Exposing your services to external users

Before you expose your ArcGIS Server on the Internet, there are a few configuration tasks you need to perform. Some of the links in the Services Directory point to internal URLs by default, and will appear broken to Internet users unless you apply the changes outlined below. Additionally, ArcMap users trying to access your services through ArcGIS.com may not be able to view them unless you apply the described changes.

To make your GIS services available for external users, you need to:

Steps:

1. Update the REST configuration files with an external SOAP URL and REST API reference
2. Update your server directories to use external URLs for their virtual directories

Update the REST configuration files with an external SOAP URL and REST API reference

In order to set up the Services Directory for access to external users, you need to modify the SOAP URL specified in the REST configuration files to be an external URL. The SOAP URL is used to generate various links in the Services Directory, such as “View in ArcMap”, “View in ArcGIS Explorer”, and other Supported Interfaces links. Modifying the SOAP URL will also allow external ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Explorer users access to your services through the “Open in ArcGIS Desktop” command on ArcGIS.com.

Additionally, the URLs for the Services Directory Help and REST API reference need to be updated to be accessible by external users.

Updating the REST configuration files

In ArcGIS Server Manager, you can update the REST configuration files by Exporting the REST handler. One of the required inputs when exporting the REST handler is the SOAP URL. Specify an externally accessible SOAP URL for this input, and deploy the WAR file generated to a servlet engine of your choice.

Alternately, if you prefer to edit the configuration files of an already deployed REST service, do the following:

Steps:

1. In a text editor, open the server.properties file, which is stored in the REST war file in the path WEB-INF\classes\server.properties
2. Update the com.esri.rest.SOAP_URL property with an externally accessible address. Example: com.esri.rest.SOAP_URL=http://externalserver.mydomain.com/arcgis/services
3. Update the com.esri.rest.SOAP_HTTPS_URL property with an externally accessible address. Example: com.esri.rest.SOAP_HTTPS_URL=https://externalserver.mydomain.com/arcgis/services
4. Save and close the file.
5. In a text editor, open the rest-config.properties file, which is stored in the REST war file in the path WEB-INF\classes\resources\rest-config.properties.
6. Update the base.url property with an externally accessible address. Example: base.url=http://externalserver.mydomain.com:port/arcgis/sdk/rest
7. Save and close the file.
8. Restart the application server.

Update your server directories to use external URLs for their virtual directories

The virtual directories associated with the ArcGIS Server output, jobs, and cache directories must use a URL that is accessible externally. You can either edit the virtual directory of an existing server directory or create new server directories with an external URL for the virtual directory. Once the virtual directories are set up, ensure that all your services are configured to use them.