Changing license keys for database servers and their geodatabases

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

When you enable a SQL Server Express instance to store geodatabases, a key is written to the Windows registry. This key indicates whether the database server is licensed under ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Engine or ArcGIS Server Workgroup.

When you create a geodatabase on the database server, the key is read from the registry and populates a field in an ArcSDE geodatabase system table.

Therefore, there are two different places that must be updated to update your license key: the registry and each geodatabase.

Situations that might require you to update your license key include the following:

• If you need to authorize your database server with a new ArcGIS Server Workgroup license key, such as when you move from ArcGIS Server Basic Workgroup to ArcGIS Server Advanced Workgroup
• If you are converting your ArcSDE for SQL Server Express database server licensed through ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine to an ArcSDE for SQL Server Express database server licensed through ArcGIS Server Workgroup
• If you are converting your ArcSDE for SQL Server Express database server licensed through ArcGIS Server Workgroup to an ArcSDE for SQL Server Express database server licensed through ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine.
• If you have an ESRI Developer Network (EDN) license that has timed out and you get a new one
• If you were using an EDN license but are moving to a production ArcGIS Server Workgroup license

The following sets of steps instruct you how to update the license key in the registry and in each geodatabase on the database server.

Steps:

1. As a Windows administrator, log in to the computer on which the SQL Server Express instance is installed.
2. Insert the DVD into the appropriate drive.
   • If you are changing the licensing on your ArcSDE for SQL Server Express database server from ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine to ArcGIS Server Workgroup or if you are updating your ArcGIS Server Workgroup license key, insert your ArcGIS Server Workgroup DVD into the drive.
   • If you are changing your license from an ArcGIS Server Workgroup to an ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine license, insert your ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine DVD into the drive.
3. When the installation options dialog box appears, click ArcSDE for SQL Server Express.
4. Uncheck Microsoft SQL Server Express Edition and click Install.
5. From the drop-down menu, choose the name of the SQL Server Express instance for which you want to change the license key and click Next.
   Note:

   You will receive a message indicating no administrative user was added. That is fine; you are running this against an existing database server that already has a server administrator user, so you do not have to add another one. Click OK to dismiss this message box.

6. If you are changing your license to an ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine license, click Finish.
7. If you are changing from an ArcGIS Desktop license to an ArcGIS Server Workgroup license or are updating your ArcGIS Server Workgroup license, you must authorize the ArcGIS Server Workgroup software by navigating to the ArcGIS Server Workgroup license key.
   Note:

   If you have not registered ArcGIS Server or need to register additional components, you must provide your registration information to ESRI to obtain a license file. Once you receive your license file, rerun the wizard to authorize the geodatabase with the ArcGIS Server Workgroup license.

8. To complete the authorization, click Finish.
9. Now that the registry has been updated, you must update the license in the individual geodatabases. To do so, log in as a server administrator, start ArcMap, then open the Catalog window.
10. Connect to the database server for which you just finished updating the registry.
11. On the Contents tab, right-click the first geodatabase on the database server, click Administration, then click Detach.
    Note:

    Make note of where the database file is located so you know where to look for it to reattach it.
12. Click Yes to confirm that you want to detach the geodatabase. The geodatabase should disappear from the database server connection in the Catalog tree. Press F5 to refresh to ensure the geodatabase was detached.
    Caution:

    There must be no other existing connections to a geodatabase when you detach it; if there are, the detach operation fails.
13. Right-click the database server and click Attach.
14. On the Attach Geodatabase dialog box, browse to the .mdf file of the geodatabase you just detached.
15. After you specify the file, click OK on the Browse dialog box.
16. Click OK on the Attach Geodatabase dialog box.
17. If there are additional geodatabases on the database server, repeat the preceding six steps to update the license keys in each of these geodatabases.

Caution:

If you do not update the license key on the geodatabases, they retain their original key information in the database. Therfore, if you were using a database server licensed through ArcGIS Desktop, you will still be restricted to three users for those geodatabases. Similarly, if your EDN license has expired and you do not update the license key in each geodatabase, the geodatabases will be inaccessible.