diff --git a/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/AbstractJDBCDriver.java b/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/AbstractJDBCDriver.java
index ab89fc43db..77f9ee5410 100644
--- a/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/AbstractJDBCDriver.java
+++ b/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/AbstractJDBCDriver.java
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ public abstract class AbstractJDBCDriver {
                         logger.tracef("Table %s did exist but is empty. Starting initialization.", tableName);
                      } else {
                         logger.tracef("Table %s did exist but is empty. Initialization completed: no initialization statements left.", tableName);
+                        connection.commit();
                      }
                   }
                } catch (SQLException e) {
diff --git a/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/JDBCConnectionProvider.java b/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/JDBCConnectionProvider.java
index 72e971adc2..9f972d39d8 100644
--- a/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/JDBCConnectionProvider.java
+++ b/artemis-jdbc-store/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/jdbc/store/drivers/JDBCConnectionProvider.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import java.util.concurrent.Executor;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean;
 
 import org.apache.activemq.artemis.jdbc.store.logging.LoggingConnection;
+import org.apache.activemq.artemis.jdbc.store.sql.PropertySQLProvider;
 import org.apache.activemq.artemis.journal.ActiveMQJournalLogger;
 import org.jboss.logging.Logger;
 
@@ -34,19 +35,31 @@ public class JDBCConnectionProvider {
    private Executor networkTimeoutExecutor;
    private int networkTimeoutMillis;
    private boolean supportNetworkTimeout;
+   private final String user;
+   private final String password;
 
    public JDBCConnectionProvider(DataSource dataSource) {
+      this(dataSource, null, null);
+   }
+
+   public JDBCConnectionProvider(DataSource dataSource, String user, String password) {
       this.dataSource = dataSource;
       this.networkTimeoutExecutor = null;
       this.networkTimeoutMillis = -1;
       this.supportNetworkTimeout = true;
+      this.user = user;
+      this.password = password;
       addDerbyShutdownHook();
    }
 
    public synchronized Connection getConnection() throws SQLException {
       Connection connection;
       try {
-         connection = dataSource.getConnection();
+         if (user != null || password != null) {
+            connection = dataSource.getConnection(user, password);
+         } else {
+            connection = dataSource.getConnection();
+         }
          if (logger.isTraceEnabled() && !(connection instanceof LoggingConnection)) {
             connection = new LoggingConnection(connection, logger);
          }
@@ -92,7 +105,8 @@ public class JDBCConnectionProvider {
    public void addDerbyShutdownHook() {
       // Shutdown the derby if using the derby embedded driver.
       try (Connection connection = getConnection()) {
-         if (connection.getMetaData().getDriverName().equals("org.apache.derby.jdbc.EmbeddedDriver")) {
+         PropertySQLProvider.Factory.SQLDialect sqlDialect = PropertySQLProvider.Factory.investigateDialect(connection);
+         if (sqlDialect == PropertySQLProvider.Factory.SQLDialect.DERBY) {
             if (shutAdded.compareAndSet(false, true)) {
                Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(new ShutdownDerby());
             }
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/config/storage/DatabaseStorageConfiguration.java b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/config/storage/DatabaseStorageConfiguration.java
index 76d8e4e21b..8ea933e7ce 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/config/storage/DatabaseStorageConfiguration.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/main/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/core/config/storage/DatabaseStorageConfiguration.java
@@ -151,7 +151,8 @@ public class DatabaseStorageConfiguration implements StoreConfiguration {
     */
    private DataSource getDataSource() {
       if (dataSource == null) {
-         if (dataSourceProperties.isEmpty()) {
+         // the next settings are going to be applied only if the datasource is the default one
+         if (dataSourceProperties.isEmpty() && ActiveMQDefaultConfiguration.getDefaultDataSourceClassName().equals(dataSourceClassName)) {
             addDataSourceProperty("driverClassName", jdbcDriverClassName);
             addDataSourceProperty("url", jdbcConnectionUrl);
             if (jdbcUser != null) {
@@ -162,6 +163,8 @@ public class DatabaseStorageConfiguration implements StoreConfiguration {
             }
             // Let the pool to have unbounded number of connections by default to prevent connection starvation
             addDataSourceProperty("maxTotal", "-1");
+            // Let the pool to have unbounded number of cached prepared statements to save the initialization cost
+            addDataSourceProperty("poolPreparedStatements", "true");
          }
          dataSource = JDBCDataSourceUtils.getDataSource(dataSourceClassName, dataSourceProperties);
       }
@@ -179,7 +182,12 @@ public class DatabaseStorageConfiguration implements StoreConfiguration {
 
    public JDBCConnectionProvider getConnectionProvider() {
       if (connectionProvider == null) {
-         connectionProvider = new JDBCConnectionProvider(getDataSource());
+         // commons-dbcp2 doesn't support DataSource::getConnection(user, password)
+         if (dataSourceClassName == ActiveMQDefaultConfiguration.getDefaultDataSourceClassName()) {
+            connectionProvider = new JDBCConnectionProvider(getDataSource());
+         } else {
+            connectionProvider = new JDBCConnectionProvider(getDataSource(), getJdbcUser(), getJdbcPassword());
+         }
       }
       return connectionProvider;
    }
diff --git a/artemis-server/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/util/ActiveMQTestBase.java b/artemis-server/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/util/ActiveMQTestBase.java
index b538f8a8b0..be6d2429bc 100644
--- a/artemis-server/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/util/ActiveMQTestBase.java
+++ b/artemis-server/src/test/java/org/apache/activemq/artemis/tests/util/ActiveMQTestBase.java
@@ -257,6 +257,10 @@ public abstract class ActiveMQTestBase extends Assert {
 
    @After
    public void shutdownDerby() {
+      try {
+         DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:derby:" + getEmbeddedDataBaseName() + ";destroy=true");
+      } catch (Exception ignored) {
+      }
       try {
          DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:derby:;shutdown=true");
       } catch (Exception ignored) {
@@ -837,8 +841,12 @@ public abstract class ActiveMQTestBase extends Assert {
       return testDir;
    }
 
+   private String getEmbeddedDataBaseName() {
+      return "memory:" + getTestDir();
+   }
+
    protected final String getTestJDBCConnectionUrl() {
-      return System.getProperty("jdbc.connection.url", "jdbc:derby:" + getTestDir() + File.separator + "derby;create=true");
+      return System.getProperty("jdbc.connection.url", "jdbc:derby:" + getEmbeddedDataBaseName() + ";create=true");
    }
 
    protected final String getJDBCClassName() {