Should the ArcGIS SDE software be installed on the database server machine?

[JamesFox1]

We are looking to standup an ArcSDE geodatabase but the relational database resides on a remote network. From a performance standpoint should the SDE software itself on a local access machine or co-located with the remote database server? I know it can installed on either machines, but has anyone benchmarked both architectures and noted any differences? (given a constant network and bandwidth in both)

James Fox
DBA - Contractor
BIA Divsion of Water and Power
Golden, Colorado

[VinceAngelo]

GIS processing is tightly coupled to the database. You really shouldn't ever.use it with a remote (high latency) database. The ArcSDE application software should always be installed on database host, even if you don't intend to run an application server instance. There are no good solutions with a distant database, so it doesn't really matter if you use Direct Connect or not. - V