As an ArcGIS Server administrator or a publisher in your organization, you have the option to register your data folders, databases, and geodatabases with ArcGIS Server so that services you publish can reference the data in those folders, databases, and geodatabases. Data registration provides ArcGIS Server a list of locations to access. Data registration also helps ArcGIS Server adjust data paths when publishing across machines.
The following sections describe how to prepare your ArcGIS client to connect to a DB2 database (whether the database contains a geodatabase or not) and register the database with ArcGIS Server.
Install DB2 client software
You must install a DB2 9.7 or higher release client on the client computers to connect directly from ArcGIS 10.1 or 10.2 to a supported DB2 version. The DB2 9.7 client must be used even if you are connecting to an earlier release of DB2.
On 64-bit operating systems, run the 64-bit DB2 client installation; it installs both the 32- and 64-bit clients, allowing you to connect from both the 32-bit ArcGIS for Desktop and the 64-bit ArcGIS Server applications. If you have ArcGIS for Desktop installed on a 32-bit operating system, run the 32-bit DB2 client installation. You can obtain DB2 client files from IBM or from My Esri. Follow the instructions provided with the DB2 client software to install it.
You can catalog a database after you install the DB2 client software, which sets up a data source name that you can specify when you connect to the database. Be aware that if ArcGIS Server is installed on a Linux machine that is separate from your DB2 server, you must create a DB2 client instance on the ArcGIS Server machine before you can catalog the DB2 instance.
If you do not catalog a database, you can still connect to the database, but you must specify a specific connection string, as shown in the section Connect to DB2.
Set variables
There are several variables you must set in the ArcGIS Server init_user_param.sh script when connecting to DB2 from ArcGIS for Server (Linux). They include the following:
- DB2_CLIENT_HOME
- DB2INSTANCE
- PATH
- LD_LIBRARY_PATH
See the "Reference the database client libraries in the init_user_param.sh script" section of Configuring a connection to a database in ArcGIS Server for more information.
Grant privileges
The login used to connect to the database must have specific privileges granted to it. For logins that will only need to select data from a service published to ArcGIS Server, grant the privileges necessary for a data viewer as described in Privileges for geodatabases in DB2. If data will be published to an editable feature service, grant the privileges necessary for a data editor. If you will be registering the geodatabase as a managed database, grant the privileges necessary for a data creator.
If your connection to DB2 uses operating system authentication, be sure to grant the appropriate privileges to the ArcGIS Server account.
Connect to DB2
To register a database with the server, you must provide connection information. There are two ways you can do this:
- Import an existing .sde file that contains the connection information.
You can create a Database Connection (.sde) file from the Catalog tree in ArcGIS for Desktop, using the Create Database Connection geoprocessing tool or a Python script.
- Provide your connection information at the time of registration.
No matter which way you choose, you must provide the following information to connect directly to a DB2 database:
- The type of DBMS to which you are connecting
If you are connecting to a DB2 instance on a Linux, UNIX, or Windows machine, specify DB2. If you are connecting to a DB2 instance on an IBM z operating system, specify DB2 z/OS.
- Either the cataloged database name or the connection string used for DSNless connections
The DSNless connection string is in the form HostName=<host>;Port=<port number>;Database=<database name>;. See Database connections in ArcGIS for Desktop for more information and an example.
- The type of authentication to be used: database or operating system
Although all logins to DB2 are domain or local operating system accounts (domain accounts are recommended), you can specify database authentication for your connection from ArcGIS and DB2 will validate your connection using the login and password you provide in the database connection file. To use with ArcGIS Server, you must save the user information with the connection file.
If you choose to use operating system authentication instead, be sure your DB2 server can authenticate the ArcGIS Server account.
Beginning with ArcGIS 10.3 geodatabases, you cannot use an ArcSDE service to connect. If you want to connect to a previous release geodatabase using an ArcSDE service, create a .sde file using the Create ArcSDE Connection File geoprocessing tool or a Python script. Then you can import the connection when you register the geodatabase with ArcGIS Server.
Register with ArcGIS Server
You can register the database from Server Manager or the Catalog tree in ArcGIS for Desktop. See the following topics for an explanation of registration options and how to register the database: