Registering a DB2 database with the server

As a server administrator, you have the option to register your data folders, databases, and geodatabases with ArcGIS Server. Data registration gives the server a list of locations that the server administrator has verified that the GIS server can access. Data registration also helps the GIS server understand how to 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.

Installing 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. 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 "Connecting to DB2".

Setting 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:

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.

Granting 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 User 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.

Connecting to DB2

To register a database with the server, you must provide connection information. There are two ways you can do this:

No matter which way you choose, you must provide the following information to connect directly to a DB2 database:

If you want to connect to a geodatabase in DB2 using an ArcSDE service, you must create a .sde file using the Create ArcSDE Connection File geoprocessing tool or a Python script. Then you must import the connection when you register the geodatabase with ArcGIS Server.

Registering the database 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:

9/1/2015