Although JSP applications must communicate with databases through JDBC drivers, they can communicate through ODBC drivers if you have a JDBC-ODBC bridge driver. The bridge driver acts as an interpreter between your JSP application, which “speaks” JDBC, and your ODBC driver, which “speaks” ODBC. This channel of communication lets your JSP application communicate with the database.

This kind of connection offers two advantages for Windows users. First, you can use the free ODBC drivers from Microsoft. Second, you can use a DSN to simplify the task of creating the connection.

The following requirements must be met to connect through an ODBC driver:

• Your JSP application server must be running on a Windows computer.

• An ODBC driver for your database must be installed on the Windows computer running the application server.

• A JDBC-ODBC bridge driver must be installed on the Windows computer running the application server.

  If you meet these requirements, you can connect through an ODBC driver.