Connect to NASA Data from a Connection Pool in JBoss

CData JDBC drivers can be configured in JBoss by following the standard procedure for connection pooling. This article details how to access NASA data from a connection pool in JBoss applications. This article details how to use the JBoss Management Interface to configure the CData JDBC Driver for NASA. You will then access NASA data from a connection pool.

Create a JDBC Data Source for NASA from the Management Console

Follow the steps below to add the driver JAR and define required connection properties.

1. In the Runtime menu, select the Domain or Server menu, depending on whether you are deploying to a managed domain or to a stand-alone server, and click "Manage deployments" to open the Deployments page.
2. Click Add. In the resulting wizard, add the JAR file and license for the driver, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory. Finish the wizard with the defaults, select the driver, and click Enable. 👁 The deployed JAR. (Salesforce is shown.)
   
3. In the Configuration menu, click Subsystems -> Connector -> Datasources. This opens the JDBC Datasources page.
4. Click Add and, in the resulting wizard, enter a name for the driver and the JNDI name. For example:

   java:jboss/root/jdbc/API

5. Select the driver that you added above.

6. Enter the JDBC URL and the username and password. The syntax of the JDBC URL is jdbc:api: followed by a semicolon-separated list of connection properties.

   Using API Key Authentication

   Most NASA API endpoints (APOD, NeoWS, DONKI, TechTransfer) require a NASA API key. Register for a free key at https://api.nasa.gov. The default DEMO_KEY provides limited access (30 requests/hour, 50 requests/day); a registered key allows 1,000 requests/hour.

   The following endpoints do not require an API key and work without authentication: EONET (Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker), EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera), NASA Image and Video Library, and TechPort.

   After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

   • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
   • APIKey: Set this to your NASA API key. Use DEMO_KEY for limited testing.

   Example Connection String

   Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY
   

   Connecting to NASA

   Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to NASA and query data from any of the available tables such as AstronomyPictureOfDay, NearEarthObjectFeed, EonetEvents, and NasaImageLibrary.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the NASA JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.api.jar
   

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
   

   A typical connection string is below:

   jdbc:api:Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY
   

7. Test the connection and finish the wizard. Select the NASA data source and click Enable.

More JBoss Integration

The steps above show how to configure the driver in a simple connection pooling scenario. For more information, refer to the Data Source Management chapter in the JBoss EAP documentation.