You can connect to an ALTIBASE hybrid database (HDB) from ArcGIS for Desktop or ArcGIS for Server. To do so, install and configure the ALTIBASE HDB Client on ArcGIS client machines from which you connect to ALTIBASE. Note that you must use the same version ALTIBASE HDB Client and ALTIBASE database.
Also note that it is recommended you install 32- and 64-bit applications and, consequently, ALTIBASE HDB clients on separate machines to avoid issues that arise when different versions of the same drivers are installed on the same machine.
Once the client is configured, create a connection file. When connecting from ArcGIS Server, register the database connection file with your GIS Server.
Connect from ArcMap
To connect from ArcMap to ALTIBASE, install the ALTIBASE HDB Client on the ArcMap machine and create a connection file in the Catalog tree.
Install the ALTIBASE HDB Client
You can download the ALTIBASE HDB Client from ALTIBASE Customer Support. Follow the instructions provided by ALTIBASE to install.
There are separate installations for 32-bit and 64-bit ALTIBASE HDB clients. Install the 32-bit client to connect from ArcMap.
Once the client is installed, set the ArcMap machine's PATH environment variable to include the location of the lib directory in the ALTIBASE client installation directory.
Connect to the database
Add a database connection using the Database Connection dialog box or Create Database Connection tool. The following steps describe using the Database Connection dialog box.
- Expand Database Connections in the Catalog tree in ArcMap or ArcCatalog and double-click Add Database Connection.
- Choose ALTIBASE from the Database Platform drop-down list.
- In the Data source text box, type the name of the ALTIBASE HDB server and the port used by ALTIBASE to communicate with clients. Preface the string with DSN=. The syntax is as follows:
DSN=<server name>;PORT_NO=<port>
For example, if ALTIBASE runs on a server named projectdata and the port number used to communicate with the database is 20100, type DSN=projectdata;PORT_NO=20100.
- Choose Database authentication for the Authentication Type.
- Provide a valid user name and password in the User name and Password text boxes, respectively.
- Uncheck Save user name and password if you prefer not to save your login information as part of the connection; doing this can help maintain the security of the database. However, if you do this, you will be prompted to provide a user name and password every time you connect. Also note that Save user name and password must be checked for connection files that provide ArcGIS services with access to the database, or if you want to use the Catalog search to locate data accessed through this connection file.
- Click OK to connect.
A file is created in \\<computer_name>\Users\<user_name>\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\Desktop<release#>\ArcCatalog.
You can move the connection to another location, just be sure users and applications that need to make a connection have read access to the directory where you place the connection file.
If you use the data from this connection as the source for a service, such as a geoprocessing or geocoding service, you may need to place the connection file in a shared location on your network. See Preparing resources for publishing as services for more information about sharing a connection file.
Connect from ArcGIS for Server
If you will be publishing data from ALTIBASE HDB to ArcGIS Server and want the resultant services to use the data in your ALTIBASE database, do the following:
- If ArcGIS Server is installed on a different machine than ALTIBASE HDB, install the ALTIBASE HDB Client on the ArcGIS Server machine. If your ArcGIS Server site includes multiple machines, install the client on all ArcGIS Server machines.
- If ArcGIS for Server is installed on a Linux server, edit the init_user_param.sh script to include information about the ALTIBASE HDB client and instance and restart ArcGIS for Server.
- Register your ALTIBASE database with ArcGIS Server if you want your GIS services to use the data in your database.
Install the ALTIBASE HDB Client
You can download the ALTIBASE HDB Client from ALTIBASE Customer Support. Follow the instructions provided by ALTIBASE to install.
There are separate installations for 32-bit and 64-bit ALTIBASE HDB clients. Install the 64-bit client to connect from ArcGIS for Server.
Once the client is installed, set the ArcGIS Server machine's PATH environment variable to include the location of the lib directory in the ALTIBASE client installation directory.
Alter the init_user_param.sh script (Linux only)
Once you have installed the database client files, alter the init_user_param.sh script to reference them. You can access this script by navigating to the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/usr directory.
- Ensure that the ArcGIS Server installation owner has at least read and execute permissions on the database client libraries.
- Open the init_user_param.sh script in a text editor.
- Remove the comment marks (#) from the lines beginning with export.
# -------------------------------------------------- # Modify this section to configure a connection to ALTIBASE. # # ---------------------------------------------------------------- #export ALTIBASE_HOME=<Altibase_InstallDir> #export ALTIBASE_PORT_NO=<Altibase_Port_No> #export PATH=${ALTIBASE_HOME}/bin:${PATH} #export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=${ALTIBASE_HOME}/lib:${LD_LIBRARY_PATH} #export CLASSPATH=${ALTIBASE_HOME}/lib/Altibase.jar:${CLASSPATH} - Save and close the script.
- Restart each GIS server in your ArcGIS Server deployment by running the startserver.sh script.
./startserver.sh
Register the database
If you want your GIS web services to use the data in your ALTIBASE database, register the database with ArcGIS Server. See Register an ALTIBASE hybrid database with ArcGIS Server in the ArcGIS Server help for instructions.