Why are layer sources connecting to a SQL Server geodatabase not saved after exiting ArcGIS Pro?

[ChipBrownHBG]

When I opened an existing project in ArcGIS Pro (2.2.4), I found that some data sources needed to be repaired.

Oddly enough, all of the features displayed correctly, but the attribute table would not display. Also, if an attribute table was open as the program was starting up, I received an error message saying "Failed to open table. Error: The database table was not found."

All are sources/connections are to a SQL Server Enterprise Geodatabase (versioned, running Enterprise 10.3.1).

I repaired the data sources, performed some editing, then saved and closed the project.

When I reopened the project, the data sources needed to be repaired again. It seems the sources will not save in the project.

I wondered if this was true for ArcMap (10.5.1) as well, so I opened a map document to see if the sources needed to be repaired there as well and found that they did not.

Others in my organization who are using ArcGIS Pro (2.3.1) are having the same issue.

We recently experienced some issues focused on replicating this database, but I am not connecting to the replication, only the versioned database. We are working to repair the replication issue. It may or may not be related.

If anyone has encountered and resolved a similar issue, it'd be great to hear from you.

Thanks.

Chip Brown

[ThomasColson]

There is a known issue in Pro where if there is any break in connectivity to SDE, you have to close and restart Pro to get your connections to your layers to work. Curious to see if you get this with a brand new project. I'm not seeing this with 2.3.1 or 2.2, so this might be a SDE issue that best resolved through TS. What happens when you upgrade your SDE to 10.6.x?

[ChipBrownHBG]

Thanks, Thomas.

This seems to be happening in new projects and after I make new database connections.  I also uninstalled/reinstalled ArcGIS Pro and the issue continues. Due to our use of other application that rely on our enterprise server, we cannot upgrade the server at this time. I will look into other potential issues on the SDE/server side.

Again, thanks for your thoughts.

[JonathanFarmer_oldaccount]

Hi Chip,

With a 10.3.1 geodatabase, you may be running into compatibility issues between your Pro version and the DBMS version. What version is your SQL Server instance? I'd recommend you be at 2012 SP3 at least.

If this is happening with multiple versions of Pro on multiple machines, I'd lean against something to do with a specific install. Whatever this is appears to be a larger issue.

Jonathan

[ChipBrownHBG]

Thanks, Jonathan.  It looks like we are running SQL Server 2011 (11.0.3128.0) and have been for a while without trouble. I need to check to be sure nothing was changed as far as settings go when we recently encountered some replication issues.  The strange thing is that the issues with replicating this database were addressed on a Friday afternoon and this issue in ArcGIS Pro did not appear until the following Tuesday.

I hadn't noticed before, but even after I reconnect the layers to the database, I cannot edit them:  in the sources view of the contents pane, I get a red warning that the layers cannot be edited due to an unknown error.

Is there a difference in the way ArcMap 10.5.1 and ArcGIS Pro 2.2 read the database?  As stated in my original post, the database connections are not broken and do not need updating in ArcMap 10.5.1.

Thanks for any additional thoughts.

Chip

[JonathanFarmer_oldaccount]

Hi Chip,

You are running SQL Server 2012 with Service Pack 1. If you want to decipher those build numbers, I've always found this site to be helpful:

SQL Server build numbers | Build Numbers  

The issue here is that the minimum supported environment at 10.5.x is SQL Server 2012 with Service Pack 3. ArcMap may be a bit more forgiving than Pro. Regardless if this is the issue here or not, you'll need to upgrade ASAP.

Microsoft SQL Server database requirements for ArcGIS 10.5.x—System Requirements | ArcGIS Desktop  

As far as the replication goes, you are talking about geodatabase replication correct? Not SQL Server replication? Having a geodatabase replica in place shouldn't cause these issues, I'm not aware of any problems there. 

I think you'll need to setup and run an SDE Intercept and trace from Pro when you try to edit the data and get that error. It may help narrow down where the problem is occurring. Have you worked with intercepts and traces before?

Jonathan

[ChipBrownHBG]

Thanks for contributing to my education.  I'm still learning the language and resources of Enterprise and server work.

I will check with our IT folks regarding the upgrade to SQL Server 2012 SP3.  We are using ArcGIS for server 10.3.1 so I don't know if that changes the SQL Server 2012 SP3 requirement. I can't quite tell from the documentation.

I was talking about geodatabase replication and as you say that shouldn't be the issue here.

I am not familiar with the Intercept and trace.  If you can provide some guidance and resources, that'd be great.

[JonathanFarmer_oldaccount]

Chip,

SQL Server requirements for 10.3.x below. These pages are for both Desktop and Server. With 10.3.1, you are fine with SP1. But that is a problem with using mixed releases of things, what is supported with one version is not always supported with another. That being said, SP3 will work fine with Server 10.3.1 as well.

Microsoft SQL Server database requirements for ArcGIS 10.3.x—Help | ArcGIS Desktop  

To setup an SDE Intercept, you can follow the article below. 

How To: Set up an SDEINTERCEPT log file on a client machine for ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Server 

You will follow the workflow for Desktop and not Server since we are working with Pro and an Enterprise geodatabase within Pro. Once setup, you can open Pro and proceed with the workflow until you get the error.

The database trace needs to be done by someone with access to the database backend. I presume that is your IT department? This documentation below from Microsoft goes into how to set that up.

Create a Trace (SQL Server Profiler) - SQL Server | Microsoft Docs 

Just have them check off the "User Error Message" and "Exception" parameters when setting it up.

Also, as always, feel free to log a case with Support if you feel like you could use a little more hands on help here. They know these troubleshooting tools well and can assist on a screen share with setting things up and interpreting them.

Jonathan

[ChipBrownHBG]

Thanks, again, Jonathan.  I did run an SDE Intercept on my local machine, but I am not sure how to interpret the logs.  I decided to contact support for some help and will update this question if/when the issue is resolved.

Chip 

[ChipBrownHBG · Accepted solution]

After about a month and a half of trouble shooting and enlisting the ESRI support, we found that our ODBC driver needed to be updated.

Here is some documentation links:

SQL Server system requirements for ArcGIS Pro 2.3.

For anyone interested I can give you more information, but maybe just this documentation will help someone in the future.

Thanks.