Preparing to upgrade a geodatabase in Informix

When you upgrade any enterprise system, including a geodatabase, plan ahead. Test the new version on a development or test server to ensure that it works with all your client applications.

When you have determined that the new system works the way you expected, schedule the upgrade; be sure the necessary staff are available to perform the upgrade and that they have the permissions necessary to complete their assigned tasks.

Be aware of the following:

• Upgrades from beta versions of the software are not supported.
• You can upgrade directly from a 9.3.x or 10 geodatabase to a 10.1 geodatabase if your database is at a supported release.
• If your geodatabase is at release 9.2 or earlier, you must first upgrade to a supported geodatabase release then upgrade to 10.1.
• Once a geodatabase has been upgraded, previous versions of ArcGIS may not be able to connect since some older versions of ArcGIS cannot read newer versions of the geodatabase. Releases prior to ArcGIS 10 will not be able to connect to a 10.1 geodatabase. ArcGIS 10 clients will be able to connect to the 10.1 geodatabase.
• There is no formal mechanism to downgrade a geodatabase to a previous version. If after upgrading to a newer version you want to move back to an older version of the geodatabase, you must restore the old database from backup.

You must also complete the following steps before you upgrade your geodatabase in Informix:

Steps:

1. Check the ArcGIS Resource Center to be sure that your database, operating system, and other components meet at least the minimum system requirements.

   Your database must be at a supported release and your hardware must meet at least the minimum system requirements before you upgrade your geodatabase.

2. Make sure that either the Informix Basic Text Search (BTS) or Excalibur Text Search (ETX) DataBlade Module is registered in the geodatabase.

   The presence of a full-text search module was required starting at ArcGIS 10; therefore, if you are upgrading from 10, these modules would already be present and registered. See ArcSDE XML columns in Informix for more information on their configuration.

3. You must also have the following DBTUNE parameters (added at the ArcSDE 9.3 release) in your DBTUNE table, and they must be configured as described in Informix DBTUNE configuration parameters: XML_IDX_FULLTEXT_TYPE, XML_IDX_FULLTEXT_PARAMS, and XML_IDX_FULLTEXT_STORAGE.
The previous two steps are needed to use ArcSDE XML columns in the geodatabase system tables.
4. Create a backup of the database.
5. Remove any custom functionality you may have added to the ArcSDE geodatabase system tables outside ArcGIS such as triggers or additional indexes.

   The upgrade procedure cannot take into account customizations you make to the system tables. If such customizations prevent the alteration of a system table's schema, the upgrade will fail.

6. If you use an ArcSDE service for connections and have customized any of the files in the etc directory of SDEHOME, make a copy of these files.
7. For IBM AIX users who use an ArcSDE service only: If you are installing on AIX, it is recommended that you run slibclean before upgrading or installing ArcSDE to clear inactive libraries from memory. Stop your current ArcSDE service and run slibclean as the root user. See your AIX system administrator documentation for more information on the slibclean command.
8. The informix user must grant dba privileges to the sde user account for the ArcSDE database through dbaccess.

   If you do not grant the required privileges, there will be problems with the upgrade procedure as well as overall product performance.

   The informix user would issue the following command to grant dba privileges to the sde user:

   dbaccess <ArcSDE_Database>
   Query-language-->New-->
   grant dba to sde
   Run
   

9. Install the current release of an ArcGIS client (ArcGIS for Desktop Standard or Advanced, ArcGIS Engine with the Geodatabase Update extension, or ArcGIS for Server Enterprise Standard or Advanced) on a computer that can directly connect to the geodatabase to perform the upgrade.
10. You must connect directly to Informix from ArcGIS to upgrade the geodatabase. Therefore, make sure the Informix client is installed and configured on the computer where the ArcGIS client is installed.

    If you are connecting from a 32-bit ArcGIS client, such as ArcGIS for Desktop or ArcGIS Engine, you must install a 32-bit Informix client. If you are connecting from a 64-bit ArcGIS client, such as ArcGIS for Server, you must install a 64-bit Informix client.

11. Make sure there are no users connected to the geodatabase you are upgrading.

    You can see a list of the users who are currently connected to your geodatabase by opening the Connected Users tab of the Geodatabase Administration dialog box in ArcGIS for Desktop.

12. If you are using an ArcSDE service, do the following:
    1. Stop the ArcSDE service using the sdemon –o shutdown command. Or if the service is running on a Windows server, you can stop the service from the Windows Services interface instead of using the sdemon command.
    2. If you are upgrading to a new, full release of the ArcSDE application server (such as from 9.3.1 or 10 to 10.1), uninstall the old release of ArcSDE. On Windows, delete the old service when prompted to do so.
       Note:

       If you are applying a service pack or patch, do not perform this step.

    3. Obtain the ArcSDE Application Server installation from the Esri Customer Care portal.

The geodatabase is now ready to be upgraded. You can use the Upgrade Geodatabase tool in ArcGIS for Desktop or a Python script run on the ArcGIS client computer.

If you use an ArcSDE service for connections, install the ArcSDE application server after you upgrade your geodatabase.