Getting a "This SDE server does not support this client or operation" error

[joshuasorkin]

I'm trying to use ArcCatalog to add a spatial database connection, so that I can make the data available as a layer in ArcGIS Online.  The spatial database I am trying to connect to is Oracle 10g 64-bit.  I don't know if it is set up as an ArcSDE database or not (is there a way to check that?).  I am getting the "This SDE server does not support this client or operation" error whenever I test the connection.

I understand from reading some other forum discussions that ArcCatalog can only establish a connection to an SDE database.  Is that correct?  If so, how can I connect to this database and establish a map service from its content?

[KimPeter]

What version of ArcGIS are you using?

[joshuasorkin]

ArcGIS Desktop 9.3.1.

[KimPeter]

Any chance you'll be upgrading soon?  😄

At 10.1, you can make a Database Connection to the database, use the data from the database on your map, and publish a map service.

At 10, you can connect to your database by creating a query layer in ArcMap, using the data from the database on your map, and publishing a map service.

At 9.3.1, connections to databases that don't contain enterprise geodatabases are limited to OLEDB connections.  If you have x and y values in the table, you could create an xy event layer to render the data in ArcMap then publish a map service...but you can't access spatial data directly and publish it.

[joshuasorkin]

Hopefully we'll be upgrading to 10.1 sometime next year.

I want the service to provide live data from the Oracle database.  It sounds like that can be accomplished by setting up an OLEDB connection, or am I not understanding correctly here?

By "enterprise geodatabase" do you specifically mean an SDE database, or Oracle spatial database in general?  I ask because this database does have shape objects in some of its tables, so that XY values can be obtained through e.g. "select shape.SDO_POINT.X, shape.SDO_POINT.Y from myTable", and I'm wondering if that indicates that this is a geodatabase whose spatial data can be published.

[KimPeter]

By enterprise geodatabase I mean ArcSDE geodatabase.

You'd have to extract the lat/long values and place them in their own separate fields, I believe, to use an xy event layer from an OLEDB connection.  OLEDB connections are nonspatial; they won't read the sdo_geometry columns as spatial and render the information in map.

[TomCohen]

At 10.1, you can make a Database Connection to the database, use the data from the database on your map, and publish a map service.

Do these connection support editing, or does editing still require and I'm connecting to a geodatabase? I know 10.0's Query Layers are read-only.

[KimPeter]

You can't edit individual features from ArcGIS Desktop; currently for that, you'd need to publish an editable feature service to ArcGIS Spatial Data Server.  But you can create tables, alter schema, and load data from Desktop.  See this help topic for an overview of functionality available when connecting from ArcGIS Desktop to a database:

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/A_quick_tour_of_working_with_databases_in_...