Compatibility between clients and geodatabases in SQL Server when using an ArcSDE service

You can connect from an ArcGIS 10 client to an older geodatabase using an ArcSDE service.

If you are using an ArcGIS 9.2 Service Pack 5 or 6 client, you can use an ArcSDE service to connect to an ArcSDE 9.3 or 9.3.1 geodatabase.

Note:

Connections from a previous version client to a version 10 geodatabase are not supported.

The following is a table that summarizes which clients and geodatabases are interoperable when using an ArcSDE service to connect. Following that are some of the rules that apply to the available interoperable connections.

	9.0 geodatabase	9.1 geodatabase	9.2 geodatabase	9.3 and 9.3.1 geodatabases	10 geodatabase
9.0 client
9.1 client
9.2 SP 1–4 client
9.2 SP5+ client
9.3 and 9.3.1 clients
10 client

Supported client and geodatabase versions for ArcSDE service connections

Rules for mixed release connections

• When you make a connection from a newer client to an older ArcSDE geodatabase, you only have access to functionality that is available for the release of your geodatabase. For example, you cannot connect from an ArcGIS 9.3 client to an ArcSDE 9.1 geodatabase in Oracle and create a feature class using ST_Geometry storage because this storage type was not implemented in ArcSDE 9.1. This also applies to C and Java API functionality; if the functionality does not exist in the version of the geodatabase to which you want to connect, you cannot use the newer C or Java API function. The reverse is also true; if an older function is no longer available in a newer release of the geodatabase, the older function cannot be called when executing against a newer release geodatabase.
• When you connect from an ArcGIS 9.2 SP5 or later service pack release client to an ArcSDE 9.3.x geodatabase with either a direct connection or an ArcSDE service, you do not have access to functionality that was newly implemented at 9.3.x. For example, you cannot connect from an ArcGIS 9.2 SP5 client to an ArcSDE 9.3 geodatabase on PostgreSQL or DB2 for z/OS. You also cannot use the Windows pyramid types for terrains that are available in 3D Analyst for ArcGIS 9.3 or create a network dataset that uses global turn delay or network function evaluators, which are available in Network Analyst for ArcGIS 9.3. Additionally, you cannot replicate from an ArcGIS 9.2 geodatabase to a file geodatabase. Similarly, you cannot connect to an ArcSDE 9.3 for SQL Server Express instance using a 9.2 SP5 client and create a geodatabase that has a full-text catalog.