JDBC Connection string for Oracle RAC

Oracle RAC is Oracle's clustering solution to provide high availability for the database. When using JDBC to connect, you need to change the jdbc connection string - found this here. This is a snippet from the article.

If you have to connect to oracle RAC (Real Application Cluster) using JDBC with thin driver, the classic url:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@<HOST>:1521:<SID>

doesn’t work and you get the error ORA – 12505.
Instead, you must use this url:

jdbc:oracle:thin:@(DESCRIPTION=(LOAD_BALANCE=on)
 (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=host1) (PORT=1521))
 (ADDRESS=(PROTOCOL=TCP)(HOST=host2) (PORT=1521))
 (CONNECT_DATA=(SERVICE_NAME=service)
   (FAILOVER_MODE =
     (TYPE = SELECT)
     (METHOD = BASIC)
     (RETRIES = 180)
     (DELAY = 5)
   )
)
)

There is also an article discussing this here.