Troubleshooting connections to a database

Most of the problems that occur when connecting directly to a database or enterprise geodatabase are a result of one of the following:

• The database management system (DBMS) client is not installed or is incorrectly configured.
• The database is not configured to accept connections.
• Connections to the database have been blocked.

DBMS client files are not present or are improperly configured

When you connect directly from a client application to a DBMS, the DBMS requires that its client files be present on the connecting client computer. Each DBMS has different requirements when it comes to setting up and configuring its client applications. See your DBMS documentation to be sure you have properly installed and configured your DBMS client on the ArcGIS client computer.

The database is not configured to accept connections

Databases may require additional configuration to allow remote clients to connect. For example, to connect to a PostgreSQL database, the pg_hba.conf file must be altered to allow clients to make a connection. This configuration file resides in the PostgreSQL installation location. See the PostgreSQL documentation for information on altering the pg_hba.conf file to allow remote connections.

Connections have been blocked

There are several ways an administrator could prevent users from connecting to a database. This is typically done to perform certain administration tasks, such as backups or upgrades, without any users connected to the database.

The database administrator could block connections through functionality provided in the DBMS. Most database management systems can be placed in a quiescent mode, which prevents new connections from being made to the database.

For enterprise geodatabases, the geodatabase administrator can block new geodatabase connections from within ArcGIS for Desktop. When a user tries to connect to the geodatabase when it is in this state, the following message is returned:

Failed to connect to database. 
The geodatabase is not accepting connections. 
Please contact your geodatabase administrator.

If you receive this message when attempting to connect to an enterprise geodatabase, contact your geodatabase administrator to determine if the block was intentional and, if so, when you can expect the geodatabase to be available again.