System level contracts

To aid interaction between the application server and EIS, the J2EE Connector Architecture defines a set of system contracts.

The application server uses a resource adapter to support these contracts to provide connection management, transaction management, and security management. The resource adapter implements the system contracts to collaborate with the application server and uses an EIS-specific API to communicate with the EIS. Thus, a resource adapter is specific to an EIS. However, because the resource adapter implements the system contracts, it can be plugged into any J2EE compliant application server.

System level contracts are transparent to application developers so they do not need to implement these services.