"Keep Connection Open" and "Use Connection Pool"

Products

• CA Application Test
• CA Continuous Application Insight (PathFinder)
• Service Virtualization

Issue/Introduction

 

In DevTest, JDBC step has  "Keep Connection Open" and "Use Connection Pool" options and this article provides detailed information on the functionality.

What is the functionality of "Keep Connection Open" and "Use Connection Pool" in the JDBC step.

Environment

 

All supported releases and platforms of DevTest.

Cause

 

N/A

Resolution

 

* Keep Connection Open: 

If this option is selected on the JDBC Step, the database connection that is opened the first time that the step executes is cached. That database connection is then closed when garbage collection happens for the step. If "Keep Connection Open" is not selected, the connection is closed each time that the step executes. 

 

* Use Connection Pool: 

When the 'use connection pool' item is checked, what will happen is that the VSE that is executing the step will check for the existence of a connection pool based on the following 4 items 

. Class Driver 

. JDBC Connect String 

. Username 

. Password 

If a connection pool is not available, it will create a new connection pool using the same four items that were defined in the step. 

You can use the connection pool option in the JDBC step, but if you are running into any issue,  we would recommend you to reach out to your DBA, to find out if you have run out of connections in the database, and to allow the VSE/Test to create more connections to support connection pooling. 

 

You might also want to check with your end users who are sending transactions or running tests to make sure they are using a generic SQL account to make better use of the connection pool. If users are using their own accounts for the JDBC step and not a generic account, that will increase the connection count for the database, and most likely cause additional overhead from the database to support the execution of your requests. Your DBA should also be able to help you identify if this is the case.

Additional Information

 

Refer to our documentation and read section SQL Database Execution (JDBC).