Database clients

A database client is required on all machines that will connect to a DBMS. The database client release must be compatible with the release of the DBMS to which you are connecting.

You can obtain DBMS client installations from the DBMS vendor or download them from the My Esri. The following clients can be used:

• IBM Data Server Run-time Client for DB2
• Informix Connect
• Microsoft SQL Server native client
• Netezza ODBC driver*
• PostgreSQL libpq files

*The Netezza driver must be obtained from IBM, and the Oracle Database Client must be obtained from Oracle.

Follow the DBMS client installation instructions to set up the client on your computer.

Some ArcGIS clients, such as ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS Engine, are 32-bit applications. If you are making a database connection from one of these clients, you must use a 32-bit Informix, Netezza, Oracle, or PostgreSQL DBMS client to connect to the database. This is true even if you install the ArcGIS client application on a computer with a 64-bit operating system and the database and server operating system are 64-bit. If you are installing the SQL Server native client on a 64-bit operating system, use the 64-bit SQL Server native client executable. The executable detects the type of operating system and installs the correct DBMS client. If you run the 32-bit SQL Server native client on a 64-bit operating system, it will fail. Similarly, if you are installing the IBM Data Server Run-time Client for DB2, you can run the 64-bit executable; it will detect the type of operating system and install the correct client.