ArcMap/ArcCatalog is not handling a very breif network outage when connected to data layers in SDE. Even when the network is back online, ArcMap is not able to restore the connection, and keep issuing error messages. Client restart is required after receiving one or more layers failed to draw error.
We are currently using ArcGIS 10.1 and using SQL 2012 (sp1) for Enterprise Geodatabase (arcsde).
It will be really nice that the connection to SDE stay persistent and restore itself (for example, if we lose a connection to license manager, ArcMap trys to reconnect itself. It doesn't force us to quit the application and start it all over.)
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Below is a simple test:
1. Open ArcMap, add a data layer from SDE (layer using direct connect)
2. Go to Control Panel> Network Connections, disable Local Area Connection (this is to mimic a short network outage. Please make sure you are not using ArcMap in a remote session)
3. While disconnected, try to pan or zoom in ArcMap. It will pop up an error message.
4. Now enable Local Area Connection (now the network is back)
5. Try to move around, or add other layers from the same SDE. It will continue complaining and the layers will show up with exclamation mark.
6. Now only way to get back to normal is to exit ArcMap and start over.
At step 3, you could simply do nothing and wait for ~ 15 seconds, and then enable the network back at step 4. Same error messages.