Custom JDBC Drivers Introduction

Qualytics ships built-in support for a set of JDBC databases. To connect to a JDBC database that is not on the available datastore connectors list, a self-hosted deployment can register a custom driver. Once registered, the database appears as a connector in the add-datastore picker, renders its own connection form, and its datastores sync, profile, and scan like any built-in JDBC connector.

What a Custom Driver Is

A custom driver is two artifacts placed on the Dataplane classpath:

1. The vendor JDBC driver JAR: the third-party .jar containing the JDBC driver class and its dependencies.
2. The YAML driver definition: a single file at META-INF/jdbc-drivers/<prefix>.yaml describing the driver's identity, how the JDBC URL is assembled, and the fields the connection form should collect.

The YAML can live inside the vendor JAR or in its own JAR. Both work, as long as every artifact is on the classpath when the Dataplane starts. The simplest packaging puts everything in one JAR:

my-driver.jar
├── com/example/ExampleDriver.class           # vendor JDBC driver
├── com/example/...                           # vendor support classes
└── META-INF/
    └── jdbc-drivers/
        └── exampledb.yaml                    # driver definition

The definition file is the contract between your driver and the platform. Its full shape, from required keys to the connection field vocabulary, is documented on the Requirements page.

Trust Model

A custom driver is a trusted addition to your deployment. Qualytics runs the driver code as-is: there is no sandboxing, code signing, or validation of the JAR contents. Treat a custom driver JAR the same way you treat any other dependency you bake into your deployment image, and only install drivers you would trust anywhere else in your infrastructure.

This is also why custom drivers are a self-hosted capability: the deployment operator owns the image the driver ships in, and takes responsibility for what runs inside it.

Division of Responsibility

Deep Dive

Understand how Qualytics discovers and validates a custom driver, and the definition contract it must follow.

How-tos

Step-by-step instructions for getting a custom driver into your deployment.

Troubleshooting & FAQ