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What's new in ArcGIS Server 10.6.1 and 10.6

Note:

This topic provides an overview of new features, improvements, and changes in ArcGIS Server for both the 10.6.1 and 10.6 releases.

ArcGIS Server 10.6.1 offers new enhancements, tools, and bug fixes. For a list of issues that were fixed at 10.6.1, see the 10.6.1 Issues Addressed List.

Note:

If you are upgrading to 10.6.1 from version 10.5.1 or earlier, you need to reauthorize your software with a new authorization file for 10.6.1. You can access your new authorization files in My Esri. If you are upgrading from version 10.6, you do not need to reauthorize.

It's recommended that you review the deprecation notice to determine if your hardware and software components are still compatible with version 10.6.1 and to see a list of functionality that has been deprecated. To review which earlier ArcGIS product versions are compatible with ArcGIS Server 10.6.1, see Compatibility of ArcGIS Server with earlier versions.

Hosting server requirement

Starting at ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6.1, newly created and upgraded portals will only support a federated hosting server that has a relational data store created through ArcGIS Data Store. Enterprise geodatabases can be registered with a hosting server alongside this relational data store, but cannot be the sole managed database for a hosting server. This requirement does not apply to ArcGIS Server sites other than the hosting server. See Migrate to an ArcGIS Data Store relational data store for more information.

Security and monitoring at 10.6.1

ArcGIS Server 10.6.1 includes several fixes and enhancements that improve the security of the software. It's recommended that you upgrade to 10.6.1 to help protect your ArcGIS Server infrastructure.

The following enhancements for logs and monitoring are new in 10.6.1:

  • A suite of resources and operations have been introduced in the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory that allow administrators to locate, monitor, and intervene in current asynchronous jobs being run by a geoprocessing service. Each can be accessed from the service's page in the directory, and then either from the overall Jobs resource or the resource for a specific job.
  • Information about the hardware configuration of a machine can now be queried in the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory. The current CPU and OS specifications, amount of system memory, and number of physical and logical processors is available. See Hardware configuration for more information.
  • The duration of wait time for each service request, with the exception of hosted services, is now logged at the FINE level. These logs are accessible in your server's logs directory and on the Logs tab of ArcGIS Server Manager.

Map and feature service enhancements at 10.6.1

At 10.6.1, feature services have been improved with the addition of layer-based metadata support, REST API enhancements for query operations, and the ability to publish all renderer types as feature services.

Map and feature services now include quantization parameters that significantly enhance drawing performance for supported clients, including ArcGIS Pro 2.2 and web applications that use WebGL rendering of feature layers. See What's new in the ArcGIS Services REST API for more information.

The following enhancements are new for feature services published from an enterprise geodatabase to an ArcGIS Server federated with an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment:

  • REST API enhancements for splitting features
  • Query and editing support for multipatch data
  • Support for publishing feature layers from ArcGIS Pro 2.2 that have unique value symbology applied to multiple fields

New cloud store options at 10.6.1

If you deploy an ArcGIS GIS Server or ArcGIS Image Server site on Alibaba Cloud you can register a cloud store on these platforms and store map and image service caches in the registered cloud store.

If your ArcGIS Image Server site is set as an ArcGIS Enterprise portal's raster analysis server, you can now register an Alibaba Cloud Object Storage Service bucket as a cloud store and use it for the ArcGIS Image Server site's raster store.

If you have an ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server configured with your ArcGIS Enterprise portal, you can register a Microsoft Azure Data Lake Store as a cloud store to use as a big data file share.

Geodatabases and databases at 10.6.1

You can now connect to Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL. For best performance, you should run your ArcGIS clients on Microsoft Azure and use the same location (region) as your Azure Database for PostgreSQL.

Big data file shares for use with ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server can now reference Microsoft Azure Data Lake.

Mosaic datasets and raster datasets are now supported in geodatabases in SAP HANA.

New in ArcGIS Enterprise components at 10.6.1

Many updates have been made across the ArcGIS Enterprise platform at 10.6.1:

ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server

New tools and enhancements are available in the ArcGIS Enterprise portal. See What's new in the portal for details.

ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server can now access HDFS directories using Kerberos authentication.

ArcGIS GeoEvent Server

ArcGIS GeoEvent Server 10.6.1 includes stability enhancements and improved functionality when using the spatiotemporal big data store. See What's new in ArcGIS GeoEvent Server for more information.

New in other ArcGIS Enterprise components

See the following topics to find out what's new in Portal for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Data Store, and the ArcGIS REST API Services Directory:

About ArcGIS Server 10.6

ArcGIS Server 10.6 is a maintenance and quality improvement release. For a list of issues that were fixed at 10.6, see the 10.6 Issues Addressed List.

Note:

If you are upgrading to 10.6, you will need to re-authorize your software with a new authorization file for 10.6. You can access your new authorization files in My Esri.

ArcGIS Server 10.6 includes several fixes and enhancements that improve the security of the software. We recommend you upgrade to 10.6 to help protect your ArcGIS Server infrastructure.

