The CONNX approach to data access is to treat all of the different data sources as a single database, providing access to all data in the enterprise through a single open-standards-based driver. CONNX provides secure read/write access to the data in these systems through the use of five main components:

	CONNX Data Server
	CONNX Data Dictionary
	CONNX Client
	CONNX JDBC Thin Client
	CONNX JDBC Server

CONNX Data Server
The CONNX servers for Oracle RDBMS, DB2, Sybase, Informix, Ingres, CISAM, VSAM, SQL Server, Oracle DBMS, PostgreSQL, Oracle Rdb, Digital RMS Files, DataFlex, and Adabas are full-featured data servers that translate SQL requests into the native database requests. The CONNX ODBC Driver makes the server transparent to the end user. The CONNX Data Server features include:

	Complete user-level and group level security in addition to respecting existing security.
	Low memory and disk resource utilization.
	Complete file and/or table security.
	RPC Support (for VMS & UNIX only).

The CONNX Data Dictionary
The CONNX Data Dictionary (CDD) is a repository of information about the database tables and fields. It contains the meta data about the source information and provides a GUI screen for easy and intuitive querying of the database. The CONNX Data Dictionary features include:

	Contains information about the databases accessed through CONNX.
	Can reside on a shared server disk, or on the client computer.
	Describes the structures of the tables or files being accessed.
	Defines additional security for tables, views, and columns.
	Multiple views of the same data are allowed, thus enhancing security and ease-of-use.
	Import of existing data definition information.
	Wizard assistance for common tasks.

CONNX Client
The CONNX Client is based on an ODBC driver, which is a dynamic link library that applications call to access data located in remote systems. The CONNX ODBC driver processes the ODBC function calls, submits requests to the appropriate data source, and then returns the results. The CONNX Client features include:

	Tightly coupled with the CONNX Data Dictionary.
	Uses Structured Query Language (SQL) as the standard for accessing information.
	Provides the ability to use off-the-shelf ODBC compliant applications without the need to program.

CONNX JDBC Thin Client
The CONNX JDBC Thin Client allows read/write access to a CONNX data source from any client machine possessing a JDK (1.3). JDKs exist for most platforms. The CONNX JDBC Thin Client is a type 3 driver which processes the JDBC function calls and submits requests to the CONNX JDBC Server, then returns the results.

CONNX JDBC Server
The CONNX JDBC Server handles requests from the CONNXJDBC Thin Client and accesses the target data sources. The CONNX JDBC Server component enables access to multiple heterogeneous data sources on both Windows and Linux/UNIX platforms.

CONNX JDBC Router
The CONNX applets are served by a non-Windows Web server. The router is a Java application placed on the non-Windows Web server, and routes JDBC requests to the CONNX JDBC Server.