What is J2EE Connector Architecture?
The J2EE Connector architecture defines a standard architecture for connecting the J2EE platform to heterogeneous Enterprise Information Systems (EISs). Examples of EISs include ERP, mainframe transaction processing, database systems, and legacy applications not written in the Java programming language. J2EE Connector Architecture is a required part of J2EE 1.3 specification. It addresses the key issues and requirements of EIS integration by defining a set of scalable, secure, and transactional mechanisms that enable the integration of EISs with application servers and enterprise applications.
J2EE Connector Architecture (JCA) is a Java-based technology solution for connecting application servers and enterprise information systems (EIS) as part of enterprise application integration (EAI) solutions. While JDBC is specifically used to connect Java EE applications to databases, JCA is a more generic architecture for connection to legacy systems (including databases). JCA was developed under the Java Community Process as JSR 16 (JCA 1.0) and JSR 112 (JCA 1.5). As of 2006, the current version of JCA is version 1.5. The J2EE Connector API is used by J2EE tools developers and system integrators to create resource adapters.