Are there consequences for having many unused domains in an SDE workspace?

[MicahBabinski]

Greetings,

Are there any consequences (geodatabase performance or other) to having domains "stack up" in a SQL Server-based SDE geodatabase? I noticed many unused domains in an SDE workspace when running a script that writes domain properties to a series of file geodatabase tables. The script is attached. A lot of them have the same base name followed by an underscore and then a number:

In this particular enterprise geodatabase, there are 913 domains but only 93 of them are actually applied. So, is this ok? Or is there a compelling reason to clean up the unused domains and try to prevent them stacking up like this in the future.

Thanks,

Micah

Geodatabase​ Enterprise GIS​

[BlakeTerhune · Accepted solution]

I'm not sure about performance, but my first reaction is to keep it clean and remove the unused domains. We have a similar issue (although not this severe) but we haven't yet decided how to proceed. I I know you can create something, but I thought I would share what I came up with to identify unused domains and delete them. I noticed when testing that by default it didn't look for domains in subtypes so I had to code some extra for that. Maybe it'll help you.

Delete Unused Domains

[PaulDavidson1]

If you turn on the logging for the connection:

35704 - Diagnose ArcSDE connection and performance issues using SDEINTERCEPT

you might get an idea of how much those domains affect the connection speed.

Also, I agree with Blake.  Keep it clean.

As I guy who just stepped into a position of overseeing a rather large legacy system, I spend an awful lot of time just figuring out if something in the system is still in use, be it in the database, mxds, services on the servers, etc...

When you leave detritus laying around, it's just more stuff to trip over.