About GIS server folders

The GIS server allows you to organize your services in folders. You can create folders based on geographic regions, levels of security, Web service messaging format, or other criteria. For example, you might create a Redlands folder and put all services related to the city of Redlands in it, or you might create a folder for high-security services and configure highly restrictive access parameters for it.

You can use Manager to easily create and manage folders. Click Services and click Manage Services, then find the Manage Folders link. This is where you can add folders, delete them, or change their properties. Folders cannot be renamed.

All folders reside within the root folder. In Manager, you see the root folder as containing all the other folders. Services can also reside at the root folder level. In ArcCatalog, the root folder contains all the services and folders visible immediately under the name of the GIS server. Web service messaging formats (in other words, SOAP and Binary) are set at the root folder level. Consequently, changes to this property affect all other folders inside the root.

You can set Web service security at any folder level. See the help book Securing Internet connections and Web applications to learn about restricting access to folders based on users and roles. Additionally, you can require a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) connection to services within a folder. To do this, open the folder Properties dialog box in either Manager or ArcCatalog and check the box to Require Encrypted Web Access. See Setting up SSL for additional details on configuring SSL.=

Unlike the file system on your computer, the GIS server allows only one level of folders; thus, you can't nest folders inside folders. If you only have a few services, you can put them in the root folder of the server without creating additional folders.

When I create folders for my GIS services, where is the folder structure reflected on disk?

You can see the folders in <ArcGIS>\server\user\cfg. Within them are the service configuration files that pertain to each folder.