topic Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server in Geodatabase Questions

Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JohnYoung2 — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 16:47:34 GMT

Hello,

I am aware of a known issue that causes frequent errors (General Function failure) when a File GDB is referenced on a Windows 10 server environment. When this occurs the application needs to be restarted to re-establish a connection to the data. We have a small number of ArcGIS users at our site but suffer from this problem several times every day, with both ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro. The established workaround appears to be to change the Windows group policy settings from 'Replace' to 'Update', which sounds simple. Our IT department have ruled this out of hand saying it is against Microsoft recommendations and it is not possible to make a change for the few ArcGIS users because the change would impact all users in the organisation and other applications would not work if we changed the setting. They are implying that changes can only be done globally (per organisation, across multiple servers), not per user, user group, or single server.

Has anyone had first-hand experience of this problem? Did your IT department change the group policy settings to resolve the problem and was this change complex to implement? Has anyone had similar push back from their IT department for group policy changes? We have less than 10 ArcGIS users but 300+ using the network; perhaps the workaround is only feasible for smaller organisations where impact is lower?

Any insight on the implementation and impact of the group policy changes workaround would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JoshuaBixby — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 01:23:53 GMT

Regarding "a Windows 10 server environment," I am not clear what you are referring to since there is no Windows 10 server operating system.

The issue of mapped drives being interrupted with Group Policy updates isn't unique to Esri or file geodatabases, although ArcGIS doesn't handle them well at all. I believe the issue started popping up more after Windows 8.1 was released.

The organization I work for encountered large impacts from this issue when it stood up Citrix virtualization in a new data center environment. The solution we applied was to change the GP from "replace" to "update."

Group Policy is quite flexible, most of the time. We have applied the "update" change to specific virtual machines used by Citrix in our data center. We chose machine-level mapping because all users on the machines will want to see the same behavior, but I believe the GPO can be handled at a user level as well. Anyone who says it can only be applied globally either doesn't understand the question or doesn't understand Group Policy.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JohnYoung2 — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 08:30:19 GMT

Thanks Joshua, that is very helpful.

The problem appears to have started on migrating from Windows 7 to 10, on a Windows Server 2008 R2 environment. We have since been upgraded to Windows Server 2019.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JoshuaBixby — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 14:01:30 GMT

Are you still seeing the issue with Windows 10 clients and Windows Server 2019? If so, then a Group Policy change is the best (maybe the only) remedy. At a minimum, such a change can be implemented at a machine-level, and it might even be possible to do it at the user-level by putting the impacted users into an OU and then applying the change to just that OU.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JohnYoung2 — Fri, 01 Nov 2019 17:27:23 GMT

Yes, the problem persists following the upgrade to Windows Server 2019, so I will have to persuade IT to reconsider their stance.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

MichaelVolz — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 20:34:13 GMT

John:

Do you see failures when processing data on a file geodatabase on a network share? Or do you just not get the expected results of the geoprocess?

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JohnYoung2 — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 13:41:09 GMT

Michael,

The problem affects mapping and edit sessions in ArcGIS Desktop (10.x) and ArcGIS Pro (2.x) and occurs at least every 30 minutes. On Desktop there is a General Function Failure message and feature classes in the geodatabases are no longer usable. The geodatabases need to be removed from the Table of Contents and re-added from Catalog. On Pro there is no message; instead, editing and mapping (even with shapefiles) is no longer possible (snapping doesn't work, features disappear completely, or when zooming in or out). With Pro, I usually exit and restart the software to resolve.

I haven't experienced any adverse effects with geoprocessing tools or ModelBuilder, but this could be because most of the processes that I have run have completed within 30 minutes.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

MichaelVolz — Mon, 24 Feb 2020 14:56:09 GMT

My issue is different from yours, but file geodatabases on the network are the common denominator. I have found at least 3 geoprocessing processes (I'm running ArcMap 10.7.1) that when run over the network on a file geodatabase produce different results. The same process run locally produces the correct results every time. The processes that produce these erroneous results take less than 10 minutes to run.

