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User permissions for geodatabases in DB2

User permissions for geodatabases in DB2
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Note:This topic was updated for 9.3.1.

The following tables list the minimum required database privileges for common types of users: data viewers, data editors, data creators, and the ArcSDE administrator.

You can use the DB2 Control Center to administer user privileges. Or you can use SQL statements to grant and revoke privileges and permissions.

In most cases, owners of individual datasets should use ArcCatalog to set other users' permissions on these datasets. For information on this, see Granting and revoking privileges on datasets.

Note that to perform an upgrade, the ArcSDE administrator must have write permission to either the SDEHOME/geocode directory on the server or the directory to which the TEMP environment variable is set. This is because during an upgrade, ArcSDE attempts to make backups of the locator files in the geocode directory. If that fails, ArcSDE attempts to write the backups to the TEMP directory. If the ArcSDE administrator does not have write permission to either of these directories, a warning is generated and new locators are loaded.

Beginning with ArcGIS 9.3, ArcSDE geodatabases are supported on DB2 databases on Linux, UNIX, and Windows and DB2 databases on the IBM z operating system (z/OS).

DB2 on Linux, UNIX, and Windows

DB2 grants full permissions to users by default. (In other words, the PUBLIC group is granted CREATETAB, BINDADD, CONNECT, and IMPLICITSCHEMA database authority plus USE privilege on the USERSPACE1 table space and SELECT privilege on the system catalog views.) To remove a database authority, a database administrator must explicitly revoke the database authority from PUBLIC.

If any of these privileges are removed from PUBLIC, they may need to be granted to individual users or groups. For example, if CONNECT is revoked from PUBLIC, it needs to be granted to users so they can connect to the database. Similarly, if SELECT on the system catalog views is revoked from PUBLIC, individual users or groups must be granted SELECT on, at a minimum, the SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1 catalog view or they will not be able to connect to the geodatabase.


Type of user Database permissions Dataset permissions Notes
Data viewer CONNECT to database SELECT on database object, SELECT on SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1 If your database is configured to use shared ArcSDE log files (the default), additional privileges may be needed.

See Log file configuration options for more information.
Data editor
  • CONNECT to database

  • CREATEIN, ALTERIN, and DROPIN for the necessary schema
 CONTROL, ALTER, DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE REFERENCES, SELECT on SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1

Data creator
  • CONNECT to database

  • CREATETAB in database

  • CREATEIN, ALTERIN, and DROPIN for the necessary schema
 CONTROL on database objects, SELECT on SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1

ArcSDE administrator
  • DBADM authority

  • SYSMON authority (DB2 8.2 and higher)

    • Add the ArcSDE administrator user to an operating system group and grant SYSMON to the group.

The DBADM authority gives the ArcSDE administrator all privileges against all objects in the database and allows him or her to grant these privileges to others (an authority similar to system roles in other DBMS types). The SYSMON authority is needed to access the DB2 snapshot API, which is required to clean out defunct ArcSDE processes from the PROCESS_INFORMATION system table.

DB2 for z/OS

Security on the z/OS is higher than on other platforms. Most permissions are not automatically granted to Public by default; you need to grant permissions to individual user ids or groups.


Type of user Database permissions Dataset permissions Notes
Data viewer

SELECT on user-defined database objects, SELECT on the following system tables:

  • SYSIBM.SYSTABAUTH

  • SYSIBM.SYSDBAUTH

  • SYSIBM.SYSROUTINES

  • SYSIBM.SYSTABCONST

  • SYSIBM.SYSINDEXES

  • SYSIBM.SYSKEYS

  • SYSIBM.SYSCOLUMNS

  • SYSIBM.SYSCHECKS

  • SYSIBM.SYSSCHEMAAUTH

  • SYSIBM.SYSTABLES

  • SYSIBM.SYSSEQUENCES

  • SYSIBM.SYSDUMMY1

Data editor

Same as for data viewers plus CONTROL, ALTER, DELETE, INSERT, SELECT, UPDATE REFERENCES on database objects

Data creator CREATETAB and CREATETS Same as for data viewers plus

CONTROL on database objects

ArcSDE administrator Same as for data viewers plus the following:

  • BINDADD

  • CREATE ON COLLECTION SDE

  • DBADM

See Also

  • User permissions
  • Grouping users by access needs
  • The ArcSDE administrative account