts file. The following settings are available for you to add. The DbHost setting is mandatory. All settings apply at the JVM level.

Setting	Description
`DbHost`	JDBC URL needed to connect to the SQL database. We accept JDBC URL formats for PostgreSQL and MSSQL. This JDBC URL contains other important information, such as port and target database name
`DbUsername`	The db username
`DbPassword`	The db password
`DbSqlConnectionPoolSize`	This property is deprecated in favour of DbSqlMaxPoolSize.
`DbSqlMaxPoolSize`	For each JVM process (Data Server, Request Server, etc) that connects to the database, this is the maximum number of SQL connections to be held by the SQL connection pool
`DbQuotedIdentifiers`	If set to true, all SQL tables and fields will be queried using quotes for each identifier to avoid potential name clashes. For example, when the db layer queries the TRADE table with a particular TRADE_ID for all fields, it will do something like `SELECT t_trade WHERE "TRADE_ID" = 1`. However, if set to false, it will use `SELECT t_trade WHERE TRADE_ID = 1`
`DbThreadsMin`	The minimum number of threads to be created in the SQL layer thread pool. Defaults to the minimum of 4 or the number of processing units (CPUs)
`DbThreadsMax`	The maximum number of threads to be created in the SQL layer thread pool. Defaults to the maximum of 4 or the number of processing units (CPUs) multiplied by 2
`DbSqlConnectionTimeoutMillis`	Controls the maximum number of milliseconds that a client will wait for a connection from the pool. When exceeded, an SQLException will be thrown (Default: 30000ms)
`DbSqlIdleTimeoutMillis`	Controls the maximum time that a connection is allowed to sit idle in the pool. The minimum allowed value is 10000ms (10 seconds). Default: 600000 (10 minutes)
`DbSqlKeepaliveTimeMillis`	Controls how frequently the pool manager will attempt to keep a connection alive, in order to prevent it from being timed out by the database or network infrastructure. Default: 0 (disabled)
`DbSqlMaxLifetimeMillis`	Controls the maximum lifetime of a connection in the pool.
`DbSqlConnectionTestQuery`	This is the query that will be executed just before a connection is given to you from the pool in order to validate that the connection to the database is still alive.
`DbSqlMinimumIdleMillis`	Controls the minimum number of idle connections that the connection library tries to maintain in the pool. Default: same as maximumPoolSize
`DbSqlCatalog`	Sets the default catalog for databases that support the concept of catalogs. If this property is not specified, the default catalog defined by the JDBC driver is used. Default: driver default
`DbSqlConnectionInitSql`	Sets an SQL statement that will be executed after every new connection is created before adding it to the pool. If this SQL is not valid or throws an exception, it will be treated as a connection failure and the standard retry logic will be followed. Default: none
`DbSqlValidationTimeoutMillis`	Controls the maximum length of time for which a connection will be tested to determine whether it is still alive. This value must be less than the connectionTimeout. Lowest acceptable validation timeout is 250 ms. Default: 5000
`DbSqlLeakDetectionThresholdMillis`	Controls the length of time that a connection can be out of the pool before a message is logged indicating a possible connection leak. Lowest acceptable value for enabling leak detection is 2000 (2 seconds). Default: 0 (disabled)
`DbSqlCachePrepStmts`	Enable or disable prepared statement cache. Default: true
`DbSqlPrepStmtCacheSize`	Set the maximum number of cached prepared statements. Default: 250
`DbSqlPrepStmtCacheSqlLimit`	Define the maximum length of SQL statements that can be cached. Default: 2048
`DbOptimisticConcurrencyMode`	Set the Optimistic Concurrency mode. Available values: STRICT, LAX and NONE. Defaults to NONE.
`SqlMaxParametersPerRequest`	For Postgres and SQL Server databases only. Set to enable bulk operations for the database (`insertAll`, `getAllAsList`, etc). This speeds up priming (in views, Genesis uses `getAllAsList` internally to get joined records) and makes modify, delete and insert operations much faster. -1 sets to the Platform default, which is 5000 for Postgres and 2000 for SQL Server. Other database technologies ignore this setting.
`DbSqlResultSetFetchSize`	Defines the number of rows that will be fetched from the database when more rows are needed while executing a statement. Default: 10000

PostgreSQL

info

For optimum performance using PostgreSQL, set the SqlMaxParametersPerRequest parameter to -1 in your application's system-definitions.kts file.

