Publishing a geodata service directly

Publishing from a geodatabase directly involves referencing a personal geodatabase, file geodatabase, or ArcSDE connection file that you want to publish as a service. The geodatabase or connection file needs to be in a location that is accessible to the server object container (SOC) account. For example, ArcSDE geodatabases in ArcCatalog are located in your profile directory under Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog. (Example: C:\Documents and Settings\myUserName\Application Data\ESRI\ArcCatalog\Connection to myServer.sde.) Unless you were logged in as the SOC account when the .sde connection file was created, the SOC account does not have access to this file. Before publishing the geodata service, it is recommended that you copy the connection file to a common directory to which the SOC account has been granted access.

When publishing a geodata service from ArcSDE for SQL Server Express, you need to save the connection to your geodatabase to create the connection file. To do this, browse to the geodatabase in ArcCatalog under the Database Servers node of the Catalog tree. Right-click the geodatabase you want to publish and click Save Connection. This creates a connection (.sde) file in your profile directory as described in the previous paragraph. You need to reference this connection file when publishing the geodatabase. As suggested, copy the connection file to a common location to which the SOC account has access before you publish the service.

Follow these steps to publish a geodata service:

Steps:

1. Click the Services tab in Manager.
2. Click Publish GIS Resource.
3. Enter the information as prompted, keeping in mind the following:
   • For Resource, browse to the geodatabase that you want to publish or its connection (.sde) file if it is an ArcSDE geodatabase.
   • If you need additional help, see Publishing a GIS resource to the server in Manager.