try{
    String connectionURL = "jdbc:mysql://localhost/employees";

    Connection connection = null;
    Statement statement = null;
    ResultSet resultSet = null;

    Class.forName("com.mysql.jdbc.Driver").newInstance();
    connection = DriverManager.getConnection(connectionURL, "root", "");
    statement = connection.createStatement();

    if(!connection.isClosed()){
        out.println("Successfully connected to MySQL server" + "<br/>");
    }

} catch(Exception ex){

    out.println("Unable to connect to database: "+ ex);

}