Why an Enterprise Geodatabase has many objects?

[ErnestoCarreras4]

The following is to request assistance in explaining some of the IT Database resources in my city the reason why an enterprise geodatabase (in SQL) has many objects, tables, stored procedures that they consider are not needed. The issue came after geo-enabling a non-spatial database in the test environment in order to start incorporating GIS functionality into some of the web applications we currently support in-house. Since I am not a database administrator or developer by nature, I really cannot provide them the logical answers as of why after geo-enabling a database, all these objects are present in the database and why they are needed. They just want to start randomly deleting stuff they consider are ‘not needed’.

Thanks in advance!

[George_Thompson]

I would not recommend deleting anything that is created in the Enterprise Geodatabase. All of the objects/procedures/tables/etc. that are added are required for the geodatabase to function correctly. Some tables may stay empty the entire time you use your enterprise geodatabase, depending on what you store and/or use the geodatabase for.

Here is some documentation on the system tables for SQL Server: System tables of a geodatabase in SQL Server—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

I do not think that we have a list of the procedures that are created. Hope this helps!

Enterprise GIS‌

[JonathanFarmer_oldaccount]

Hi Ernesto,

I wanted to add on to George's comment, which is 100% correct, and re-emphasize that your IT staff should not delete anything from the database that was created when you enabled the geodatabase functionality in ArcGIS.

Esri has put in place all of those tables, objects, and stored procedures to allow our clients (ArcGIS Pro, ArcMap) to work with the DBMS and provide all of the geodatabase functionality that is needed. Things like versioning, geodatabase replication, topology, networks, etc. For some more information on what a geodatabase is and how it is structured, see the links below:

 What is a geodatabase?—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

The architecture of a geodatabase—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

But I would say the best message you can pass along to your IT staff as to why they should not delete these things they deem not needed is that we have only tested and certified a geodatabase to work with all of these tables, objects, and stored procedures in place and working together. If any one of them is removed, there is a chance that you may corrupt the geodatabase and lose data. If that happened and you didn't have a database backup handy, that could potentially be a lot of time and effort lost. Esri Support would not be able to help you get that data back either.

Hope that helps. Let me know if you have any questions.

Jonathan