Setup a Oracle JDBC provider in Websphere 8.0.0.13

Question

We are trying to set up a JNDI (oracle database) on a Websphere Application Server version 8.0.0.13. Running Java 1.6.0:

WebSphere Platform 8.0.0.13 [BASE 8.0.0.13 cf131705.01] running with process name pandora-vmNode01Cell\Aplicacion-node\server1 and process id 5230
Host Operating System is Linux, version 3.13.0-133-generic
Java version = 1.6.0, Java Compiler = j9jit26, Java VM name = IBM J9 VM

I downloaded the ojdbc6.jar from maven and oracle servers and we created a JDBC provider that uses that jar file. And We tried to configure the Datasource with that JDBC provider. But, when we test the connection this error appears:

The test connection operation failed for data source XXXXX_oracle on server 
server1 at node Aplicacion-node with the following exception: 
java.sql.SQLException: java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: JVMCFRE003 bad
major version; class=oracle/jdbc/pool/OracleConnectionPoolDataSource,
offset=6. View JVM logs for further details.

What can be happening? We are using the correct ojdbc file because the server is running the same SDK version.

Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

As you've said, the ojdbc6 jar should be compatible with Java 6, so maybe a different version Oracle JDBC driver is actually being used. Is there a different copy of the Oracle JDBC driver present in the app or WebSphere configuration? If so that version, which may require higher than Java 6, could be loaded rather than the ojdbc6 driver you've configured.

1. Check that there are no additional Oracle JDBC drivers packaged with your application.
2. Check if there are other Oracle JDBC Providers configured in WebSphere using a newer JDBC driver. If so either modify your configuration so all of your providers are using the same version Oracle JDBC driver or you will need to Isolate your JDBC Providers.

Also, friendly reminder that both WebSphere 8.0 and Java 6 are out of support, so if possible you should migrate to a newer version of both.