You should review the deprecation notice to determine if your hardware and software components are still compatible with version 10.6 and to see a list of functionality that has been deprecated. Note that search services are deprecated at 10.6. To review which earlier ArcGIS product versions are compatible with ArcGIS Server 10.6, see Compatibility of ArcGIS Server with earlier versions.

ArcGIS Utility Network Management extension

New in 10.6 is the ArcGIS Utility Network Management extension for ArcGIS Server. This extension contains the utility network and other components for managing utility (gas, electric, water, sewer, stormwater, etc.) and telecom network data. Its services allow you to manage and analyze networks on any device, with real-world representations of your network assets.

The extension provides the following key capabilities for utility network management:

  • Sophisticated analysis — Configurable tracing routines to handle complex analysis capabilities.
  • Improved network modeling — Use new association types to model which features are contained within assemblies, which features are logically connected, and which features are attached to structural components of a utility.
  • Subnetwork management — Manage circuits, pressure zones, and other subsections of a network within your network data.
  • Improved mapping and visualization techniques — Generate and store the logical (schematic) view of the network, and work with network diagrams.
  • Expanded data exchange capabilities — Use routines to export network connectivity information to your other mission-critical systems.
  • Increased performance — Updated data and transaction model to decrease complexity and streamline queries.
  • Strong foundation for customers and partners to build on — Includes a configurable framework to create more complex solutions with less custom coding.

Server enhancements at 10.6

The following improvements and new tools are available in ArcGIS Server 10.6:

Optimizations to service management

ArcGIS Server 10.6 contains significant internal enhancements. You'll notice improved performance in many service management operations, from publishing new services to stopping and starting existing services. See About the optimized app server for more details.

ArcGIS Server command line utilities

You can use the createsite command line utility to create a new ArcGIS Server site. The utility takes in arguments to automate site creation through an interactive mode or from a property file. For more information, review steps in the ArcGIS Server install guide for silent installation.

When upgrading an ArcGIS Server site, you can now use the upgradeserver command line utility to silently upgrade.

ArcGIS Server publishroutingservices utility

You can use the publishroutingservices command line tool to publish directions, routing, and logistics services based on a network dataset to your ArcGIS Server. If your ArcGIS Server is federated with a portal, the tool configures these services as utility services with your portal which can then be used by client applications such as the analysis tool in Map Viewer and ArcGIS Pro.

Improved print service

At 10.6, printing maps and layouts from web apps is more powerful.

  • The PrintingTools geoprocessing service, installed in the Utilities folder as part of ArcGIS Server setup, now supports vector tiled layers. Its rendering capabilities are much improved for smart mapping, color transparency, Unicode support, and legends on a layout.
  • You can now publish print services from ArcGIS Pro 2.1 with custom layout templates (.pagx) created using ArcGIS Pro.
  • Use the new ConvertWebMapToArcGISProject function from the arcpy.mp module in ArcGIS Pro 2.2 to create a highly customized Python-based printing service.

Note:

These new capabilities in print services are only available when published from ArcGIS Pro and are not available when published from ArcMap.

Geodatabases and databases at 10.6

Geodatabase support has been added for SAP HANA. You can enable a geodatabase in SAP HANA from ArcGIS Pro or a machine where ArcGIS Server is installed. You can access and use the data in a geodatabase in SAP HANA from ArcGIS Pro and publish services to federated servers.

ArcGIS now supports connecting to Microsoft SQL Server databases on Linux. You can also create geodatabases in SQL Server on Linux. In addition, you can connect from ArcGIS Server on Linux to SQL Server on Windows or Linux. See Microsoft SQL Server database requirements for ArcGIS 10.6 for supported database and ODBC client versions.

You can now use the PostGIS geography type to store spatial data in PostgreSQL databases and geodatabases in PostgreSQL. To use this spatial data type, the database administrator must enable the database for PostGIS. Specify the appropriate configuration keyword (listed below) when creating a feature class to use the PostGIS geography data type to store spatial data in that feature class:

  • For feature classes in a database, choose the PG_GEOGRAPHY configuration keyword.
  • For feature classes in a geodatabase in PostgreSQL, choose a configuration keyword that has the GEOMETRY_STORAGE parameter set to PG_GEOGRAPHY. This may be the DEFAULTS keyword, the PG_GEOGRAPHY keyword, or a custom keyword defined by the geodatabase administrator. Check with your geodatabase administrator to confirm which keyword to use.

See PostgreSQL database requirements for ArcGIS for PostgreSQL and PostGIS versions required to use the geography spatial type with ArcGIS.

Beginning with 10.6 enterprise geodatabases, the following are no longer supported:

  • The ST_Raster type
  • Upgrading the multiple database model geodatabase in SQL Server
  • Registering an enterprise geodatabase as the managed database for the hosting server of an ArcGIS Enterprise portal
  • PostgreSQL 9.3
  • DB2 V9.7 and V10.1