If you used the Esri Windows AMI to deploy an ArcGIS Server site, the deployment includes an installation of ArcGIS Desktop. You can log in to your ArcGIS Server instance and connect from ArcGIS Desktop to the enterprise geodatabases you created with your deployment. The steps vary slightly depending on whether your enterprise geodatabase runs in a SQL Server Express or PostgreSQL database or an Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS).
Connect to a geodatabase in SQL Server Express
Follow these steps to connect to an enterprise geodatabase in a SQL Server Express instance:
- To connect to the instance, you must open ports in your security group.
See Administer your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop Connection for information on opening ports, enabling Remote Desktop, obtaining the Administrator login's password, and authorizing ArcGIS Desktop. (You can ignore the last step in Administer your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop Connection, though; you don't need to open ArcGIS Server Manager.)
- Once you log in to your ArcGIS Server instance as the Administrator and authorized ArcGIS Desktop, start ArcCatalog.
- Expand the Database Connections node in the Catalog tree.
- Double-click Add Database Connection.
- Provide the following connection properties to connect to your enterprise geodatabase in SQL Server Express:
Field Value Database Platform
SQL Server
Instance
The name of the SQL Server instance
Use one of the following for the instance name:
- The site name.
- If ArcGIS Desktop is on the same machine as the SQL Server Express instance, you can type localhost.
Authentication Type
Operating system authentication
Database
Choose the name of the geodatabase to which you want to connect
- Click OK to connect and close the Database Connection dialog box.
- Type a name for the connection.
For example, type egdbhostconnection.
Connect to a geodatabase in Amazon RDS for SQL Server
Follow these steps to connect to a geodatabase in Amazon RDS for SQL Server:
- Log in to one of the machines in your ArcGIS Server instance as the Administrator and authorize ArcGIS Desktop.
See Administer your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop Connection for information on connecting to an AWS instance using a Remote Desktop connection.
- Start ArcCatalog and expand the Database Connections node in the Catalog tree.
- Double-click Add Database Connection.
- Provide the following connection properties:
Field Value Database Platform
SQL Server
Instance
Type a connection string composed of the following: <database_instance_identifier>.<region_id>.rds.amazonaws.com
- database_instance_identifier—You provided this name when you created the RDS.
- region_id—This is assigned by AWS. It includes an identifier and the name of the region in which you created the RDS.
Authentication Type
Database authentication
User name
Type the name of a database user.
- If you created your site using ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services or a CloudFormation template provided by Esri, type sde for the user name.
- If you created your own user in the database, type that user name.
Password
Type the password for the database user.
Save user name and password
Check the box next to this parameter.
Database
Choose the name of the geodatabase to which you want to connect
- Click OK to connect and close the Database Connection dialog box.
- Type a name for the connection.
For example, type egdbhostconnection.
Connect to a geodatabase in PostgreSQL or Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
The Esri AMIs that include PostgreSQL run on Ubuntu; therefore, there is no ArcGIS Desktop installation on the ArcGIS Server instance. The following steps tell you how to connect an enterprise geodatabase in a PostgreSQL database cluster on AWS or to connect to a geodatabase in Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL from an on-premises installation of ArcGIS Desktop. Note that performance will be slower connecting from an on-premises ArcGIS Desktop installation than connecting from one on an EC2 instance in the same AWS region as the PostgreSQL database.
- To connect to the instance, you must open ports in your security group.
See Administer your Amazon EC2 Ubuntu Linux instance with remote access from Linux or Administer your Amazon EC2 Ubuntu Linux instance with remote access from Windows for information on connecting to your instance.
- Connect from an ArcGIS Desktop installation on your local desktop to the geodatabase on AWS.
This may also require changes in firewall settings within your network. Consult with your network administrators to see if you can access cloud instances from your desktop.
- Start ArcMap or ArcCatalog and expand the Database Connections node in the Catalog tree.
- Double-click Add Database Connection.
- Provide the following connection properties to connect to your geodatabase:
Field Value Database Platform
PostgreSQL
Instance
For a database on a PostgreSQL database cluster on AWS, use one of the following:
- The site name.
- The public DNS of the instance where PostgreSQL is installed.
The following is an example DNS:ec2-123-45-678-90.compute-1.amazonaws.com
Note:
Note that if you stop your site or your EC2 instance, the public DNS changes. Therefore, if you use the DNS to connect, you will have to update this connection information.
For an Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL database, type a connection string composed of the following: <database_instance_identifier>.<region_id>.rds.amazonaws.com
- database_instance_identifier—You provided this name when you created the RDS.
- region_id—This is assigned by AWS. It includes an identifier and the name of the region in which you created the RDS.
Authentication Type
Database authentication
User name
Type the name of a database user.
- If you created your site using a CloudFormation template provided by Esri, type owner for the user name.
- If you created your own user in the database, type that user name.
Password
Type the password for the database user.
Save user name and password
Check the box next to this parameter.
Database
Choose the name of the geodatabase to which you want to connect.
- Click OK to connect and close the Database Connection dialog box.
- Type a name for the connection.
For example, type egdbhostconnection.