Are you using any network auditing tools to determine the root cause of your issue?

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

JohnYoung2 — Tue, 25 Feb 2020 08:25:16 GMT

We have not used the network auditing tools because the underlying cause of our problem is already known and there is a workaround (i.e. modifying the Group Policy settings). I had planned to do some testing after our group policies were adjusted but still waiting for approval from our IT department.

If you have a compliant IT team you could re-test the geoprocessing tools with the recommended group policy settings.

Out of interest, which 3 geoprocessing tools are affected by your problem? Are you saying that these tools produce different results each time, using the same inputs? Are you running them as standalone processes, or from ModelBuilder or Python?

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

bsanders69 — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 17:37:06 GMT

We have the same issue with connectivity continuity for file geodatabases getting dropped (maybe a tiny network drop), but it loses the connection and you lose whatever you have not saved. I am not sure what settings in group policy may help, but would like to know if there's anything we can do here at the City. We have resorted to creating FGDB local because we cannot rely on a basically very robust and new network/all flash, UPS, all new Citrix server hardware, etc.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

LearnThenShare_JC — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 18:16:47 GMT

@JohnYoung2 Hi John: We are experiencing this FGDB interruptions now that our IT is changing VPNs. The FGDB connection gets "dropped" around the 10 to 15 minute mark. The Shapefiles at the same file server location does not drop. We have two GIS data editors and 60+ GIS users. Everyone will lose connection to the FGDBs located on the file server. What was your solution? Thanks!

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

MattHowe — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 06:43:57 GMT

We had the same problem and was incredibly frustrating. Once we switched from mapped drives to unc paths for folder connections and data sources, it seemed to fix the issue.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

LearnThenShare_JC — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 15:41:23 GMT

Hi @MattHowe : This is promising. However I do not see an option to Map Drives in file explorer without choosing a Letter. I have established UNC paths to the folder/directory where the file geodatabases (FGDB) are located on shared file servers within ArcMap Catalog and Pro Catalog. I have used these UNC Paths to add FGDB data to ArcMap MXD's and Pro Projects. I also only use UNC paths in shortcuts to the MXDs. I have still found that the FGDB data drops connection for unknown reasons. One interesting observation is that the Shapefiles located at the same UNC path do not drop their connectivity. What is it with the FGDB that disconnects during this unknown LAN/WAN Network activity?

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

LearnThenShare_JC — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 15:43:04 GMT

Hi @bsanders69 : It has been a while since your post. Have you found a cause and solution? Thanks!

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

bsanders69 — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 17:05:21 GMT

I have not tried to gelook into this in some time as I have been working in different areas that all are referencing SQL Server SDE geodatabase for quite some time now and not editing FGDBs, so I can't help you there. There is another way to give you a starting point in Windows other than mapping a drive is to "Add Network Location". Maybe this is closer to providing a UNC path as you are asked for a UNC to create a network location and it is stored differently than a mapped drive. Maybe worth a shot? I've got nothing from ESRI. Nor can I say that there may have been something addressed in version 11.x.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

MattHowe — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 07:56:58 GMT

Yeah we saw exactly the same thing. SDE and SHPs worked fine but the problem was FGDBs. If you open the cmd prompt from the start menu and type; net use. This will give you the unc root paths of your mapped drives that you can copy. Then you can use this for your connections and data sources in Pro. Be careful mixing and matching mapped and unc paths though, you might run into some funky errors.

Re: Problems with file geodatabases on a network server

SimonSchütte_ct — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:26:33 GMT

Moving from HDDs to SSDs/NVMe with really high read/write rates for the network share solved this issue for one of our clients. ArcGIS Pro is really "chatty" when accessing a FGDB. So even if there is only one user per FGDB, multiple users accessing FGDBs on the same HDD with insufficient read/write rates can degrade the overall performance. Especially if the FGDBs are big.