Custom JDBC Drivers FAQ

Answers to common questions about custom JDBC driver availability, built-in overrides, dialects, enrichment, and life across changes and upgrades.

General

Are custom JDBC drivers available on managed deployments?

No. Custom drivers are a self-hosted capability: the driver ships inside the Dataplane image, which only self-hosted operators control. On a managed deployment, ask your Qualytics account team about support for the database you need.

Can a custom driver override a built-in connector?

No. A definition whose prefix matches a built-in connector, or that ships a YAML file named after one, is rejected and the Dataplane refuses to start. Custom drivers add databases; the built-in catalog stays as shipped.

Do I need to write a dialect class?

Usually not. Most databases work with the stock SQL handling, and most definitions do not declare dialectClass. Reach for one only when the database's identifier quoting or type mapping is wrong without it. The class contract is on the Requirements page.

Can a custom connector support enrichment datastores?

Yes, by default. The definition's connectionSpec.supportsEnrichment defaults to true; set it to false for engines that are read-only or query-only and cannot store the enrichment outputs Qualytics writes.

Who is responsible for the driver's behavior?

You are. Qualytics runs the driver code as-is, without sandboxing or validation of the JAR contents. Treat custom driver JARs like any other dependency you bake into your deployment image. See the Trust Model.

Changes and Upgrades

Why did my YAML change not take effect?

Drivers are discovered once, when the Dataplane starts. Rebuild the image with the updated JAR and restart the Dataplane; there is no hot reload.

What happens to my custom connector when I upgrade Qualytics?

The driver lives in your Dataplane image, so it follows the image, not the platform version. Include the driver JAR every time the image is rebuilt, upgrades included. Without it, the connector disappears from the picker and existing datastores of that type can no longer connect.

Does Qualytics skip an invalid definition and keep the rest?

No. One invalid definition stops the whole Dataplane from starting, and the startup log names the offending file, the key, and the reason. This keeps a typo from silently removing a connector your team depends on. See Troubleshooting.