Time to stop using jTDS driver?

on Mar 13, 2020
Latest reply on Nov 19, 2020 by Mostafa Helmy

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If you haven't noticed the jTDS driver for MS SQL hasn't been updated in a while (almost 6 years). In the past jTDS type 4 driver had performance and stability benefits over Microsoft's JDBC driver (Download Microsoft JDBC Driver for SQL Server - SQL Server | Microsoft Docs ).

However it might be just the right time to stop using jTDS and use the Microsoft JDBC driver. Some of the reasons for changing the driver could be

Supportabilty - Microsoft's JDBC driver supports latest Java LTS versions 8 & 13
Security - jTDS does not support TLS1.2 which is current standard for secure connections
Better compatibility with MS SQL features

What to change?

Driver - com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
URL - jdbc.url=jdbc:sqlserver://dbhost:1433;databaseName=databasename;

This is not an endorsement but a forum for sharing your thoughts this topic.

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12 Replies

Mostafa Helmy Mar 14, 2020 4:06 AM
I recall the jTDS driver was used to support NTLM authentication (windows logins) to SQL Server since the MS SQL Server JDBC driver did not support that. Do the MS SQL Server JDBC driver now support NTLM authentication?
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- Pradeep Kadambar @ Mostafa Helmy on Mar 14, 2020 8:41 PM
  Good point, the Microsoft JDBC driver supports the following authentication methods
  Basic or native
  NTLM
  Kerberos
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  - Ian Staines @ Pradeep Kadambar on Mar 16, 2020 12:56 PM
    I would like to see a sample JDBC connection string for Windows Authentication. As far as I am aware we have never captured this information.
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    - Pradeep Kadambar @ Ian Staines on Apr 1, 2020 12:14 PM
      Updated URL with SQL Server Driver v8.2.2 using NTLM
      
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      - Justin Gregory @ Pradeep Kadambar on Mar 26, 2020 12:34 PM
        Hello Pradeep,
        
        Do you have any advice if we use the URL connection string above and it still fails to authenticate? I understand it would be a 3rd party incident...but where to begin trying to track down the resolution?
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        Pradeep Kadambar @ Justin Gregory on Mar 26, 2020 10:05 PM
        The above URL is from a working setup. Did you check the aveksaServer.log for more information on the failure ?
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        Pradeep Kadambar @ Justin Gregory on Mar 31, 2020 9:46 PM
        The version of driver shipped with IGL is very old. You will need to pickup the latest driver 8.2 and add it to ACM.
        
        You can follow the 000034189 - How to install the jTDS JDBC driver on WildFly for use with Data Collections in RSA Identity Governance & Lifecycle KB to deploy the new driver.
        
        Don't forget to delete the old driver from the /tmp/customizeACM/aveksa.war/WEB-INF/LocalAgent/common/lib/ path before redeploying the application.
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      - Ian Staines @ Pradeep Kadambar on Nov 19, 2020 10:58 AM
        In some instances a picture is not worth a 1000 words; one such instance is where you want to search on the text.
        
        jdbc:sqlserver://HOSTNAME:1443;integratedSecurity=true;authenticationScheme=NTLM;domain=DOMAIN;databaseName=DATABASE;
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      - Mostafa Helmy @ Pradeep Kadambar on Nov 19, 2020 11:03 AM
        I have another thing to add here that the latest version of IGL 7.2.1 comes packaged with v8.2.2 of the SQL Server JDBC driver. So I am able to connect to a SQL Server database with windows authentication using the connection string you pasted above:
        
        jdbc:sqlserver://<server-name>\<instance-name>;integratedSecurity=true;authenticationScheme=NTLM;domain=<domain-name>;databaseName=<db-name>;
        
        Then simply enter the username ( without the <domain-name>\ ) and password of your windows account.
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Jamie Pryer Mar 16, 2020 8:09 AM
Thanks for sharing!
Should we maybe do these as a blog Pradeep?
lets sync
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Veera Chennawar Mar 31, 2020 2:49 PM
Can anybody confirm if the Microsoft driver supports integrated authentication? i am having authentication issues when i use the Microsoft driver with a domain account.
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- Pradeep Kadambar @ Veera Chennawar on Mar 31, 2020 9:36 PM
  FYI - Integrated authentication is only meant to work on Windows systems.
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Time to stop using jTDS driver?

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