ArcGIS Pro 2.9.2 SDE Database Connection Rename Issues

[MollyMoore]

I am using ArcGIS Pro 2.9.2 software. When I make a connection to an SDE geodatabase on our SQL Server, I can access and open the geodatabase fine until I rename the connection. Once I rename the connection file, it breaks the connection to the geodatabase.

I've never had an issue with this in my 3+ years using Pro, but I see this may have been a bug back in 2014. Is anyone else struggling with this in the 2.9 upgrade?

[Robert_LeClair]

So I'm testing this renaming issue. If you rename it in the Catalog Pane, it correctly renames.  I did run into some error messages on the rename if I deleted the *.sde extension on the rename but not if I just rename the connection to the left of the ".sde" extension.  If I rename the connection file in File Explorer and then try to refresh in the Catalog Pane it does break the link.  Is this what you're experiencing?

[MollyMoore]

I am using the Catalog Pane to rename and not messing with the ".sde" extension. I usually am just adding the name and version as designators to the left side of the extension.

[ABishop · Accepted solution]

Just a hunch.... what is the naming convention you are using for the name and version?  If you are using characters like (.,-_*) try to eliminate those and definitely no spaces.

[MollyMoore]

This appears to be the issue! Our organization-wide protocol is to rename connections: "<gdbname>.<version>.<servername>.sde"

This has always worked since I started in 2016, but it appears the periods are now breaking the connection file.

Thanks for troubleshooting this and giving me ideas to try!

[ABishop]

Yay!  So glad it worked! 

[CarmenDurham]

Molly,

I am experiencing the same issue and we have named our connections using nearly the same protocol as you since 2006 or so.  I don't want to change the connection strings because they are in an awful lot of python scripts.  A little annoying when you are first trying to setup a bunch of new connections in Catalog.

I have had to get around it by closing Pro, accessing the folder containing the connections string, renaming it directly and then reopening Pro.  

In all cases, it seemed to truncate the rename to just <servername>.<GDBname>.sde instead of what I tried to use which was <servername>.<GDBname>.<username>.sde