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An overview of maintaining an ArcSDE geodatabase

An overview of maintaining an ArcSDE geodatabase

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Geodatabase maintenance is an important part of the geodatabase administrator's job. Maintenance tasks, such as database backups, compression, and regenerating database statistics, must be performed on a regular basis. They help preserve the database and its existing performance levels.

Some of these tasks are listed in the table below. Most tasks contain links to pages that will either elaborate on the concept or describe how to perform the task using ArcGIS.


Maintenance task Description Where to go for information on this task
Database backup and recovery The data stored in your geodatabase must be protected from loss or corruption. To achieve this, the database administrator makes periodic copies or snapshots of the database called backups. The database administrator must also be able to use these backups to recover the data in the event of hardware failure or data corruption. For general information on database backup and recovery, see

About database backup and recovery

and

Simple backup and recovery.

To learn how to perform backup and recovery of ArcSDE geodatabases for SQL Server, see

Back up and restore geodatabases on a database server.

To learn how to perform backup and recovery of a geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise, consult the documentation provided with your database management system (DBMS) software.
Compress versioned geodatabases As edits are made to versioned geodatabases, the number of states and rows in the delta tables grows, slowing database performance. Compressing the geodatabase removes the states that are no longer referenced by a version and can move rows in the delta tables to the base table. See the following topics:

About compressing a geodatabase, Compressing geodatabases on an ArcSDE database server, and Compressing the database.

To learn about versioning, see Understanding versioning in the "Data management workflows, transactions, and versioning" section of the help.
Update statistics As the data and components within the geodatabase change, table and index statistics become outdated. This is a problem because the database uses the statistics to process queries from users or client applications. To learn how to update statistics on a geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise from ArcCatalog, see Updating statistics on a geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise.

To learn how to update statistics for ArcSDE geodatabases for SQL Server Express, see Updating statistics on geodatabases on ArcSDE database servers.

To learn how to update statistics using the Table Analyze geoprocessing tool, see Analyze (Data Management) in the geoprocessing "Data Management toolbox" section of the help.

To learn how to use the sdetable command to update statistics in a geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise, consult the ArcSDE Administration Command Reference provided with the ArcSDE component of ArcGIS Server Enterprise.
Rebuild indexes Indexes can become fragmented through repeated editing of data and database compression; this decreases the usefulness of the indexes. To learn how to rebuild the indexes of an ArcSDE geodatabase for SQL Server Express, see Rebuilding indexes on a geodatabase on an ArcSDE database server.

To learn how to update indexes in a geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise using the sdetable command, consult the ArcSDE Administration Command Reference provided with the ArcSDE component of ArcGIS Server Enterprise.

Each DBMS product has its own method for rebuilding indexes. If you want to use these methods with your geodatabase licensed under ArcGIS Server Enterprise, consult the documentation provided with your DBMS software.

For information on the type of indexes used in SQL Server and how to maintain them, see Indexes in geodatabases in SQL Server.
Update raster catalog footprints If changes are made to the raster catalog outside ArcGIS, you must update the catalog footprints. To learn how to do this, see Updating your geodatabase raster catalog footprints in the "Image and raster data management" section of the help.
Synchronize replicated data with parent geodatabase If your site has field-workers or branch offices that work with replicas of the geodatabase, you'll need to move the data into and out of the main database and manage the replicas. To learn about replication, see the following topics in the "Data management workflows, transactions, and versioning" section of the help: Understanding distributed data, Replicas and geodatabases, Replication types, and Synchronization and versioning.

To learn how to use geoprocessing tools to move data into and out of the parent database, see An overview of the Distributed Geodatabase toolset in the "Data Management toolbox" section of the help.

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