Connecting the Experience Portal system to a shared external database

Last Updated : Jun 05, 2026 |

About this task

After you connect the Experience Portal system to an external database, the system copies all the report data that is currently on all MPPs in that system, into the external database. Users can then generate reports that include that data. However, they cannot include any data that resides in the local Experience Portal database.

Note:

The amount of data available on each MPP depends on the settings for the fields in the Record Handling on MPP group on the MPP Settings page.

Before you begin

Ensure that you have created the required tables in the external database as described in Creating the required tables in the external database.

Procedure

  1. Log on to the EPM web interface by using an account with the Administration user role.
  2. On the EPM navigation pane, click System Configuration > EPM Servers.
  3. On the EPM Servers page, click Data Storage Settings.
  4. On the Data Storage Settings page, in the Report Database group, select External .
  5. In the URL field, enter the path to the external database.

    A common URL format for Oracle connections is: jdbc:oracle:thin:@OracleServerName:1521:DBName

    A format for PDB (portable db) connections is: jdbc:oracle:thin:@ServerName:1521/pdbName

    A format for CDB (container db) connections is: jdbc:oracle:thin:@ServerName:1521/cdbName

    A common URL format for Postgres is: jdbc:postgresql://PostgresServerName:5432/DBName

    A common URL format for Microsoft SQL connections is: jdbc:sqlserver://SQLServerName:1433;databaseName=DBName

    A common URL format for MySQL connections is: jdbc:mysql://ServerName:3306/DBName

    A common URL format for MariaDB connections is: jdbc:mariadb://ServerName:3306/DBName

  6. In the JDBC Driver field, enter the name of the Java class that implements the JDBC API to the external database.

    For Oracle, the name is oracle.jdbc.driver.OracleDriver.

    For Postgres, the name is org.postgresql.Driver.

    For Microsoft SQL Server, the name is com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver.

    For both MySQL and MariaDB, the name is org.mariadb.jdbc.Driver.

  7. In the User Name and Password fields, enter the user name and password for the external database.
  8. Click Apply.

Result

  • If Experience Portal can connect to the new database, the system scheduler begins saving all the report data that is currently on all MPPs in that system into the external database.

  • If Experience Portal cannot connect to the database, it displays an error message on the page. Experience Portal cannot write to the external database until you fix the error.