H2 1.3.172

Feature List Main Features

• Very fast database engine


• Open source


• Written in Java


• Supports standard SQL, JDBC API


• Embedded and Server mode, Clustering support



Strong security features

• The PostgreSQL ODBC driver can be used


• Multi version concurrency

Additional Features

• Disk based or in-memory databases and tables, read-only database support, temporary tables


• Transaction support (read committed and serializable transaction isolation), 2-phase-commit


• Multiple connections, table level locking


• Cost based optimizer, using a genetic algorithm for complex queries, zero-administration


• Scrollable and updatable result set support, large result set, external result sorting, functions can return a result set


• Encrypted database (AES or XTEA), SHA-256 password encryption, encryption functions, SSL

• Support for multiple schemas, information schema


• Referential integrity / foreign key constraints with cascade, check constraints


• Inner and outer joins, subqueries, read only views and inline views



Triggers and Java functions / stored procedures

• Many built-in functions, including XML and lossless data compression


• Wide range of data types including large objects (BLOB/CLOB) and arrays


• Sequence and autoincrement columns, computed columns (can be used for function based indexes)


• ORDER BY, GROUP BY, HAVING, UNION, LIMIT, TOP


• Collation support, users, roles


• Compatibility modes for IBM DB2, Apache Derby, HSQLDB, MS SQL Server, MySQL, Oracle, and PostgreSQL.

Security Features

• Includes a solution for the SQL injection problem


• User password authentication uses SHA-256 and salt


• For server mode connections, user passwords are never transmitted in plain text over the network (even when using insecure connections; this only applies to the TCP server and not to the H2 Console however; it also doesn`t apply if you set the password in the database URL)


• All database files (including script files that can be used to backup data) can be encrypted using AES-128 and XTEA encryption algorithms


• The remote JDBC driver supports TCP/IP connections over SSL/TLS


• The built-in web server supports connections over SSL/TLS


• Passwords can be sent to the database using char arrays instead of Strings

Other Features and Tools

• Small footprint (smaller than 1 MB), low memory requirements


• Multiple index types (b-tree, tree, hash)


• Support for multi-dimensional indexes


• CSV (comma separated values) file support


• Support for linked tables, and a built-in virtual `range` table


• EXPLAIN PLAN support, sophisticated trace options


• Database closing can be delayed or disabled to improve the performance


• Web-based Console application (translated to many languages) with autocomplete


• The database can generate SQL script files


• Contains a recovery tool that can dump the contents of the database


• Support for variables (for example to calculate running totals)


• Automatic re-compilation of prepared statements


• Uses a small number of database files


• Uses a checksum for each record and log entry for data integrity


• Well tested (high code coverage, randomized stress tests)