Latest Contributions by ShannonShields

A straight copy like that at the SQL Server level should preserve all the values from the original table. All ObjectIDs in registered geodatabase objects in SQL Server are maintained through separate tables & stored procedures. Tables that are not registered with the geodatabase may have sequences or other auto-incrementing columns that would have to be handled a bit differently. But you have touched on an important thing here - manipulating geodatabase objects at the database level could be problematic, depending on what sort of behavior they participate in. This is the same reason why this isn't a simple operation at the dbms level - there are too many potential dependencies that could break or be corrupted. ... View more

I'd also like to point out that SQL Server is not providing any special functionality to allow for re-ordering columns. SSMS Table Designer is bundling a series of steps, making it look like you are just rearranging columns: 1 - creates a new table (tmp_mytable) with column order changes that you made on mytable 2 - grants equivalent user permission to tmp_mytable (e.g. if Bill had select on mytable, it gets granted on tmp_mytable) 3 - inserts into tmp_mytable from mytable 4 - drops mytable 5 - renames tmp_mytable to mytable This operation requires sufficient space in the data file & transaction log to handle two side-by-side copies of your table. Probably not an issue for a few thousand records, but not something I'd be too keen on doing with millions of records. ... View more

Hi Melissa, I can bring this up with a wider audience, but I think that we made a decision a long time ago to ALWAYS enable all the entity types like cad & multipart. Users are not always aware of which editing tools will write to the CAD_ANNO_DATA column, and I do not believe that we have any tools that allow you to enable it later if you realize that you need it. I'll let you know if I get a clear response on this. In the meantime it will be useful to understand why they cannot add another field to a table that is now part of the geodatabase. -Shannon ... View more

I'm using SQL to create a table in SQL Server with a geometry column. I need a way to automate registration of that table with the geodatabase. Using arcpy.RegisterWithGeodatabase_management doesn't work if the table is not populated; it complains that there is no geometry type specified. I'm assuming that I would be able to do this using sdelayer -o register with the entity mask parameter, although I haven't tried. I would also be able to specify the spatial reference using the command line tool. The Register with Geodatabase tool, however, takes no parameters except for the input table. Is there something I'm missing here, or is this another piece of functionality that isn't yet available in UI/GP/ArcPy? Blair Blair, is there any reason why you are using SQL to create an empty table then register it with the geodatabase, rather than simply creating a feature class using python directly? RegisterWithGeodatabase is intended for registering existing (e.g. populated) tables, as opposed to brand-new empty ones that could simply be created using GP/UI/Python. -Shannon ... View more

How are you creating the spatial view? If you are using the sdetable -o create_view command then the view is "registered" with the sde_layers table and there is metadata available about what entity type the view contained at the time it was registered. If you are using database tools or the Create Database View GP tool then the resulting view is not registered with the geodatabase and there is no metadata about the entity type that the spatial column contains. This information is determined on the fly using the first record in the view. If the view contains no data, then there is nothing to define an entity type (or spatial reference or extent, all of which are required by ArcGIS software). -Shannon ... View more

No, the number of SQL Server connections launched by an ArcGIS connection is not configurable. An idle connection does not take up a lot of resources - maybe 50K of the memory allocated to connections. Having a few connections that are not being used consistently is probably not going to make or break your server performance. -Shannon ... View more

Hi Jake , Thanks for the reply. The 40 instances i mentioned are the maximum number of instances that will be created for the 18 map services( each map service has a varied number of max instances ). This should result in 40 connections made to SQL server. But i see multiple connections getting created for the same instance. ( I varified the process ID of instance and the application establishing connection on database ) . I did check for orphaned connections. They are none. The 140 connections seen on SQL are when the map services are restarted and there are no applications consuming them. There may be 3-4 SQL Server connections established for one connection from ArcGIS. This is for performance reasons as it allows operations to occur in parallel. The error message you are seeing about the maxiumum number of connections being reached is from ArcGIS, and not SQL Server (it's connection maxiumum is 32,000+ connections). You can increase the number of geodatabase connections by using the sdeconfig command to update the CONNECTIONS parameter. It defaults to 64. A number larger than this is probably due to ArcGIS server creating additional instances. -Shannon ... View more

We had issues opening SDE Geodatabases running ArcObjects 10 code on a Windows 2012 Server with Microsoft SQL Server 2012. Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Native Client solved the problem. This is not a supported configuration. The Native Client is backward compatible, in that the 2012 version supports connections to SQL Server 2008R2, 2008 & 2005, but not the other way around. If you are connecting to SQL Server 2012, you must use the latest SQL Server Native Client. A number of issues related to SQL Server 2012 support were addressed in ArcGIS 10.1, SP1 & in a SQL Server 2012 support patch. These fixes are not available for ArcGIS 10.0. Despite the fact that you may be able to connect and work with a 10.0 geodatabase, it is not supported, and any issues you encounter related to this configuration are not something we'll be able to fix. -Shannon ... View more

While we do not certify ArcGIS software with Developer Edition, it will work with our software in a development & test environment. We use it in-house for development work. As far as whether your usage violates the Microsoft EULA, that is something that only Microsoft can answer. ... View more

Rob, the ApplicationIntent connection parameter did not make it into 10.2 - it will come in a following release. -Shannon ... View more

Richard, I brought this up with Microsoft, and the information on the system requirements for the SQL Server Native Client has been updated to correctly reflect what is supported. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280356.aspx Windows 8 & Windows Server 2012 are now on the list. -Shannon Thanks for that information Shannon. The question I have then is whether or not there is a SQL Native Client which supports Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012? I don't see the newer operating systems listed: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc280356.aspx If there is not one then I think that I am correct in saying that direct connect to SQL Server 2012 is not supported for the newer operating systems. Can you comment as to whether or not there are changes in this regard for 10.2? ... View more

Matthew, the problem is that your view does not have something ArcMap recognizes as an ObjectID field. ArcMap must have a field that it can use as a unique identifier. It is a little tricky to generate a field using something like a RowID in SQL Server when you are aggregating a single column, but you can do something inelegant like this: SELECT 1 as ObjectID, GEOMETRY::UnionAggregate(shape) FROM CENSUS_TRACTS_2010_2877 WHERE PCT_ASIAN > 5 This will obviously only work in this case when your view is resulting in a single record. -Shannon ... View more

If you are going to be administrating a geodatabase on SQL Server I strongly suggest becoming comfortable using Management Studio and basic SQL. The tools provided in ArcGIS are useful under very specific circumstances, and only cover a few tasks. If you go to either the properties of a database (permissions page), or the properties of a user (securables page), you'll be able to see a list of database-level DDL permissions that have been assigned to them, either explicitly, or effectively by way of role membership. Here you can grant, revoke or deny permission. But, the easier way is to use the query window and execute something like this: REVOKE CREATE TABLE, CREATE PROCEDURE, CREATE VIEW FROM myuser For more information on users in geodatabases there are several topics in the Geodata section of the online documentation. I'd start here: http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/What_are_user_privileges/002q0000002r000000/ and here: http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/User_privileges_for_geodatabases_in_SQL_Server/002q0000002s000000/ -Shannon ... View more

Ben, did you use the Create Database User GP tool to create the User accounts? If so, those users will automatically be granted the ability to create tables, procedures & views in the geodatabase. http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00170000017r000000 You can revoke those permissions using Management Studio for those users who you don't want creating their own tables. -Shannon ... View more