Troubleshoot connections

DBMS client files are not present or are improperly configured

When you connect from a client application to a database or enterprise geodatabase, the database management system client files must 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.

Note that ArcGIS Desktop products and ArcGIS Server include PostgreSQL client files; therefore, you do not need to separately install and configure a DBMS client to connect to PostgreSQL.

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 database administrator must alter the pg_hba.conf file 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.

SQL Server databases need network protocols set to accept connections over the network. See Microsoft SQL Server documentation to learn how to enable the appropriate protocols to allow your database to accept connections over your network.

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 can block connections through functionality provided in the database management system. 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 Desktop or using the AcceptConnections ArcPy function. 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.

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