FME and Esri (Legacy) ArcSDE (SDE30) Compatibility

This section contains information applicable to accessing native ArcSDE with the SDE30 Reader and Writer. It does not apply to FME's Geodatabase Readers and Writers, which access SDE via ArcObjects and have always required that an appropriately-licensed version of ArcGIS software be installed.

Does FME work with ArcSDE 9.3 or higher?

In order to avoid problems of version incompatibility, as of FME version 2009, FME no longer installs the required libraries for reading and writing ArcSDE.

You should instead obtain these libraries from an Esri product to ensure compatibility between FME and your SDE database.

There are three methods for obtaining the required libraries:

  1. Install the ArcGIS Desktop product that matches, or is newer than, your ArcSDE installation, OR
  2. Install the SDE C SDK (available on your ArcGIS Server installation DVD) and set up the environment variable described below, OR
  3. Install ArcEngine and check for the environment variable described below

For options 2 or 3 you will need to set up a system environment variable as follows:

Variable Name - ARCGISHOME

Value - <ArcGIS Folder>\arcsde\

(that is, pointing to the folder that contains the bin folder which contains the SDE .dll files)

Does FME work with ArcSDE 9.2?

Yes. However, the same requirements exist as described above for ArcSDE 9.3 or higher. Install a 9.2 product and ensure that the system environment variable ARCGISHOME has been set as described above.

More Information

Visit this FME Knowledge Center page for more detailed information on FME and Esri version compatibility.