The IBM(R) WebSphere (R)JCA Adapter portfolio is a new generation of adapters based on the Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE) standard. JCA is a standard architecture for integrating J2EE applications with enterprise information systems that are not relational databases. Each of these systems provides native APIs for identifying a function to call, specifying its input data, and processing its output data. The goal of the JCA is to provide an independent API for coding these functions.
JCA also defines a standard Service Provider Interface (SPI) for integrating the transaction, security and connection management facilities of an application server with those of a transactional resource manager. Thus, JCA is a standards-based approach to managing connections, transactions, and secure access to enterprise application systems. IBM's JCA connectors provide access to systems such as SAP, PeopleSoft,and JDBC.
The connector architecture allows the creation of containers, which provide deployment and runtime support for components such as client applications, web components and Enterprise JavaBeans (EJBs).
Containers can run on existing systems; for example, web containers run on web servers; EJB containers run on application servers, transaction process monitors, and database system. This enables enterprises to blend the advantages of their existing systems with those of J2EE by writing new applications using the capabilities of both.
Enterprise applications run on Enterprise Information Systems (EISs). Application servers extend their containers and support to heterogeneous EISs. Such EISs include ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), mainframe transaction processing (TP), and database systems. To integrate enterprise applications efficiently, bi-directional connectivity between the application and the EIS is essential. The J2EE Connector architecture defines standard contracts which allows this to happen.
The connector architecture defines a set of mechanisms that enable the integration of EISs with application servers and enterprise applications. It also defines a Common Client Interface (CCI) for EIS access through a client API, enabling an EIS vendor to provide a standard resource adapter for its EIS. A resource adapter is a system-level software driver that is used by a Java application to connect to an EIS. The resource adapter plugs into an application server and provides connectivity between the EIS, the application server, and the enterprise application.
Once an application server supports the connector architecture, it is assured of seamless connectivity to multiple EISs. Likewise, an EIS may support one standard resource adapter that will plug in to any application server that supports the connector architecture.
Parent topic: Product overview
Related concepts
Audience
IBM WebSphere Adapters
Differences between adapters
Enterprise service discovery
How the adapter works
Locale and globalization support
Related information
Task roadmap: IBM WebSphere Adapter for Flat Files Software
Last updated: Sun Mar 12 11:47:09 2006
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