Preparing to upgrade a geodatabase in SQL Server

When you upgrade any enterprise system, including a geodatabase, plan ahead. Test the new version on a development or test server to ensure that it works with all your client applications.

When you have determined that the new system works the way you expected, schedule the upgrade; be sure the necessary staff are available to perform the upgrade and that they have the permissions necessary to complete their assigned tasks.

Note:

• You can upgrade directly from an ArcSDE 9.2, 9.3, or 9.3.1 geodatabase to ArcSDE 10. If your geodatabase is at release 9.1 or earlier, you must first upgrade to a supported release, then upgrade to ArcSDE 10.
• Upgrades from beta versions of the software are not supported.
• If the geodatabase is part of a replica, you must upgrade both the parent and child geodatabase before synchronizing.
• There is no formal mechanism to downgrade a geodatabase to a previous version. If after upgrading to a newer version you want to downgrade the geodatabase, you must restore the old database from backup.
• Once a geodatabase has been upgraded, previous versions of ArcGIS will be unable to open it since older versions of ArcGIS cannot read newer versions of the geodatabase.

You must also complete the following steps before you upgrade your geodatabase in SQL Server:

Steps:

1. Check the ArcGIS Resource Center to be sure that your system meets the minimum requirements.
2. Create a backup of the database.
3. If you were using a case-sensitive database collation with ArcSDE 9.1 or lower, you must change your database collation, upgrade to 9.2, then upgrade to 10.
4. If you do not have the Full-Text Indexing component installed in the database, install it.

   Some columns in the geodatabase system tables require this component.

5. Remove any custom functionality you may have added to the ArcSDE geodatabase system tables outside ArcGIS such as triggers, participation in SQL Server replication, or additional indexes. The upgrade procedure cannot be aware of customizations you make to the system tables. If such customizations prevent the alteration of a system table, the upgrade will fail.
6. Make sure that the login you use to upgrade the geodatabase has the correct permissions.

   If the geodatabase is stored in the dbo schema, the ArcSDE administrator (dbo) automatically has the necessary permissions to upgrade. For geodatabases stored in the sde schema, if it is a single-spatial-database model geodatabase, the login you use must either be sysadmin or in the db_owner role. If you are using a multispatial-database model geodatabase, you must log in as sysadmin to upgrade.

   Note:

   Do not add the sde user to sysadmin. However, you can add the sde user to the db_owner role to upgrade single-spatial-database model geodatabases.

7. Install the current release of the ArcGIS client (ArcGIS Desktop ArcEditor or ArcInfo, ArcGIS Engine Runtime with the Geodatabase Update extension, or ArcGIS Server Standard or Advanced) on a computer that can directly connect to the geodatabase to perform the upgrade.
8. Make sure that there are no users connected to the geodatabase.

   You can use the sdemon command to check this. See Displaying connected sessions for instructions.

9. Stop any ArcSDE services that are running using the Windows Services interface.
10. Uninstall the old release of ArcSDE. See Uninstalling ArcSDE from Windows for instructions.
11. In Windows, you are prompted to delete the ArcSDE services during the uninstallation process if any are running. Click Yes to delete the service if you are installing a new release of ArcSDE. If you are installing a service pack or patch, you can click No and reuse the service unless the service pack or patch instructions specify that you must re-create the service. (For example, if the service pack or patch fixes something in the service functionality, you most likely need to re-create it.)
12. Install the new release of ArcSDE.

    On Windows operating systems, do not run the Post Installation wizard. The Post Installation wizard is for new installations only.

The geodatabase is now ready to be upgraded. You can use the Upgrade Geodatabase tool in ArcGIS Desktop or a Python script run on the ArcGIS client computer.