# Booting an encrypted database

You must specify several attributes in the URL when you boot an encrypted database. You must specify these attributes the first time that you connect to the database within a JVM session, or after you shut the database down within the same JVM session.

To boot an existing encrypted database:

The attribute that you specify depends on how the database was originally encrypted:

- If the database was encrypted using the bootPassword mechanism, specify the bootPassword attribute. For example:

      jdbc:derby:wombat;bootPassword=clo760uds2caPe

- If the database was encrypted using an external key, specify the encryptionKey attribute. For example:

      jdbc:derby:flintstone;encryptionAlgorithm=AES/CBC/NoPadding;
      encryptionKey=c566bab9ee8b62a5ddb4d9229224c678

  If the algorithm that was used when the database was created is not the default algorithm, you must also specify the encryptionAlgorithm attribute. The default encryption algorithm used by Derby is DES/CBC/NoPadding.

Parent topic: Working with the database connection URL attributes
Related concepts
Encrypting databases on disk
Related tasks
Creating and accessing a database
Encrypting a database when you create it
Creating an encrypted database with an external key
Related reference
Using the databaseName attribute