ArcSDE

I was really curious about the ArcSDE licensing and tried to find some information in the internet about it. In my opinion it is very weird that the Enterprise GeoDB creation requires keycodes (Authorisation file) from ArcGIS Server software and that there should be another way to do so. But after digging and surfing, there is not much information about that topic.

On this gis.stackexchange Question (answered on August of 2015) it is mentioned that:

“Esri incorporated ArcSDE into ArcGIS Server with the release of ArcGIS 9.2. In order to deploy ArcSDE technology as an enterprise geodatabase you must have, or be prepared to purchase, an ArcGIS Server license. Since the introduction of ArcGIS 10.0, the actual enterprise geodatabase installer lives within ArcPy, and can be invoked either as an ArcToolbox tool or directly from Python.”

Checkin on the Create Enterprise Geodatabase tool documentation for the authorization_file option, it is explained as:

“Provide the path and file name of the keycodes file that was created when you authorized ArcGIS Server. If you have not already done so, authorize ArcGIS Server to create this file.”

Also, in this GeoNet post (from 2011), it is mentioned that:

“You cannot purchase a license for ArcSDE. Since 9.2, the ArcSDE application server is a *part* of the Enterprise ArcGIS license.”

Finally, in this ESRI community post, it is explained on details what to do with the authorisation file (in case you miss it) and it notes that:

“NOTE: You must have authorized ArcGIS Server to create the keycodes file ahead of time!”

So, it is clear that there is no separate installation any more for ArcSDE and that this could be done via ArcGIS Desktop software (ArcMap or ArcGIS Pro). Nevertheless it is required to have ArcGIS Server licence in order to be able to create an Enterprise Geodatabase.

ArcSDE (Spatial Database Engine) is a server-software sub-system (produced and marketed by Esri) that aims to enable the usage of Relational Database Management Systems for spatial data. The spatial data may then be used as part of a geodatabase (wiki source).

While traditional RDBMS software keeps track of the tables and records contained in the database, ArcSDE pushes the relational model higher so that client software can manage geographic data – which comprise several tables – seamlessly. The user need have no awareness of nor dealings with the particulars of the RDBMS. The GIS environment routes all connections to the database through the ArcSDE middleware, which manages the storing and retrieval of data (wiki source).

Geodatabase

The geodatabase is a “container” used to hold a collection of datasets. There are three types:

File geodatabases—Stored as folders in a file system. Each dataset is held as a file that can scale up to 1 TB in size. The file geodatabase is recommended over personal geodatabases.
Personal geodatabases—All datasets are stored within a Microsoft Access data file, which is limited in size to 2 GB.
Enterprise geodatabases—Also known as multiuser geodatabases, they can be unlimited in size and numbers of users. Stored in a relational database using Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, IBM DB2, IBM Informix, or PostgreSQL. This one requires the use of ArcSDE technology.

There is a comparison matrix on the ESRI documentation, where you can see all the details and differences between them.

Essential readings about the geodatabase can be found in this ESRI documentation. We will skip a big part of the documentation to go to the actual creation of the Enterprise geodatabase by connecting to the PostgreSQL.

Get started with geodatabases in PostgreSQL

The main tutorial to follow is this from ESRI documentation. It is very important to have a look on the PostgreSQL database requirements for ArcGIS 10.6.x in order to check the compatibility between the versions. In my case I do not have the minimum supported (PostgreSQL 10.3 & PostGIS 2.4) but I have PostgreSQL 10.5 & PostGIS 2.5. It says in the documentation “Newer minor versions are supported but are not certified”. So lets test it.

During creation of the geodatabase there is a more detailed description here. While running the “Create Enterprise Geodatabase” geoprocessing tool I entered the following options:

DB platform: PostgreSQL
Instance: localhost
Database: myfirstgdb
Tablespace Name: <empty>
Authorization file: C:\Program Files\ESRI\License10.4\sysgen\keycodes

After finishing I can check in pgAdmin that the myfirstgdb geodatabase exists! The next step is to create a user to own data as described in ESRI documentation. Data stored in your geodatabase should be owned by users other than the sde user. Use the Create Database User geoprocessing tool to create a user in the PostgreSQL database cluster and a schema in your new database.

First step is to create a database connection to the newly created database. In the add Database connection menu select:

DB platform: PostgreSQL
Instance: localhost
Database: myfirstgdb

Now run the Create Database User tool. Very straightforward procedure as well. Once again you can check this via pgAdmin.

Now that you have a user who can add data to your new geodatabase, connect to the database as that user. The easiest way to do that is to alter the connection file you created earlier. A small test is to try and import some data to “myfirstgdb”.