References are logical names used to locate external resources
for enterprise applications. References are defined in the application's deployment
descriptor file. At deployment, the references are bound to the physical location
(global Java™ Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) name) of
the resource in the target operational environment.
This product supports the following types of references:
- An Enterprise JavaBeans™ (EJB) reference is a logical name used
to locate the home interface of an enterprise bean.
- A resource reference is a logical name used to locate a connection factory
object.
These objects define connections to external resources such as databases
and messaging systems. The container makes references available in a JNDI
naming subcontext. By convention, references are organized as follows:
- EJB references are made available in the java:comp/env/ejb subcontext.
- Resource references are made available as follows:
- JDBC data source references are declared in the java:comp/env/jdbc subcontext.
- JMS connection factories are declared in the java:comp/env/jms subcontext.
- Mail connection factories are declared in the java:comp/env/mail subcontext.
- URL connection factories are declared in the java:comp/env/url subcontext.