An organization has a web service that must always be available. This service reads data from a feature class in an enterprise geodatabase. The GIS…

Enterprise geodatabases use locks to manage access and prevent conflicts. A running web service places a shared lock on its source data, which prevents any operation requiring an exclusive schema lock, such as altering a field. To meet the high-availability requirement (the service must always be available), the intended workflow is to disable schema locking on the service itself. This setting allows the service to temporarily release its lock, enabling an administrator to acquire the necessary exclusive lock to perform schema updates using tools like Alter Field. The service continues to run during this process.

B. Run the Alter Field geoprocessing tool: This tool requires an exclusive schema lock. It will fail if run while a service with default schema locking enabled is active, as the service's shared lock prevents an exclusive lock from being acquired.

C. Delete the spatial index: Deleting a spatial index is also a schema modification that requires an exclusive lock. This action would be blocked by the running service's lock and does not facilitate other schema updates.

1. Esri ArcGIS Enterprise Documentation. Configure service properties > Data.

Section: Schema locking

Content: "By default, schema locking is enabled on a map service to prevent others from changing the feature class schema while the service is running... However, if you anticipate that the schema of a source feature class will change, you can disable schema locking on the map service." This directly describes the workflow in option A.

2. Esri ArcGIS Pro Documentation. Share a web map > Configure a map service > Properties.

Section: Data

Content: "Schema locking—By default, schema locking is enabled on a map service. This prevents the source data's schema from being modified by you or others while the service is running... If you need to manage the source data's schema while the service is running, disable schema locking." This confirms that disabling the lock is the correct procedure.

3. Esri ArcGIS Pro Documentation. Alter Field (Data Management) > Usage.

Content: "An exclusive lock is required on the input data. If a lock cannot be obtained, the tool will fail." This explains why option B is not a complete workflow on its own and would fail under default conditions.

4. Esri ArcGIS Pro Documentation. Schema locks.

Content: "An exclusive lock prevents all other users from accessing the dataset... Schema modifications, such as those made in the Fields or Domains view, require an exclusive lock on the dataset being modified." This foundational document explains the locking mechanism that necessitates the workflow in option A.