Java Embedded Database For a Few Computer Access - java

I just wonder if i can(or is it a good way to use it) set location of an embedded database on a server computer and run my desktop app on a computer which have access to server folders and get/insert data from database?
For example, i have one server machine and 3 computers accessing it. I want them to insert/update data of server database which is installed as embedded style.
If i can't which method is easier and free way of doing it?
EDIT: Actually that server is a not server.. it is just a computer others can access to.

It isn't a good idea to share the embedded database's files between different applications. For most embedded database implementations it is even not possible, because the embedded database engine needs exclusive access to the underlying data files. Furthermore it is a performance penalty to access the database files over a shared folder.
I know only two databases allowing shared database file access: SQLite and MS Access. Java and MS Access is not a good combination. Avoid it, use it only if you are forced to. For SQLite I don't know if it performs well for different processes on the same machine. But over a shared folder, I think this would work only for the simplest cases.
So if you have multiple client applications accessing the same database then you should install a database server. A database server is exactly made for such a sceanario. It manages the server local database files efficiently and can handle many clients at the same time. There are simple ones like Apache Derby or H2 which are Java only implementations and very easy to use. If you need more performance then you can go with MySQL or PostgreSQL, but these are more complex to administer.

The word "embedded" normally means running inside a given JVM. To access it from clients, as opposed to from other code running in the same JVM, an method of connecting will need to be supplied, such as a connection protocol + port. Well, by the time you do all that, you have in fact rolled your own server.
If you just want filesystem access, well normally databases lock the files they're using. And if they don't, you will anyway be missing all of the control and ACID constraints that a database normally gives you.

H2 database can be run in different modes: embedded, in-memory, standalone and mixed.
I think you are asking about the last one "mixed" mode.

Related

How to make mysql database works on a client computer (desktop appilcation)?

I am making a JavaFX application (rental management software) and using MySQL database,
I was wondering how can I make my application works on my friend or client's PC since the database is on my PC? Is there is any way to configure the database on their PC without them doing all the installation processes of MySQL because they are not good with PC and it's not reliable to make the client set up the database I want to use a local database?
Server versus embedded
There are two kinds of database engines:
Those that run in their own process, as a separate app, accepting connections coming from any number of other apps on the same computer or over a network. This we call a database server. Postgres, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, etc run this way.
Those that run within the process of an app, being started and stopped from that parent app, accepting connections only from within that parent app. This we call an embedded database engine. SQLite runs this way.
Some database products can run in either fashion. H2 Database Engine is one such product.
Given your situation, and given that H2 is written in pure Java, I suggest replacing your use of MySQL with H2. Run H2 in embedded mode.
Cloud database
Another option is for you to set up a database (MySQL or other) available to your users over the internets. You can run your own server. Or you can utilize any of several Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) vendors such as Digital Ocean. This “cloud database” approach may not be practical for desktop apps because of unreliable internet connections, security issues around database passwords, and the challenges of multi-tenancy.
Repository design
By the way, you may want to learn about the Repository design approach in using interfaces and implementations as a layer of abstraction between your app and your database. This makes switching out database engines easier.
For example, your repository interfaces would declare methods such as fetchAllCustomers() and fetchCustomerForId( UUID id ). One implementation of that interface might be built for MySQL while another implementation is built for H2. The code calling methods on your repository interface knows nothing about MySQL or H2.

Different applications to the same database

I have 3 different applications
ASP.NET web application
Java Desktop application
Android Studio mobile application
These 3 applications have the same database and and they need to connect from any part of the world with an internet connection. They share almost all the information, so, if you move something in one application it has to update the information in the other 2 applications.
I have the database on a physical server and I want to know how best to make this connection.
I have searched but I couldn't find if I have to connect directly to the server with some SQL Server, using Web Service, or something like that.
I hope someone could help.
Thank you.
I believe the best way is to first create a Web API layer (REST/SOAP) that will be used to perform all the relative operations in the centralized DB. Once that is setup, any of your applications written in any language can use the exposed web API methods to manipulate the data of the same DB.
If you are looking at a global solution - will you have multiple copies of the applications in different parts of the world as well?
In this scenario you should be looking at a cloud-hosted database with some form of geo-replication so that you can keep latency to a minimum.
There are no restrictions on the number of applications that can connect to a specific database - you do not have to create a different database for each and you may be able to reuse Stored Procedures between applications if they perform the same task.
I would however look at the concept of schemas - any database objects that are specific to one app should be separated from other - so put them in a schema for "App1". Shared objects can be in a shared schema.

