Connections to user-schema geodatabases in Oracle

Connections to user-schema geodatabases from ArcGIS Desktop are made from the Spatial Database Connection dialog box. You must specify a geodatabase version in the user's schema to make the connection. The first section below describes this.

You can use an ArcSDE service or a direct connection to connect to a geodatabase in the schema of a user other than sde. The last two sections in this topic explain how you use each of these connection types with a user-schema geodatabase.

Specifying a version in the schema of a user other than sde

When you initially make a database connection to geodatabase using the Spatial Database Connection dialog box in ArcGIS Desktop, you are automatically connecting to the sde.DEFAULT version of the geodatabase. To connect to a geodatabase in the schema of a user other than sde, click the Change button under Connection details on the Spatial Database Connection dialog box and change the version name from sde.DEFAULT to <user_schema>.DEFAULT or another version owned by the geodatabase owner.

Direct connections to user-schema geodatabases

Creating a direct connection to a user-owned geodatabase is similar to making a direct connection to the master sde geodatabase—you must install and configure the Oracle client on the client computer and specify a connection string to instruct the client application which Oracle database to use.

However, to create a direct connection to a user-owned geodatabase, you must also specify the schema name in the connection string. The syntax is sde:<oracle client release>:<SQL Net alias>:<schema name>.

In the following example, a direct connection is made to an Oracle 10g database that has a SQL Net alias of ora10inst. The geodatabase is stored in the schema of user Thor.

sde:oracle10g:ora10inst:Thor.

The SQL Net alias is set in the tnsnames.ora file when the Oracle client is configured.

Be aware that if you do not provide a schema name in the connection string, the sde schema is used by default.

Tip:

To specify environment variables as part of the connection string, place a semicolon at the end of the connection string, then type the environment variable.

For more information on direct connections from ArcGIS Desktop to a geodatabase in Oracle, see Setting up a direct connection to Oracle and Making a direct connection from ArcGIS Desktop to a geodatabase in Oracle.

ArcSDE service connections to user-schema geodatabases

If you use an ArcSDE service to connect, only one giomgr process is used: the one to the sde master geodatabase. Therefore, you have one ArcSDE service for the sde master geodatabase; you do not set up separate ArcSDE services for the user-schema geodatabases, and there are not separate giomgr processes or port numbers for each geodatabase.

When you make a connection from a client using an ArcSDE service, specify the port number of the ArcSDE service and the schema that contains the geodatabase to which you want to connect. The syntax for this is <port number>:<schema name>.

In this example, a connection is made to the geodatabase in Thor's schema with an ArcSDE service that uses the port number 5151:

5151:Thor.

If you do not specify the schema name, the connection is made to the sde master geodatabase.