What is the recommended JDBC driver for SQL Anywhere 11.0.1?

[VolkerBarth]

According to the SA 11.0.1 docs, SA 11.0.1 can be used with the jConnect Driver or the "iAnyhwere JDBC Driver" (jodbc.jar) sitting on top of ODBC.

In contrast, SA 12 recommends the new SQL Anywhere JDBC Driver (sajdbc.jar) over the iAnywhere JDBC Driver, cf. the SA 12 docs:

If you currently use the iAnywhere JDBC driver, it is strongly recommended that you change to the new SQL Anywhere JDBC driver.

So far, so good.

However, it seems that the SQL Anywhere JDBC Driver is available for newer 11.0.1 releases, too, - at least they do contain the sajdbc.jar. And the JDBC blog article by Jason Hinsperger from last fall explains how to use that new driver with SA 11.0.1 (though it seems to miss the JDBC 4.0 support). But the docs don't seem to have any topic on this new driver.

So I would like to know if the quote from the SA 12 docs does refer to SA 11.0.1, too.

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Note: I'm only using simple JDBC features. As such I'm not bound to any specific JDBC version - it's just my attempt to use the (most) recommended driver:). Until now, we have used the iAnywhere Driver.

[MarkCulp · Accepted solution]

At the time that 11.0.1 was released and the 11.0.1 documentation was created the sajdbc.jar driver did not exist and that is why it is not mentioned in the docs.

But now that you are aware of it...

The new SQL Anywhere JDBC driver (sajdbc.jar) is recommended because it has fewer moving parts (does not rely of proper ODBC configuration) and therefore is less prone to configuration errors. Note that under the covers it uses all of the same code and therefore there is little or no difference in behaviour (except for the aforementioned no dependency on proper ODBC configuration).

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

Just to clarify - is my understanding correct? The sajdbc driver is basically the same for newer versions of V 11.0.1 and for V12 whereas V12 additionally has JDBC 4.0 support by means of the additional sajdbc4 driver.

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

@Mark: I'm gonna put a comment on DCX for 11.0.1 to link to this question. Feel free to correct/enhance my comments:)

[MarkCulp · Accepted solution]

@Volker: Correct. The sajdbc.jar file is the JDBC 3.0 driver and the sajdbc4.jar file is the JDBC 4.0 driver. IMPORTANT NOTICE Please note that Sun (aka Oracle) has EOL'ed support for JDBC 3.0 last year (Oct. 2009) and as such SA support for JDBC 3.0 has been (will be) deprecated (see deprecation notice in 12.0.1 release notes). As such, users should consider moving to the JDBC 4.0 driver saodbc4.jar since support for earlier JDBC versions may not be supported (i.e. shipped) beyond SA 12.0.x.