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The ArcSDE administrative account

The ArcSDE administrative account
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The ArcSDE administrative user account is responsible for the administration of the following:

The ArcSDE administrator owns all the ArcSDE geodatabase system files, directories, and tables. For this reason, the ArcSDE administrative account must be created before the geodatabase can be created. The database administrator (DBA) creates the ArcSDE administrator and grants this user the necessary permissions. On Windows installations, this can be accomplished through the Post Installation wizard. On UNIX/Linux, this is done manually, and how it is done depends on the operating system and database management system (DBMS) you are using.

The name of the administrative user can vary depending on the type of DBMS you are using, as shown in the following table:


DBMS ArcSDE administrative user
DB2 sde
Informix sde
Oracle sde and owners of user-schema geodatabases

The sde user always owns the master geodatabase. Individual users who have been granted the proper permissions can create geodatabases in their own schemas. In this case, the individual user is the ArcSDE administrator for the geodatabase stored in his/her schema.

See Using multiple geodatabases in Oracle to learn more about geodatabases in user schemas.
PostgreSQL sde
SQL Server sde or dbo

The dbo user is a special user in SQL Server; the user that created the database is considered dbo as are any users in the sysadmin system role.

You can use dbo or sde as the ArcSDE administrator in the single spatial database model for ArcSDE geodatabases on SQL Server. If you use dbo as the ArcSDE administrator, you can only use the single spatial database model. If you use a multiple spatial database model (an older method of geodatabase creation in SQL Server), your ArcSDE administrator must be sde.

When ArcSDE geodatabases in SQL Server Express are created, the administrator is always dbo.

For more information on using a dbo ArcSDE administrator, see ArcSDE for SQL Server dbo-schema geodatabases.

For information on the multiple database model for SQL Server, see Using multiple geodatabases in SQL Server.

For details on how to create the geodatabase administrative account for your DBMS, be sure to consult the ArcSDE Installation Guide for your DBMS and operating system, found on the installation DVDs in the software media kit.

Keep in mind that the ArcSDE administrative user is not the same as the DBA. Although conditions at your site may necessitate that the ArcSDE administrator have DBA-level permissions, this is not required to run ArcSDE. See the following topics for the minimum permissions required for the ArcSDE administrator in each DBMS:

User permissions for geodatabases in DB2

User permissions for geodatabases in Informix

User permissions for geodatabases in Oracle

User permissions for geodatabases in PostgreSQL

User permissions for geodatabases in SQL Server

The ArcSDE administrative user and schema

It is recommended that the ArcSDE administrator and its schema only be used to manage and store ArcSDE system tables. You should create separate user schemas in which to store your ArcSDE data objects such as feature classes and raster datasets. You should not store these objects in the ArcSDE administrator’s storage space, since you could possibly crash the ArcSDE service by filling up the ArcSDE administrator’s space. Following the practice of storing only system tables in the ArcSDE administrator's storage space simplifies the management of ArcSDE.

In SQL Server 2005 and later releases and PostgreSQL, users do not automatically have a schema with the same name as their user name. However, to use SQL Server or PostgreSQL with ArcSDE, your user names must have corresponding default schema names. This applies to the ArcSDE administrator user as well as nonadministrative users.

NOTE: When adding administrative or any other types of users to SQL Server Express, a matching schema is automatically created because the ArcGIS interface creates the matching schema for you. See the following section for information on administrative users in SQL Server Express.

The administrative user in ArcSDE for SQL Server Express

The administrative users for database servers (SQL Server Express instances used to store ArcSDE geodatabases licensed through ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine, or ArcGIS Server Workgroup) are different. Since administration for these databases and the SQL Server Express instances in which they are created takes place solely through ArcCatalog or ArcObjects, there are two different types of administrative users: server administrators and geodatabase administrators.

On a database server, permission to work with the SQL Server Express instance and the geodatabase objects is controlled by users and groups assigned to roles. The user identifies who you are, and a role defines the operations you will be able to perform. The server administrator is a Windows-authenticated user assigned to the server administrator role (the sysadmin fixed server role in the database). Members of the sysadmin server role are automatically dbo.

The server administrator is sort of like the DBA and ArcSDE administrator rolled into one. This user can add other users to the database server and control user permissions, create and delete geodatabases, detach and attach databases, and back up and restore databases. In addition, this user can perform ArcSDE administrative tasks in the geodatabase such as compressing the geodatabase.

Because the server administrator creates the geodatabases on the database server, this user owns the ArcSDE geodatabase system tables.

The other type of administrative user—a geodatabase administrator—is a Windows-authenticated user assigned to the geodatabase database owner role (db_owner). This user can perform administrative tasks such as administering other users' geodatabase permissions, making a backup of the geodatabase, and compressing the geodatabase. Geodatabase administrators cannot administer the database server or other geodatabases for which they have not been given administrator privileges.

For additional information on users in database servers, see Adding and removing users or groups for ArcSDE database servers and Administering user permissions for ArcSDE database servers.

See Also

  • An overview of user accounts
  • Adding users to an ArcSDE geodatabase
  • User permissions