Geodatabases you create in the schema of a user other than the sde user in Oracle are not entirely self-contained; there is some functionality, such as user-defined types, that are only in the master sde geodatabase. For that reason, you cannot treat geodatabases in users' schemas as their own entity, and the following rules apply:
- You cannot create a geodatabase in a user's schema that is a different release than the master sde geodatabase. For example, if your master geodatabase is 10.4, you cannot create a 10.2 geodatabase in a user's schema.
- You must upgrade the master sde geodatabase before you can upgrade a geodatabase in a user's schema.
- You can upgrade the master sde geodatabase without upgrading the geodatabases in other users' schemas, but you cannot upgrade a user's geodatabase without upgrading the master sde geodatabase.
- You cannot create a backup of only a user's schema and have a complete geodatabase; there are dependent objects, such as user-defined types, in the master sde geodatabase that must be part of the backup.
- If you use an ArcSDE service to connect, the ArcSDE service must be at the same release as the master sde geodatabase. Since ArcSDE services are not available after ArcGIS 10.2.2, you cannot use an ArcSDE service to connect to a 10.3 or newer release master sde geodatabase.
- You can use an ArcSDE service to connect to a user-schema geodatabase only if the user-schema geodatabase is the same release as the master sde geodatabase. Since ArcSDE services are not available after ArcGIS 10.2.2, you cannot use an ArcSDE service to connect to a 10.3 or newer release master sde geodatabase.
Based on these rules, ArcGIS 10.1, 10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2 clients can use an ArcSDE service to connect to the following release user-schema geodatabases:
- 10.1 user-schema geodatabase in a 10.1 master geodatabase
- 10.2 user-schema geodatabase in a 10.2 master geodatabase
- 10.2.1 user-schema geodatabase in a 10.2.1 master geodatabase
- 10.2.2 user-schema geodatabase in a 10.2.2 master geodatabase
All other connection combinations require a direct connection to the user-schema geodatabase.