ArcSDE 9.0/SQL Server 2000 Distributed Installation

[AndrewMiller]

Hi all,

I'm a bit of a novice to ArcGIS and it's related products, but I just had quick question about ArcSDE. I'm currently a DBA, and really have no involvment with the GIS side of things so am trying to seperate SDE from our database server (in terms of management of responsibility for each tier). Is it possible to configure SDE 9.0 in the post installation to connect to a remote instance of SQL Server 2000. I found a KB on the resource centre pointing to it, but it only referenced > 9.1. I've seen some conflicting materials however about distributed authentication going back to 8.3.

Does anyone know if our proposed plan is workable? I'm guessing it is but I'd be really grateful if anyone could point me in the right direction.

Cheers,

[VinceAngelo]

It is generally unwise to separate the ArcSDE application server from the database to
which it is tightly coupled, unless you also intend to create a dedicated point-to-point
network between the ArcSDE server and the database (crossover cable, backplane to
backplane, gigabit speed).  This was especially true way back when 9.0 was released.
The only real reason to configure a distributed install is to handle a clustered database
configuration, in which case all connections should be Direct Donnect, and the application
server component isn't really necessary.

I urge you to learn a bit more about ArcSDE, and a lot more about GIS.  Once you start
using a modern database,  you'll see that the division between roles of DBA and GIS
database administrator has become moot (all modern databases have native spatial
datatypes).

- V

[AndrewMiller]

Cheers V,

I absolutely need to know more about ArcSDE as a whole but training/time isn't exactly forthcoming. I'd like to ideally upgrade to the latest version of both products (SQL Server and ArcSDE), but this isn't possible from a service manager's point of view.

Thanks for your prompt help/advice.

A