Referenced services continue to work even after unregistering the database from ArcGIS Server or ArcGIS Enterprise portal

Description

Deleting a registered database (datastore) from ArcGIS Server or an ArcGIS Enterprise portal does not break the services published from this database. Editing and query capabilities are still available on the referenced services. 

Cause

Deleting the registered database from ArcGIS server or ArcGIS Enterprise portal sometimes does not delete the information of the registered database saved in the dsconnections.lst file. This file contains all the information about all databases registered with ArcGIS Server.

Solution or Workaround

1. Navigate to the dsconnctions.lst files located at the ArcGIS Server installation and content directory.
2. Make a copy of the file.
3. Open the original file and search for the datastore.
4. Delete the entry for the respective datastore.
5. Restart the ArcGIS Server service.

The dsconnctions.lst files are located at the following locations:

• ArcGIS Server content directory > config-store > data > dsconnctions.lst
• ArcGIS Server installation directory: Program files > ArcGIS > server > databasesupport > dsconnection.lst