H2 (Website, Wikipedia, Download) is a small OpenSource, Java-based, RDBMS database that can be used embedded, server and clustered. It is written by Thomas Mueller, the original Hypersonic SQL developer (history). Back in August, Marcio wrote a Nice Report showing how to use H2 with GlassFish using TopLink Essentials. This is now part of the formal documentation in the H2 Tutorial. GF support was incorporated in 1.1.101 (Oct 15th), but I just noticed as Marcio and Thomas are improving some parts.

All open databases are equal in front of the developers community. This is the message launched by Baron Schwartz in his announcement of the first Open SQL Camp. After the last MySQL Users Conference, there were some talks of alternative conferences organized by the users for users. This is the first such event. It will be held in Charlottesville, VA, USA, November 14-16, 2008.

Users, in the context of databases, especially open ones, means developers. Do you feel like hacking some database project? If your database of choice is open (MySQL, PostgreSQL, JavaDB, SQLite, Firebird), you may give the OpenSQLCamp a try!

The MySQL Users Conference and Expo 2009 has open its Call for Papers. The past edition had close to 2,000 participants, and the next one shouldn't be any poorer. The theme for the next conference is Innovation Everywhere. After being a earthquake in the business world with the acquisition by Sun, MySQL continues its course towards innovation, by pursuing new users, new markets, new needs with continuous innovation.

A novelty, compared to past edition, is an embedded MySQLCamp within the conference. It will be an open space, driven and organized by the community, oriented to developers and advanced users.

Jagadish shows how to use P6Spy to trace DataBase operations in the GlassFish Server with the intention of detecting performance bottlenecks. The note starts with downloading and configuring P6Spy, and shows how to use it in a simple CMP project. Full details in Jagadish's writeup. And thanks to Gopal for the tip.

These days, it's hard to find a web or enterprise application which doesn't have a database at its core. And if it's implemented in Java, any such application is almost guaranteed to be using JDBC at some level. So it's pretty important to get the most out of your JDBC connections. Fortuntely, Jagadesh has a trio of write-ups for doing just that with GlassFish. First, he shows how to use JDBC 4.0 in GlassFish V2. Next, he tackles the monitoring of JDBC Connection Pools (via three methods: the admin GUI, the admin CLI, or programatically via AMX). And finally, he looks at the JDBC Connection Pool Templates which are being added to GlassFish (starting with v2 b51) to guide you through configuration for various different databases and drivers (since each has its own quirks).

JVantage is a new visual Web Application Development tool that can quickly build a Java EE application from a database description and their latest release (announcement) supports GlassFish and Derby. The JVantage site includes a functionality overview through a flash screencast, a good wiki site, a Roadmap and Forums.

Think your application may be leaking database connections? Kshitiz shows how GlassFish v2 makes it easy to track down those leaks by using new connection pool features. As Kshitiz shows, you just need to use the GlassFish administration GUI or CLI or configure a Leak Timeout for your Connection Pool. Then use the monitoring mechanism (again, available via either GUI or CLI) to view the connection leak stats. Sound simple? It is. After all, who better to find leaks than a fish?

Sequoia is a follow-up to C-JDBC project (under LGPL) and now uses ASL) provides transparent database clustering solution that addresses load balancing and failover for any database.

Sequoia works with a number of containers, and that now includes GlassFish! Jagadish latest writeup includes detailed steps for how to successfully configure NetBeans, Sequoia, GlassFish and Derby. For details, check out Jagadish's blog. Enjoy!