Is it possible to make a copy of an enterprise ArcSDE 10.0 geodatabase on SQL Server 2008 R2 and move it to another instance of SQL Server 2008 R2 and rename the copy to some other name? Using only SQL - no Arc products?
Even after rewriting all the triggers, there's still two possible trip points: Microsoft's security model (users, schemas, & logins and their ids) The contents of the SDE.sde_* and SDE.gdb_* tables.
I can say that the people administering this SQL Server are pointing to ESRI as the problem because they cannot log into the renamed geodatabase using the logins/passwords that the original production sde geodatabase had and they think that ESRI security is causing the problem. I don't even know how to respond to that.
ESRI geodatabase security = RDBMS security = (most likely in case of SQL Server) Windows Authentication
So if you can't login after recreating your database and nothing else changed, you've taken the wrong path (as Vince already told you: you can't rename the database with an established geodatabase in it).
The path you probably should take if you really need to "rename" (note the quotes):
1) - Create a new database using the new name in your instance (or if desired an entire new instance) 2) - Re-create any database users / roles etc. of the old database you wished to "rename" in the new database 3) - Use the "Enable enterprise geodatabase" tool to create a new ArcSDE Repository in the new geodatabase (Alternatively you could have used the "Create enterprise geodatabase" tool to do steps 1 and 3) 4) - Copy over any datasets (Feature Datasets / Feature Classes) from the old geodatabase to the new one, or use One-Way Geodatabase Replication to do it. There may be some headaches here, especially if there are outstanding versions and editing is going on. See also Understanding distributed data
Vince can probably give you more details and correct/supplement what I wrote.