Working with a cloud app and local private database

We are developing a cloud ERP product using java and want to provide the users to have an option to work either with a local database file or the database on the cloud. To some of our customers, their data is very sensitive and they do not want their data stored on web server, instead want to have the database on their own server/pc.
Will this kind of offering be technically viable, secure & effective to implement and maintain? If so, can anyone recommend the best work around for this kind of architecture where the application on our cloud server can work seamlessly with the local database?
Many Thanks
LJ
For your customers concerned with security, maybe using a local datastore such as MySQL running on a local server and a local instance of the ERP product, also running on a local server. And I would advise encrypting all sensitive columns using something like AES_ENCRYPT() -- even on this local database.
Otherwise I don't know of a way to run a hosted App with a secured local database without introducing all kinds of data vulnerabilities.

Creating MySQL db schema using Hibernate with hosting porvider, pros and cons, practices.

Context: I'm working on Spring MVC project and using Hibernate to generate database schema from my classes using annotations. It uses MySQL server running on my local machine. I'm aiming to get hosting and make my website live.
Do I use mySQL server of a hosting provider in that case to run my database?
What are the pros and cons? Would they normally do db backups or its worth to do that myself and store it on my machine?
Am I going to loose data in case of server reboot?
Thanks in advance. I'm new to this, hence feel free to moderate questions if it sounds unreasonable.
Much of this will depend on how you host your site. I would recommend looking into CloudFoundry which is a free Platform as a Service (PAAS) provided by the folks at VMWare. If your using Spring to setup hibernate, Cloudfoundry can automatically hook your application into a MySql service it provides.
In any case, your database will most likely reside on the hosts server, unless you establish a static ip for your machine and expose the database services. At that point, you might as well host your own site.
Where the data will be stored depends on the type of host. For instance if you use a PAAS, they will choose the location they store your database on the server. It will be transparent to you. If you go with a dedicated server, you will most likely have to install your database software.
Most databases supporting websites should provide persistent storage or be configured to do so. I'm not sure why your MySql database loses data after you restart, but out of the box it should not do so. If your using hibernate to autogenerate your DDL, I could see the data being blown away at each restart. You would want to move away from this configuration.
1 Do I use mySQL server of a hosting provider in that case to run my database?
Yes. In your application you only change the JDBC connection URL and credentials.
There are other details about the level of service that you want for the database: security, backup, up time. But that depends on your hosting provider and your application needs.
2 Is it stored somewhere on the server?
Depends on how your hosting provider hosts the database. The usual approach is to have the web server in one machine and the database in another machine inside the VPN.
From the Hibernate configuration perspective, is just changing the JDBC url. But there are other quality attributes that will be affected by your provider infrastructure, and that depends on the level of service that you contract.
3 Should I declare somehow that data must be stored f.e. in a separate file on server?
Probably not. If your provider gives you a database service, what you choose is the level of service: storage, up-time... they take care of providing the infrastructure. And yes usually they do that using a separate machine for the database.
4 Am I going to loose data in case of server reboot? (As f.e. I do when I restart server on my local machine)
Depends on the kind of hosting that you are using. BTW Why you loose the data on reboot in your local machine? Probably you are re-creating the database each time (check your Hibernate usage). Because the main feature of any database is well... persistent storage :)
If you host your application in a virtual machine and you install MySQL in that VM... yes you are going to loose data on reboot. Because in this kind of hosting (like Amazon EC2) you host a VM for CPU execution, and all the disk data is transient. If you want persistent data you have to use a database located in another machine (this is done in this way for architectural reasons, and cloud providers like Amazon gives you also different storage services).
But if the database is provided, no.. a persistent database is the usual level of service that you should expect from a provider.

Accessing file on network in java

I'm working on a project that has two different parts. It's an e-voting system, so there's the part where voters vote, and there's the part where the admin can make changes like adding a new position, candidate, etc. I put these two parts in two different project folders called the client and the server. Each candidate has the URL of their picture, which is also stored on the server machine, which should be displayed to the client depending on which candidate is selected. The problem I'm having is how to read the picture from the server into the client application. Any tips on the best location to store the files such that I can pass just the server name as a parameter to the client and it's able to retrieve the file.
The application uses MySQL, and I'm so far assuming that the database server is the same as the application server.
Also, I was wondering of the possibility of storing the file in the database itself, and if so, how practical that would be in terms of speed.
Thanks.
Single point of information is helpful - so put the picts in the database, if possible. If you do it right, there is not more performance penalty than with other client-server-communication. If the client keeps running you can cache the pictures.
I haven't understood the two folder thing. The server folder must be synchronized to the client? Why? Why don't you store thinks like a new position in the database also?
You can use mySQL database but it's not designed to do that it might be slow, you can use MongoDB with GridFS or use some kind of file repository like Apache Jackrabbit.

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