Secure JDBC connection to MySQL from Java

Introduction

Connecting to a database with JDBC is easy but gets a little more complicated if a secure connection is needed.  This is how a secure connection to MySQL is established using keystore/truststore SSL keys.  Overall, nothing too spectacular here but a useful reference.

Java

The Java code to get a secure JDBC connection to MySQL is easy.  It is a matter of adding properties to the URL connection string which inform the MySQL JDBC driver to use a secure connection.

  String username = "[USERNAME]";
  String password = "[PASSWORD]";

        
  StringBuilder url = new StringBuilder();
  url.append("jdbc:mysql://[SERVER]/[SCHEMA]?")
     .append("useSSL=true&")
     .append("requireSSL=true&")
  ;
   
  Connection conn = DriverManager.getConnection(url.toString(), username, password);

System Properties

The properties on the URL connection string tell the MySQL JDBC driver to use a secure connection but you still need to tell your application where the keystore/truststore SSL keys are located.  Do this using the following system properties when you start the JVM.

  -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStore=C:\temp\cacerts.jks 

  -Djavax.net.ssl.trustStorePassword=[PASSWORD]

  -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStore=C:\temp\keystore.jks 

  -Djavax.net.ssl.keyStorePassword=[PASSWORD]

These files will of course need the the keys off your MySQL server.