We have arcsde running on unix. Not sure how to explain it, but it provides an interface between arcims,arcmap, arc/info and oracle. It is faster and more efficient then oracle spatial (We ran tests) It is very easy to setup, simply create a new user (in our case gisadm), within the configuration files (dbinit) have it reference the oracle home of the database, supply the SID, and you are off to the races. The reason you want it on the SAME box, is there is a lot of "chatter" between sde and the database. I liken it to the concurrent managers of oracle financials, it runs more efficiently if it is on the same box. Darren. -----Original Message----- From: Fuad Arshad [mailto:fuadar@xxxxxxxxx] Sent: Friday, June 04, 2004 8:42 AM To: oracle-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: ESRI ArcSDE application We're working on an ArcSde migration from sqlserver to oracle. i believe the version is 8.2 i was wondering if anyone had any gotchas or any information that we shoudl know. mind you the consultant we have has no clue of either unix nor oracle. Also the consultants are recommending installing app on the database server instead of an app server. This is something i dont like and if anyone has done so reason why is it necessary ?. Thanks Fuad Arshad