Creating a JDBC Data Source

You can create a JDBC data source to connect from your Java application. Creating a JDBC data source based on the CData JDBC Driver for Apache CouchDB consists of three basic steps:

1. Add the driver JAR file to the classpath. The JAR file is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory. Note that the .lic file must be located in the same folder as the JAR file.
2. Provide the driver class. For example:
   

   cdata.jdbc.apachecouchdb.ApacheCouchDBDriver

3. Provide the JDBC URL. For example:
   

   jdbc:apachecouchdb:User=abc123; Password=abcdef;
   
   or
   
   jdbc:cdata:apachecouchdb:User=abc123; Password=abcdef;

   You can use the second format above whenever there is a conflict in your application between drivers using the same URL format to ensure you are using the CData driver. The URL must start with either "jdbc:apachecouchdb:" or "jdbc:cdata:apachecouchdb:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.

Connecting to Apache CouchDB

Set the URL connection property to the URL of your Apache CouchDB instance. For example: http://localhost:5984

If you want your users (or JWTs) to have access only to specific databases, configure the admin_only_all_dbs option in your Apache CouchDB instance to grant all users access to the "/_all_dbs" endpoint, which is required by the driver for listing tables.

Authenticating to Apache CouchDB

Apache CouchDB supports three types of authentication:

• Basic: Basic username/password authentication.
• JWT: Authentication with a JWT.
• None: Anonymous access for databases that are public.

Basic Authentication

Set the following to connect to data:

• AuthScheme: Basic.
• User The Apache CouchDB user account used to authenticate.
• Password The Apache CouchDB password associated with the authenticating user.

JWT Authentication

Set AuthScheme to JWT.

You can either automatically generate (and, if applicable, refresh) a JWT or manually generate one:

Automatic Token Generation

Configure the driver to automatically generate the tokens:

Required

• JWTSubject: The name of the user to assign to the JWT.
• JWTAlgorithm: The algorithm to use for the JWT signature.
• JWTKeyType: The encryption key's type.
• JWTKey: The encryption key used to sign the JWT generated by the driver.

Optional

• JWTIssuer: The issuer of the JWT.
• JWTExpiration: The duration for which the JWT remains valid, in seconds.
• JWTHeaders: A collection of extra headers to include in the JWT header.
• JWTClaims: A collection of extra claims to include in the JWT payload.
• CredentialsLocation: The filepath of the settings file containing the JWT. If a settings file does not exist in this location, the driver creates a new settings file when it retrieves a JWT.

Manual Token Generation

You can generate the tokens yourself manually and pass them to the driver by using the JWTToken connection property.

Generating the Key Pair

When using asymmetric algorithms to sign the tokens, you must generate a private/public key pair. For that, a cryptographic library like OpenSSL can be used. For example:

# generate private key
openssl genrsa --out private_rsa256.pem 2048

# extract public key
openssl rsa -in private_rsa256.pem -pubout > public_rsa256.pem

JWT Configurations

Refer to CouchDB JWT Authentication Documentation for the following.

The alg and sub are required claims and will always be validated by the Apache CouchDB instance. Other required claims can be configured in the server (see required_claims). In that case, you must use JWTHeaders and JWTClaims so that the driver can include those additional claims when generating the JWT.

You can use roles_claim_name or the roles_claim_path options to assign roles to the JWTs.

An example configuration of the server and corresponding sample connection string are shown below:

Example Server Configuration

[chttpd]
...
authentication_handlers = {chttpd_auth, jwt_authentication_handler}, {chttpd_auth, cookie_authentication_handler}, {chttpd_auth, default_authentication_handler}
admin_only_all_dbs = false
...

[jwt_auth]
...
required_claims = exp
roles_claim_path = my.nested._couchdb\.roles
rsa:rsa_256 = -----BEGIN PUBLIC KEY-----\nYOUR_PUBLIC_KEY\n-----END PUBLIC KEY-----\n
...

Example Connection String

Url=http://localhost:5984;
JWTSubject=JWT User 1;
JWTAlgorithm=RS256;
JWTKeyType=PEMKEY_FILE;
JWTKey=PATH_TO_FOLDER\private_rsa256.pem;
JWTHeaders=kid : rsa_256 | Custom Header 1 : Test 1;
JWTClaims= my : eyJuZXN0ZWQiOnsiX2NvdWNoZGIucm9sZXMiOlsidXNlcjIiXX19 | Custom Claim 1 : Test 1;

Anonymous Authentication

Set the following to connect to data:

• AuthScheme: None.
• PublicDatabases: A comma-separated list of public databases to list as tables.