Direct connections from ArcSDE commands to a geodatabase in Informix

Administration commands are used primarily by the ArcSDE administrator user to monitor and alter the ArcSDE geodatabase. You can read the command reference provided with the ArcSDE component of ArcGIS Server at the Enterprise level for complete information on using these commands.

When these commands make connections to the geodatabase, they use the options –s for the server name, –D for the database name, –i for the service or direct connection string, –u for the connecting user's name, and –p for the user's password (if using database authentication).

If you are connecting to a local ArcSDE geodatabase (one that is on the same machine as the client), you do not need to specify the –s option; it is assumed to be the local server. For connections to remote geodatabases, provide the name of the server with the –s option.

With the –D option, type the Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) data source name for the database to which you want to connect.

The –i option corresponds to the Service field on the Spatial Database Connection Properties dialog box in ArcCatalog: you provide either the ArcSDE service port or name or the direct connection syntax string for your database with this option. Type sde:informix with the –i option.

For the –u option, you should include the database user name if using database authentication. If using operating system authentication, you do not need to specify the –u or –p option.

When you use the –p option to specify the password of the database user, it shows up in plain text. For most commands, you can omit this option when using database authentication and you will be prompted to type the password. When you do this, the password does not appear on-screen.