Cannot use a LIKE query in a JDBC PreparedStatement?

First, the PreparedStatement placeholders (those ? things) are for column values only, not for table names, column names, SQL functions/clauses, etcetera. Better use String#format() instead. Second, you should not quote the placeholders like '?', it would only malform the final query. The PreparedStatement setters already do the quoting (and escaping) job for you.

Here’s the fixed SQL:

private static final String SQL = "select instance_id, %s from eam_measurement"
    + " where resource_id in (select RESOURCE_ID from eam_res_grp_res_map where"
    + " resource_group_id = ?) and DSN like ? order by 2");

Here is how to use it:

String sql = String.format(SQL, "SUBSTR(DSN,27,16)"); // This replaces the %s.
preparedStatement = connection.prepareStatement(sql);
preparedStatement.setInt(1, defaultWasGroup);
preparedStatement.setString(2, "%Module=jvmRuntimeModule:freeMemory%");

See also:

• Sun JDBC tutorial: Using Prepared Statements
• Format string syntax