14 DAY TRIAL // Early adopters will have a chance to start testing the next major iteration of Microsoft’s Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) driver soon. The Redmond company has been hard at work on the next release of the JDBC driver for SQL Server, and is extremely close to releasing the first test Build.
Amina Saify, Program Manager – SQL Server/JDBC reveals that the software giant will be unveiling the community technology preview (CTP) of the next version of the JDBC driver in the next few days.
A specific availability deadline for “Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server” CTP hasn’t been provided, but it doesn’t sound like developers needing to connect Java projects with SQL Server will have to wait all that long for the testing bits.
“Based on your input in our JDBC survey in April 2010, one of the main features which we are introducing in Microsoft JDBC Driver 4.0 for SQL Server is support for type-4 Kerberos integrated security.
“Type-4 Kerberos integrated security came out to be the number one feature ask from the SQL Server developer community. In this release we will be adding support for authentication via TGT in cache and login configuration file support,” Saify explained.
April 2010 brought with it the RTM of SQL Server JDBC Driver 3.0, as well as the driver’s general availability.
It now appears that the Redmond company is ready to move forward, enhancing the project with support for features such as AlwaysOn, from Microsoft SQL Server code-named 'Denali'.
“SQL Server AlwaysOn is the new comprehensive high availability and disaster recovery solution. Using AlwaysOn, you can increase application availability and get a better return on your hardware investments through a simplified high availability (HA) deployment and management experience.
“In this CTP, we have added support for multi-subnet failover for AlwaysOn, which allows a JDBC client to connect to a SQL Server that has failed over on a secondary node in a different subnet,” Saify said.
SQL Server JDBC Driver 3.0 is available for download here.