Multiple geodatabases in one instance of SQL Server

If you want to create more than one geodatabase in the same SQL Server instance, you create multiple SQL Server databases, create a geodatabase in each one, and authorize each geodatabase. If you use ArcSDE service connections to the geodatabases, also create separate ArcSDE services for each geodatabase.

The following graphic illustrates that there are two separate databases, Database1 and Database2, on one SQL Server instance and that each database contains a complete geodatabase:

The databases can have any unique name that follows SQL Server rules for identifiers, does not start with a number, and is not sde.

You can use the Create Enterprise Geodatabase tool to create additional databases and geodatabases in SQL Server. Since you already designated the geodatabase administrator user when you created the first geodatabase, be sure to use the same password for the geodatabase administrator when you run the tool a second time.

If clients only use direct connections to each separate geodatabase, you do not need to create an ArcSDE service. However, if clients connect using an ArcSDE service, you must create an additional service for each additional geodatabase. These different ArcSDE services can be running on the same server machine but do not have to be. To create ArcSDE services, you must do the following:

1. Download the ArcSDE application server installation from the Esri Customer Care Portal.
2. Install the ArcSDE application server on your server.
3. Add entries for the new services to the services.sde and Windows services files. Service names and port numbers must be unique.
4. Run the sdeservice command to create each service and register each one with a separate geodatabase.
5. Run the sdemon command to start the services, or start them from the Windows Services list.

Client connections can be made to one geodatabase at a time. When connected to a single spatial database geodatabase on a SQL Server instance, you cannot query information from another geodatabase on the SQL Server instance through that same connection.

For instance, in ArcGIS for Desktop, you could create a database connection to Database1. When you add data to ArcMap through that connection, you cannot view the data in Database2. To access the data in Database2, you would set up a second database connection in ArcGIS for Desktop to Database2.

Legacy:

In ArcSDE 9 to 10, two different data storage models were supported for SQL Server: multiple and single spatial database models. The multiple spatial database model has been deprecated. Existing multiple spatial database model geodatabases are still supported, but beginning with ArcGIS 10.1, you cannot create new ones or add new user databases to existing ones. See Migrating from a multiple database to a single database geodatabase in SQL Server for tips on moving from the multiple spatial database model to the single database model.