Upgrading ArcSDE 10 installation to sp2

[HugoAhlenius]

I am trying to upgrade a SQL Server 2005 setup, on 32-bit Windows Server 2003, to ArcSDE 10 sp2 - but it won't start after the service pack is applied!

All I get is:

esri_sde service failed during initialization.
Please check event log or error log files.
Error starting esri_sde service(0)
Could not start ArcSDE -- Check Network, $SDEHOME disk, DBMS settings and dbinit
.sde.

And the log file says:

-------------------------------------------------------
ArcSDE 10.0  for SQL Server Build 1343 Thu Feb 17 11:45:42  2011
-------------------------------------------------------
Connected to instance . . .
WARNING: SDETMP: Setting temp path to c:\temp
ERROR in checking system stored procedures (1).
Run the Upgrade Geodatabase tool to install/upgrade system tables.
Refer ArcSDE installation guide for instructions.

I have tried to rebuild the service, but that doesn't help. giomgr_esri_sde.log doesn't contain anything useful.

[VinceAngelo]

It's not recommended to run any application server daemon as root, ever (except for software which immediately uses setuid() to reduce privilege at startup, like Apache). The Oracle ArcSDE application server is designed to run *only* as the owner of the $SDEHOME directory (which should not be root).

It's possible to get into a tangle where ArcGIS Desktop/Server is convinced an upgrade isn't necessary, but the application server has a different opinion (and is usually right).  Contacting Tech Support is the best way through this particular twisty maze.

- V

[JohnLovato]

Thank you sir.  Putting in a support ticket now.