Is it safe to work with my Enterprise database through SQL

TomGeo · ‎03-29-2023

When working with database tables in ArcGIS Pro the processing seems pretty slow. I believe the culprits are the cursors (search, update, insert) and I would like to walk away from using those.

So I was wondering if I can simply switch to SQL in e.g. SQL Server Management Studio, work there and return later to ArcGIS Pro, without destroying something. By 'destroying something' I mean stuff in the GDB_*, SDE_* and i* tables.

Is it possible to work with Enterprise SQL databases purely in SQL, and if so, are there limitations on what I cannot do?

Bests Thomas

- We are living in the 21st century.
GIS moved on and nobody needs a format consisting out of at least three files! No, nobody needs shapefiles, not even for the sake of an exchange format. Folks, use GeoPackage to exchange data with other GIS!

George_Thompson · ‎03-29-2023

In general it is safe. There are some issues that can arrise with versioning, network datasets, utility network, etc.

I would recommend reviewing these doc pages: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/arcpy/get-started/executing-sql-using-an-egdb-connection.ht... & https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/using-sql-with-gdbs/sql-and-enterprise-geoda... for some more insight.

Again DO NOT modify the repository tables via SQL, as you noted.

--- George T.

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George_Thompson · ‎03-29-2023

In general it is safe. There are some issues that can arrise with versioning, network datasets, utility network, etc.

I would recommend reviewing these doc pages: https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/arcpy/get-started/executing-sql-using-an-egdb-connection.ht... & https://desktop.arcgis.com/en/arcmap/latest/manage-data/using-sql-with-gdbs/sql-and-enterprise-geoda... for some more insight.

Again DO NOT modify the repository tables via SQL, as you noted.

--- George T.