There is at least some amount of administration needed for every type of geodatabase. The tasks you perform to administer a geodatabase vary depending on the type of geodatabase you are using.
File or personal geodatabase administration
There are a few administration tasks involved in the use of a file or personal geodatabase. Some of these tasks, such as compacting a geodatabase or setting the spatial grid index, help maintain performance. Others, such as compressing vector data in file geodatabases or moving geodatabases, are optional. See A comparison of file and personal geodatabase management for more information.
Database server administration
You can think of the geodatabases stored in SQL Server Express instances that are used as database servers as mini enterprise geodatabases. As such, they require some of the same administration as enterprise geodatabases.
Other than installing the SQL Server Express instance and creating Windows logins, all administration tasks are performed through ArcGIS for Desktop.
Set up a SQL Server Express instance to be used as a database server
Use the SQL Server Express installation file provided with ArcGIS for Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, or ArcGIS for Server Workgroup to install SQL Server Express and enable it to store geodatabases. The first part of the wizard installs Microsoft SQL Server. The second part writes a key to the registry indicating this instance can be used to store geodatabases.
You can set up a database server to use yourself, or you can add other users to the database server to allow them to access geodatabases on the database server. In most cases, the person who sets up the database server is the server administrator. That person is responsible for access to and maintenance of the database server.
Create geodatabases on the database server
You must add a database server connection to ArcGIS for Desktop while logged in to the computer as the server administrator and use the Create Geodatabase wizard to create geodatabases on the database server.
Add logins to the database server and grant permissions
If other users need to access the new geodatabases, you must add them to the database server. Before you can do this, the Windows logins—either domain or local—must be created. Your network administrator would likely be the one to create domain logins. If you are an administrator on the computer where SQL Server Express was installed, you can create local logins; otherwise, someone who is an administrator will need to create the logins on the computer. Local logins are only used when logged in to that specific computer.
As the server administrator, you add Windows logins to the database server for all users who must access the geodatabases on the database server. The server administrator is also responsible for assigning user permissions to the geodatabases.
Maintain geodatabases on database servers
There are a few maintenance tasks that need to be performed for geodatabases on database servers. They include creating backups of the databases, compressing geodatabases, updating statistics, rebuilding indexes, and upgrading geodatabases. There are other maintenance tasks that are only required for specific situations. See Database servers for more information.
Enterprise geodatabase administration
You can store an enterprise geodatabase in one of the following relational database management systems (RDBMS):
- IBM DB2
- IBM Informix
- Microsoft SQL Server
Typically, a large number of users access enterprise geodatabases. As a result, administration is required to make sure the geodatabase is set up properly, users can access the data they need, and the database runs smoothly.
You can perform some administration tasks using ArcGIS. In many cases, administration tasks are slightly different from one RDBMS to another. Therefore, there is a section in the help specific to each type of RDBMS. Be sure to read the topics pertaining to the RDBMS you are using.
Key tasks for the administration of an enterprise geodatabase include the following:
Install software and create a geodatabase
You must install both RDBMS and ArcGIS software, create a database, and enable geodatabase functionality in the database.
For most database management systems, obtain the RDBMS installation from a third-party vendor. An installation of PostgreSQL can be obtained from My Esri, or you can get your own.
Once your ArcGIS client and RDBMS software are installed and configured, use either the Create Enterprise Geodatabase or Enable Enterprise Geodatabase geoprocessing tool or a Python script to create a geodatabase.
Manage user access
To control access to the geodatabase, you must create or add user accounts to the database. These users may be database users, or they may be operating system accounts that are added to the database as authorized users. You can add users to Oracle, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server databases using the Create Database User geoprocessing tool or a Python script. To simplify user administration, you will likely create groups or roles and add users to them. You can use the Create Role geoprocessing tool to create database roles in Oracle, PostgreSQL, or SQL Server databases.
Once users have been added to the database, you can grant permissions to them, individually or in groups, to allow them to perform their work in the geodatabase. These include Data Definition Language (DDL) privileges to create, alter, or drop objects in the database. Individual data owners can grant Data Manipulation Language (DML) privileges to other users or groups to allow them to select, insert, update, or delete records in their data. DML privileges can be granted through ArcGIS for Desktop. See Grant and revoke dataset privileges for information on how to manage DML privileges through ArcGIS for Desktop. For information on privileges needed for different types of users, see the topic specific to your RDBMS:
Connect to the geodatabase
To work with the data, you connect to the geodatabase from client applications. To connect, you must install an RDBMS client on the client computer. You can obtain an RDBMS client from your RDBMS vendor or My Esri.
Maintain the geodatabase
As users add data to the geodatabase, the geodatabase must be maintained so the data is available to all authorized users when needed and without any depreciation in performance.
To ensure the data is not lost, the administrator must perform regular backups and have a recovery plan in place and tested.
When new data is added or existing data updated, database statistics should be updated and indexes rebuilt to be sure the RDBMS optimizer can efficiently query the data. The geodatabase administrator can update statistics and indexes on system tables using the Analyze Datasets and Rebuild Indexes geoprocessing tools, respectively. Data owners can use these tools to update statistics and indexes on their own data tables.
For versioned geodatabases, the administrator must regularly compress the geodatabase to maintain performance levels. The geodatabase administrator compresses a versioned geodatabase from ArcGIS using either the Compress command in the Catalog tree or the Compress geoprocessing tool or Python script.
Upgrade the geodatabase
When a new release of ArcGIS is available, your organization may want to move to that release to take advantage of new functionality and fixes. As an administrator, you should set up a test server on which you install the new ArcGIS software and upgrade a copy of your production geodatabase. Tests should then be run to ensure the new version works as you expected.
Once testing is complete, you can upgrade the production software and geodatabases. See the topic for your RDBMS for instructions: