I have googled and found some topics discussing similar topic but never got one thread having final and clear response. We are working on a Java application where we will need to support RAC connections. The question is what is the difference between the two URL styles:
jdbc:oracle:thin:@<host>:1521/<SERVICENAME>
jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION=(ADDRESS=(HOST=myhost)(PORT=1521)(PROTOCOL=tcp))(CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=myorcldbservicename)))
Is there any best practice to sue one format over the other?
Does the first style supports RAC connection? Does the first style supports failover/load balancing testing? Does it make sense to use the second style and only providing one node? Do we need always to specify all nodes (for the two approches) or is only specifying one node up when the application starts is enough?