The JDBC URL for PostgreSQL takes the following form:

jdbc:postgresql://host:port/database

host and port are optional
default value for host is localhost
default value for port is 5432

In addition to the standard connection parameters, the URL accepts several additional parameters:

user - the database user
password - the database user password
ssl - whether to use SSL. The mere presence of this parameter specifies an SSL connection

More information on connection configuration can be found in the jdbc documentation.

If you want PostgreSQL to work with different namespaces/schemas, you must add the following system definition items to your genesis-system-definitions.kts file:

Setting	Description
DbMode	This can be one of two values: POSTGRESQL if you want PostgreSQL to work with namespaces/schemas and LEGACY, which is the default mode; it always stores the dictionary in a table called `dictionary` and a schema called `metadata`.
DbNamespace	This is the namespace/schema of database. This allows you to segregate data from different Genesis apps whilst using a single database.

SQL Server

info

For optimum performance using SQL Server, set the SqlMaxParametersPerRequest parameter to -1 in your application's system-definitions.kts file.

The JDBC URL for MS SQL Server takes the following form:

jdbc:sqlserver://serverName[\instanceName][:port]][;property=value[;property=value]

instanceName and port are optional
If no instanceName is specified, a connection to the default instance is made
The default value for port is 1433

In addition to the standard connection parameters, the URL accepts several additional parameters:

user - the database user
password - the database user password
databaseName - the name of the database to connect to. If not stated, a connection is made to the default database.
trustServerCertificate - set to true to specify that the driver doesn't validate the server TLS/SSL certificate. This is useful for first-time run and development purposes. Detailed information about the property can be found here and information on encryption here.

Microsoft provides a full list of connection properties, including encryption and certificate authentication properties.

You can also consult the SSL documentation for MSSQL JDBC driver documentation.

Oracle

The JDBC URL for Oracle can take the following forms:

jdbc:oracle:thin:[username/password]@[protocol]//host[:port][/service_name]

jdbc:oracle:thin:[username/password]@host[:port]:sid

username/password, protocol, port, and service_name are optional
The default username/password are both null. If these are not provided, a connection will attempt to use standard connection parameters
The default protocol is tcp
The default value for port is 1521

In addition to the standard connection parameters, the URL accepts several additional parameters:

user - the database user. If not stated, a connection will try and use the value provided by the DbUsername system definition (if present)
password - the database user password. If not stated, a connection will try and use the value provided by the DbPassword system definition (if present)
databaseName - the name of the database to connect to. If not stated, a connection is made to the default database

For a full list of connection properties, including encryption and certificate authentication properties, see the jdbc support documents.

Sample configurations

User name and password as part of the Connection URL

In this case, the username and password are unencrypted. This is not recommended for Production environments.

systemDefinition {
    global {
        ...
        item(name = "DbLayer", value = "SQL")
        item(name = "DbHost", value = "jdbc:sqlserver://pdb:6060;databaseName=trades;user=MyUserName;password=dbpassword;")
        ...
    }    
    ...
}

User name and password as system definition items

In this case, the username and password are unencrypted. This is not recommended for Production environments.

systemDefinition {
    global {
        ...
        item(name = "DbLayer", value = "SQL")
        item(name = "DbHost", value = "jdbc:postgresql://pdb:6060/trades")
        item(name = "DbUsername", value = "dbuser")
        item(name = "DbPassword", value = "dbpassword")
        ...
    }
    ...
}

User name and password as encrypted system environment variables

In this case, the username and password have been encrypted.

systemDefinition {
    global {
        ...
        item(name = "DbLayer", value = "SQL")
        item(name = "DbHost", value = "jdbc:oracle:thin://pdb:6060;databaseName=trades")
        item(name = "DbUsername", value = System.getenv("DBUSERNAME"), encrypted = true)
        item(name = "DbPassword",  value = System.getenv("DBPASSWORD"), encrypted = true)
        ...
    }
    ...
}

Common system definitions​

PostgreSQL​

SQL Server​

Oracle​

Sample configurations​

User name and password as part of the Connection URL​

User name and password as system definition items​

User name and password as encrypted system environment variables​

Common system definitions

PostgreSQL

SQL Server

Oracle

Sample configurations

User name and password as part of the Connection URL

User name and password as system definition items

User name and password as encrypted system environment variables