Connect to NASA Data from a Connection Pool in Jetty

The CData JDBC driver for NASA is easy to integrate with Java Web applications. This article shows how to efficiently connect to NASA data in Jetty by configuring the driver for connection pooling. You will configure a JNDI resource for NASA in Jetty.

Configure the JDBC Driver for Salesforce as a JNDI Data Source

Follow the steps below to connect to Salesforce from Jetty.

1. Enable the JNDI module for your Jetty base. The following command enables JNDI from the command-line:

   java -jar ../start.jar --add-to-startd=jndi
   

2. Add the CData and license file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory, into the lib subfolder of the context path.

3. Declare the resource and its scope. Enter the required connection properties in the resource declaration. This example declares the NASA data source at the level of the Web app, in WEB-INF\jetty-env.xml.

   
   <Configure id='nasademo' class="org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext">
       <New id="nasademo" class="org.eclipse.jetty.plus.jndi.Resource">
       <Arg><Ref refid="nasademo"/></Arg>
       <Arg>jdbc/nasadb</Arg>
       <Arg>
         <New class="cdata.jdbc.api.APIDriver">
           <Set name="url">jdbc:api:</Set>
           <Set name="Profile">C:\profiles\NASA.apip</Set>
           <Set name="AuthScheme">APIKey</Set>
           <Set name="APIKey">YOUR_NASA_API_KEY</Set>
         </New>
       </Arg>
     </New>
   </Configure>
   

   Using API Key Authentication

   Most NASA API endpoints (APOD, NeoWS, DONKI, TechTransfer) require a NASA API key. Register for a free key at https://api.nasa.gov. The default DEMO_KEY provides limited access (30 requests/hour, 50 requests/day); a registered key allows 1,000 requests/hour.

   The following endpoints do not require an API key and work without authentication: EONET (Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker), EPIC (Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera), NASA Image and Video Library, and TechPort.

   After obtaining your API key, set the following connection properties:

   • AuthScheme: Set this to APIKey.
   • APIKey: Set this to your NASA API key. Use DEMO_KEY for limited testing.

   Example Connection String

   Profile=C:\profiles\NASA.apip;AuthScheme=APIKey;APIKey=YOUR_NASA_API_KEY
   

   Connecting to NASA

   Once the authentication is configured, you can connect to NASA and query data from any of the available tables such as AstronomyPictureOfDay, NearEarthObjectFeed, EonetEvents, and NasaImageLibrary.

4. Configure the resource in the Web.xml:

   
     jdbc/nasadb
     javax.sql.DataSource
     Container
   
   

5. You can then access NASA with a lookup to java:comp/env/jdbc/nasadb:

   InitialContext ctx = new InitialContext();
   DataSource mynasa = (DataSource)ctx.lookup("java:comp/env/jdbc/nasadb");
   

More Jetty Integration

The steps above show how to configure the driver in a simple connection pooling scenario. For more use cases and information, see the Working with Jetty JNDI chapter in the Jetty documentation.