Migrating Geodatabase from SQL Express to SQL Standard

Question

We're getting ready to migrate our environment from our Geodatabase on Sql Express 2012 (64 bit) to Sql Standard 2019 (on a new server). Currently in the process of creating the new SQL server and procuring the SQL Standard ESRI licenses. Looking for suggestions or any potential 'gotchas'.

Current Environment

SQL Express 2012 (64 bit) , ODBC 2012 connector on workstations, Arcmap 10.6, ArcPro 2.2.4, ArcGis License Manager 2021.0. Single geodatabase in SQL Instance named 'arcgis'.

New Environment

Sql Standard 2019 (new server name, but same SQL instance name of 'ARCGIS'), ODBC 2019 connector on workstations, Arcmap 10.8 (or newer), ArcPro 2.8 (or newer)

When I migrate the SQL Express geodatabase to SQL 2019, will our current Arcmap 10.6 and ArcPro 2.2.4 run if we upgrade the ODBC connector to 2019 on the workstations? Or do we need to upgrade Arcmap and ArcPro at the same time as the geodatabase migration? Would prefer to not upgrade Arcmap and arcpro at the same time as moving the geodatabase but not sure if that's even an option.

Being an IT guy and not an Arcgis guy, I read about having to update the MXD files post geodatabase migration. What specifically are the steps that our ArcGIS users will need to do for the MXD files or other steps post migration? Other Arcgis files that will need updating besides MXDs?

Any migration steps that have worked better than others (Detach/Attach vs Backup/Restore)?

Thanks in advance.

George_Thompson · Answer

I would recommend Copy / Paste. This is seems to have the least amount of issues (in my experience). See the "Caution" here: https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/tools/data-management-toolbox/export-xml-workspace-document.htm

Is the source data versioned?

If so, are you trying to take over the versioned data as is?

BobAvery · Answer

Thanks for your reply. I'm just getting to this.

Reading that there's an Export/Import XML option through ArcMAP. Would that be a feasible option for us? Our current geodatabase is about 4.5GB so fairly small.

George_Thompson · Answer

There is a lot to unpack here. I will try to give you the highlights of what I see. Let me know if I missed something.

If you change the name of the SQL Server instance (server/name) then you will probably have to update the connections in the ArcMap documents or ArcGIS Pro projects, even if you update the ODBC driver. Also the versions of ArcGIS that you are using may not work with SQL 2019, not tested.

Links for updating the data sources after the migration:

https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/using-arccatalog/setting-data-sources.htm

https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/map/working-with-layers/repairing-broken-data-links.htm

One item to note, you are using an unsupported version of ArcGIS Pro at 2.2.4 if you upgrade. See the table at the bottom of the page; https://support.esri.com/en/Products/Desktop/arcgis-desktop/arcgis-pro/2-9-3#product-support

I would do the upgrade of ArcMap and Pro to a supported version and the geodatabase upgrade to make sure that you have the best compatibility.

As for the migration of the SQL DB, I am not sure and have not tested going from SQL Express --> SQL Server using the backup / restore process. The safest route would be to use Copy / Paste.

Hope this gets you pointed in the correct direction.