What is causing the "Failed to access the DBMS server error message"?

[NicoKroes]

Hello:

We are attempting to use data in an enterprise geodatabase connection. We are able to access the data for a little while, however, after 10 or 20 minutes of using the database. We receive the error below:

The funny thing is, when we close and reopen the ArcMap mxd document, we are able to connect to the geodatabase and use the data in the geodatabase. My first thought was installing an updated OBDC driver. However, we do have the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client installed which should enable us to connect with the enterprise geodatabase.

Secondly, we looked into adjusting the execution timeout or the connection time out for the SQL server connection (See the ESRI Error Support Page for Error: Failure to access the DBMS server [08S01:[Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0]TCP Provid.... However, we elected not to change these settings as they would have affected other items in our environment.

Thirdly, we also attempted to use different credentials in the 'Connection Properties' window to connect to the geodatabase. This did not clear this issue either.

My guess is that we may have a compatibility issue between our version of SQL Server (SQL Server 2012) and our version of (ArcGIS Server 10.6.1). According to this documentation. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP3 (64-bit) is needed and we have straight up Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (64 bit).

Thank you for reading and please let me know if I can provide any additional information.

Our Current Environment

- ArcGIS for Server 10.6.1

 - SQL Server 2012 (64 bit)

- Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client

[George_Thompson]

I would first upgrade to at least the supported SQL Server version for the ArcGIS client then retest.

I have also seen where they have time-outs on the network connections that terminate TCP connections after specific times. This would more on the networking side and not ArcGIS.

[NicoKroes]

Hello George Thompson‌. Thank you for your reply. I will see if I can upgrade to the supported SQL Server version for the ArcGIS client. In my case, will we need to upgrade to SQL Server 2012 SP3 or download an updated SQL client such as the 'Microsoft ODBC Driver 17 for SQL Server' client?

On the networking side, could you elaborate on why these time-outs could could be occurring? Where can the configurations be made to prevent these time outs from occurring?

Nico

[George_Thompson]

You can install the ODBC Driver 17 version as it is backwards compatible to SQL Server 2012 (System Requirements, Installation, and Driver Files - SQL Server | Microsoft Docs)

As for the network time-outs, as Joshua Bixby‌ mentions that really depends on your network topology and equipment. I am NOT an networking expert and would recommend contacting your networking team to discuss in more detail.

Additional Questions:

- Has this behavior happened from the beginning or is it something that worked on the past and now just popped up?

- I would possibly look at moving to a newer version of SQL Server?

      There have not been any patches for many years for SQL Server 2012 - Latest updates for Microsoft SQL Server -       SQL Server | Microsoft Docs 

      SQL Server support is also ending in about 2 years - Microsoft SQL Server 2012 - Microsoft Lifecycle | Microsoft       Docs 

[JoshuaBixby]

On the surface, it sure looks like a database or network connection issue and not software versions issue.  That said, one of Esri Support's first responses is to upgrade to supported versions if you are not running them already.

With regard to:

Secondly, we looked into adjusting the execution timeout or the connection time out for the SQL server connection .... However, we elected not to change these settings as they would have affected other items in our environment.

Looking into something but not actually making a change, either temporarily or permanently, doesn't really help isolate the cause or find a solution or workaround.  If you don't have a staging or development environment that mirrors your production environment, you will likely end up needing to temporarily make the changes you don't want to make to help isolate the cause.

This may also be a network issue and not a database connection issue.  Depending on where the server and client sit in the overall network topology of the organization, it could be a firewall is in-between them and causing idle connections to timeout.

[AdamHinchliff]

Hi Nico,

Did you resolve this?