SDE 9.3.1 and Windows 2008 R2 SP1

[MartinAshmore]

Hi,

A security review of our infrastructure has identified that our SDE server requires the OS to be service packed.

Current system details are:

SDE 9.3.1 SP2

SQL Server 2008 R2

Windows 2008 R2

I need to apply Service Pack 1 to the OS to satisfy the security review, but I cant find any ESRI documents confirming that this is compatible. Can anyone confirm that this is a working arrangement?

Thanks,

Martin

[George_Thompson]

Hi Martin,

It is not specifically stated in the system requirements for 9.3.x and SQL Server that SP1 is a certified configuration (http://downloads.esri.com/support/systemrequirements/arcsde_microsoft_sql_server_database_requiremen... ). I would say that it is compatible and it falls inline with the Supported Environment Policy.

I would also recommend moving the version of your SDE geodatabase to a newer supported version (10.1 SP or newer). Support for 9.3.x products ended in December 2013.

Hope that this gives you the necessary information.

-George

[AsrujitSengupta]

Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 does not seem to be a supported OS for ArcSDE 9.3.1 to me.

My reason for stating the above, is that in the System Requirements for 10.0, it is mentioned that for SP1

Support begins at ArcSDE 10 SP3

ArcGIS 10 System Requirements

But sometimes these configurations work w/o any issues, hence you can apply SP1 on your OS and then test before confirming if this works for you or not.

However as George suggested, please consider upgrading your version of ArcSDE.

[MartinAshmore]

Hi George and Asrujit,

Many thanks for your responses.

I will back up, service pack and give it a try, then post whether it works or not.

Sadly some other software we use limits the version of SDE but as soon as we are able to move to 10 we will be doing so.

Thanks again for your advice.

Martin

[MartinAshmore · Accepted solution]

Hi,

We applied the Windows 2008 R2 service pack last night and I can confirm that SDE 9.3.1 SP2 is still working.

Many thanks again to George and Asrujit for providing useful information in the resolution of this query.

As mentioned by George and Vince, ideally I would upgrade the SDE version to a supported version. Sadly other restrictions prevent me from doing this.

Kind regards,

Martin

[VinceAngelo]

I would recommend that you make George's response the Correct Answer, not the message that says you followed his advice.

[MartinAshmore]

Hi guys,

I don't really use forums that much, so perhaps I have failed to appreciate the etiquette here.

Please allow me to explain my actions and motivation.

I marked my post as the answer because neither the ESRI documentation nor any respondents to the post were able to specifically answer if 9.3.1 would work with the OS service pack. George speculates that the service pack should work, but actually advises to upgrade the SDE version. The action I took was to try the service pack with the older version which does in fact work, so I shared this with the community - new information. I nearly didn't as this is old software and probably not of interest to most. I only really marked my post as this thread was highlighted as unanswered, so my main
motivation was to tidy things up.

I'm not sure how I have made finding the answer to this question more difficult or obscure, this was the opposite of my intention. If during my search before posting I had found a thread suggesting that my particular configuration may work it would have been helpful, but surely a post confirming that it does indeed work by someone using the specific versions is more useful? I was very grateful that both George and Asrujit responded and I marked both of their answers as helpful and thanked them in my reply for them trying to help me.

My finishing post perhaps lacked detail but I in no way intended to use it to obfuscate, confuse or to seek undue credit. I will edit my previous post to reference both previous contributors and thank them for their guidance, but I still feel that for another person with the same query that my final post actually answers the original question - Will applying the OS service pack break SDE 9.3.1 and get me sacked, or will the users carry on as usual in ignorance that anything happened.

However I am curious as to why you both were following this thread and felt the need to intervene after the question had been solved. As for the mention of points, I have no idea what value these have, and I have no interest in accruing them, I thought responding and actually thanking the respondents in a post was the most polite way to say thank you for them having taken the trouble to reply.

Any way I now feel I am actually becoming guilty of making the answer to the original question more difficult to find by turning this into a thread that starts on one topic but is diverted elsewhere.

[VinceAngelo]

Unfortunately, your solution isn't anything I would recommend to anyone finding this thread.  George explained how to find the Esri policy using the Support website and encouraged best practice.  Asrujit showed how to use the Requirements page of subsequent releases for caveats to older ones, and again emphasized the importance of using supported software when a security audit is involved.  It really isn't safe to assume that installing patches on old OSes will work, or that some subsequent patch released tomorrow won't invalidate your solution, especially if some future observer's job is on the line. The conflict inherent in George and Asrujit's answers should be an indication that extreme caution should be utilized when in violation of Vince's First Law of Compatibility.

[MartinAshmore]

Ok my final 2pence on the matter.

Due to software restrictions enforced by other products we use we cannot move from 9.3.1. So sadly it is not possible to follow the best practice. If we had been able to move versions we would have done so long ago to avoid being in this tricky position. My question was specifically related to whether anyone was aware of any issues with the old SDE version and applying the patch. The answer is no there don't seem to be any issues. If my question had been: "For security reasons I need to apply Windows 2008 R2 OS patch, which current versions of SDE support this?" then I agree. At no point have I suggested that people stay on old versions or try to replicate what we are doing, but due to my organization using different suppliers this is the particular combination we are forced to use.

I will edit my post  to clarify this, hopefully that will be a happy compromise for all.