Multiple connections from one machine to a single database

Question

I have been having an issue where I'll notice that I have multiple connections open to a single geodatabase.  Right now I am showing that I have 5 connections, one of which is greyed out for the current connection.  Each computer here has its own name associated with it, so I can tell that all of the connections I am seeing are from my machine.

What causes this?

Is it a problem?  
How do I fix it if so?

System Information:
ArcGIS for Desktop 10.3.1

Windows 7 Machine

Microsoft SQL Geodatabase

SDE Connection

Thanks!

BirajaNayak · Answer

After  closing/stopping all client application accessing geodatabase, if you still find connections are present in process_information table of sde schema then those are orphan connections. You can just truncate the table to clear it.

If you find these orphan connections very often then you need to monitor your ArcGIS workflow or any network drop.

- Biraja

AsrujitSengupta · Answer

You should surely take a look as to why so many connections are getting generated.

Are you using any ArcGIS Server Services (Map Service, Feature Service, ...)?

If possible, please discuss the Case with Esri Tech Support so that they can take a closer look at your environment and suggest accordingly.

CoyPotts1 · Answer

Asrujit, that makes sense, but in my particular example, I am referring to accessing the database through a single source, and still seeing upwards of 5 or more connections.  For instance, I had everyone log off last night a little early so I could make some changes to some fields that we have in our feature classes, and I had 5 connections that were time stamped at various times throughout the day.  Instances that I was no longer using or even had open.  At that moment that I was looking, the only thing that I had open was ArcCatalog, and I was only accessing the database through a single connection file.

All in all it doesn't really create a problem for me, as I can simply break the locks to ensure that my current instance is the only connection, but I really just want to be sure that there isn't some underlying problem that we are having, or if by breaking those locks I may be harming something that took place earlier in the day.