Pausing a database server

Pausing the database server allows existing connections to remain, but prevents new connections from being made to the database server. You might pause a database server before performing administrative tasks such as a compress operation, a backup, or an upgrade. This prevents new connections from being made. Then, you can notify existing users to disconnect. When the users have done so, you can perform the administrative task.

Only Windows administrators can pause a database server.

Before you can stop or pause a database server, you must disconnect from it.

Steps:

1. Log in as a Windows administrator user that is also a server administrator, start ArcMap, and open the Catalog window.
2. Right-click your database server connection in the Catalog tree and click Disconnect.
3. Right-click the database server again and click Pause.

   This pauses the Microsoft SQL Server Express instance, preventing new connections from being made to the database server but preserving existing connections.