Available with Standard or Advanced license.
Within ArcGIS software, the term database servers refers to instances of Microsoft SQL Server Express that you have configured to store desktop or workgroup geodatabases. ArcGIS Desktop at the Desktop Standard or Desktop Advanced license level, ArcGIS Engine, and ArcGIS Server (workgroup edition) include installation files for SQL Server Express to allow you to create these database servers.
All desktop and workgroup geodatabase creation and administration is performed from the Database Servers node in the Catalog window in ArcMap or in ArcCatalog, which means no extra software or database administration expertise is required for you to create and use these types of geodatabases.
If you have ArcGIS Desktop (Desktop Standard and Desktop Advanced) or ArcGIS Engine with the Geodatabase Update extension, you can set up a database server and create geodatabases that can be accessed by a few users and edited by one user at a time.
If you have ArcGIS Server (workgroup edition), you can set up a database server and create geodatabases from within ArcGIS Desktop that can be accessed by up to 10 users at a time, all of whom can be editing concurrently. When using the database servers licensed through ArcGIS Server workgroup, you can also connect to the geodatabases using web applications, for which there is no connection limit.
The following table presents a summary of functionality available in geodatabases created on database servers:
Database administration | Through ArcGIS Desktop or ArcObjects |
CPU limit | 1 |
Backup/Recovery model used | Simple |
|
Supported authentication method |
Operating system (Windows) authenticated |
|
Language/Localization |
Uses same code page as the server |
|
Geodatabase configuration support |
No |
XML column support | Yes |
Versioned editing support | Yes |
Archiving support | Yes |
Geodatabase replication support | Yes |
Support for user-defined views | Yes, if using the Create Database View geoprocessing tool |
Support for SQL Server spatial types | Yes; default spatial type is SQL Server Geometry |