Upgrading a geodatabase on a database server

This topic applies to ArcEditor and ArcInfo only.

The goal of upgrading an ArcSDE geodatabase for SQL Server Express is to upgrade the geodatabase system tables and stored procedures to take advantage of functionality that is available in the latest release of ArcGIS. Upgrading a geodatabase is optional in most cases, but if you do not upgrade, you will not have access to newer functionality.

The files that allow you to use ArcSDE geodatabases on database servers (SQL Server Express) are part of ArcGIS clients. Therefore, geodatabases on database servers can be upgraded after you install a newer version of ArcGIS Desktop or ArcGIS Engine software.

After installing a new release of ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, or ArcGIS Server Workgroup, a user who is a server administrator for the SQL Server Express instance or a user who is a geodatabase administrator for the geodatabase to be upgraded can perform the following steps to upgrade a geodatabase using the Upgrade Geodatabase geoprocessing tool.

Steps:

1. Start ArcMap and open the Catalog window, or start ArcCatalog.
2. Expand the Database Servers node in the Catalog tree.
3. Connect to the database server that contains the geodatabase you want to upgrade.
4. Make a backup of the geodatabase before upgrading it.

   See Creating a backup of a geodatabase on a database server for instructions.

5. Right-click the geodatabase to upgrade and click Properties.
6. Click the General tab.

   If an upgrade is needed, the Upgrade Geodatabase button is active.

   If the Upgrade Geodatabase button is not active, it could be because the connecting client is at the same release as the ArcSDE geodatabase, your DBMS is not at a supported upgradable release, or you are connecting from an ArcGIS Desktop client running under an ArcView license.

7. Click Upgrade Geodatabase.

   The Upgrade Geodatabase geoprocessing tool opens. The Input geodatabase text box is prepopulated with the geodatabase connection information when the tool is launched using the Upgrade Geodatabase button.

Note:

You cannot run the Upgrade Geodatabase tool if any other geoprocessing tools are currently running as background processes on the client machine.

8. Leave both the Perform Pre-requisite check and Upgrade geodatabase options checked and click OK.

   A dialog box appears showing the progress of the prerequisite check and upgrade. If there are any errors in the process, they appear in this dialog box.

   The prerequisite check detects whether full-text search is enabled on the SQL Server Express instance, no other users are connected to the geodatabase, and all datasets can be opened. If the geodatabase meets these requirements, the tool proceeds with the upgrade. If the geodatabase does not meet the requirements, the tool terminates, and you must correct the prerequisite problems before you run the Upgrade Geodatabase tool again.

   The results of this check are reported on the geoprocessing tool dialog box and in the GDBUpgrade<n>.log, which can be found in the system TEMP directory.

9. When the upgrade operation completes successfully, click Close to close the dialog box.

   The geodatabase is now upgraded.

10. Repeat steps 4 through 9 for each geodatabase on the database server you want to upgrade.
    Tip:

    You can launch the Upgrade Geodatabase geoprocessing tool from the Search window in the Catalog window, or script the upgrade using Python.

11. If you want to continue working with the database server and its geodatabases, you must disconnect from it and reconnect to refresh the connection. To do this, right-click the database server, click Disconnect, then either double-click the database server or right-click it and click Connect to reconnect to it.

If you have parcel fabrics or network datasets in your geodatabase that you want to upgrade, you must upgrade them separately. These upgrades are optional, but if you do not upgrade them, you will not have access to the latest network dataset or parcel fabric functionality.