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Configure a disconnected deployment

If you're configuring ArcGIS Enterprise in an environment where there is no internet connection or internet access is prohibited by your organization, you may encounter the following issues:

  • When accessing the portal and portal REST API directories through HTTPS, it takes some time (up to a minute) for the applications to load in Internet Explorer.
  • You cannot print or preview a web map successfully.
  • Searching for or locating an address in a web map fails.
  • Calculating area or drawing geometry does not work correctly.
  • You cannot specify the extent of a web map item in the portal.
  • Basemaps do not appear when adding OGC WMS services to Map Viewer Classic.
  • If you've enabled sharing to social media, these links open with a 404 error.

To alleviate these issues, you must configure specific HTTPS settings and repoint the portal to local resources. To get started, see the following sections.

Configure HTTPS settings

When setting up your portal in a disconnected environment, you will need to ensure that the portal trusts certificates from your certifying authority. See Configure the portal to trust certificates from your certifying authority for details.

Disable social media links

Since Facebook and Twitter links require external access to the internet, you must disable the option to include social media links on item and group pages. By default, this option is disabled. If this option was enabled after installation, complete the following steps to disable it:

  1. Sign in to the organization as an administrator or member with privileges to manage the organization website.
  2. Click Organization and click Settings.
  3. Click the Security tab.
  4. In the Sharing and searching section under Policies, turn off the toggle button for Show social media links on item and group pages.

Point the portal to local resources

The items that you'll need to point to local resources include the portal's utility services and website-specific properties. The utility service settings are configured through the portal. The website has its own configuration files, which you must modify.

Disable external content

Because some Esri content requires external access to the internet, you must disable the content to prevent requests to ArcGIS Online resources. When disabling the content, a select group of items will be disabled:

  • All basemaps owned by "esri_[lang]"
  • All content owned by "esri_nav"
  • All content owned by "esri"

To disable external content, complete the following steps:

  1. Sign in to the Portal Administrator Directory as an administrator of your organization.

    The URL is in the format https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/portaladmin.

  2. Click System > Content > Configuration > Update.
  3. Ensure the False option is selected and click Update.

Once external content has been disabled, you must specify a custom group whose basemaps will be shown in the basemap gallery.

Configure custom basemaps

ArcGIS Enterprise organizations come preconfigured with a collection of basemaps from ArcGIS Online. These basemaps are not supported for use in a disconnected environment. Instead, create custom basemaps and configure your organization to offer these basemaps in the basemap gallery.

See Customize basemaps for details about creating and configuring custom basemaps in ArcGIS Enterprise.

ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content

ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is a collection of ready-to-use geographic content available from ArcGIS Online. It can be disabled from your portal for disconnected environments. However, you can still use ArcGIS Living Atlas boundary layer content in a disconnected environment by downloading files from My Esri and publishing them as feature layers.

Utility services

To learn how to update the utility services to point to local services, see Configure utility services for full instructions. The following provides an overview of the necessary changes.

  • Print service—When you click Print in Map Viewer or Map Viewer Classic, the print service is used to preview and print the map. By default, the service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you must configure your organization to use a print service from an ArcGIS Server site; otherwise, you won't be able to print and preview web maps. The service can be the ArcGIS Server site's preconfigured print service or a custom print service hosted on the server.

    If you specify a hosting server for your organization, the hosting server's print service is automatically configured with the portal. You'll only need to start and share the print service to use it in your organization. However, if you've previously configured a print service with your portal, the URL is not updated when specifying a hosting server. You'll need to start the service, share the service, and configure it as a utility service.

  • Geocode service—ArcGIS Enterprise organizations are preconfigured to use the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service hosted by ArcGIS Online, which allows you to find and map a specified address or place-name. In a disconnected environment, you must set up your own ArcGIS Server geocode service to find addresses.

  • Geometry service—Geometry services perform the calculations necessary to do such spatial analysis as buffering and calculating area. ArcGIS Enterprise organizations use an ArcGIS Online geometry service by default. In a disconnected environment, you must set up your own ArcGIS Server geometry service. The service can be an ArcGIS Server site's preconfigured geometry service or a custom geometry service hosted on the server.

  • Route service—Route services allow you to find directions between two or more locations. The route utility service is used for the Directions functionality available in web maps. By default, there is no route service configured with ArcGIS Enterprise organizations. To get directions from Map Viewer or Map Viewer Classic in a disconnected environment, you must publish your own ArcGIS Server route service.

Website properties

Update the following website properties using the Portal Directory. To learn more, see Set advanced portal options.

  • extentService: "<URL to local map service>",—The extent service is used to update or set the extent of a web map item on the Set Extent dialog box in the portal. By default, the extent service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you must configure your portal with a GIS Server tiled map service. The service must use the WGS84 geographic coordinate system with well-known ID (WKID) 4326.

  • gcsBasemapService: "<URL to local map service>",—The GCS basemap service is used as the basemap for OGC WMS services that do not support the Web Mercator coordinate system. By default, the GCS basemap service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you must configure your portal with a GIS Server map service. The service must use the WGS84 geographic coordinate system with well-known ID (WKID) 4326.

  • configurePortalAGOEnv: "www.arcgis.com",—Used to determine the proxy used for configured utility services. The default proxy for configured utility services is www.arcgis.com. In a disconnected environment, set this property to false.

  • portalAGOConfigEnabled: true,—Controls the display of the ArcGIS Online tab in the Organizations Settings page. In a disconnected environment, set this property to false. To disable access to ArcGIS Living Atlas content, follow the steps to disable access to ArcGIS Living Atlas content in your organization, set this property to false.

  • portalLivingAtlasConfigEnabled: true,—Together with the portalAGOConfigEnabled property, this property controls the display of the Configure Living Atlas Content section within the ArcGIS Online tab in the Organizations Settings page. In a disconnected environment, follow the steps to disable access to Living Atlas content in your organization, then set this property to false.

  • searchArcGISOnlineEnabled: false,—With this property, you can disable the option in Map Viewer Classic to search for layers in ArcGIS Online. The default is true. When disabled, the option to search for layers in ArcGIS Online will be hidden from the Search for Layers dialog box in Map Viewer Classic.

    Note:

    To disable this option in Map Viewer, you must update the searchArcGISOnlineEnabled property to false in the configuration file located in <Portal for ArcGIS installation directory>\apps\mapviewer\js\config\viewer.json. Once you have updated the property and saved the file, clear your browser's cache before opening Map Viewer. Any updates made to this property will not persist following an upgrade.

ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript

Portal for ArcGIS 11.1 includes versions 3.42 and 4.25 of the ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript as part of the installation. The portal and web application templates automatically reference the installed API. The 3.42 version of the API is available at https://<webadaptor host>.<domain>.com/<webadaptor name>/jsapi/jsapi. The 4.25 version of the API is available at https://<webadaptor host>.<domain>.com/<webadaptor name>/jsapi/jsapi4.

You may want to download and host your own version of ArcGIS Maps SDK for JavaScript to use with the developer edition of ArcGIS Web AppBuilder or to take advantage of the newest API features.

The locally hosted API can also be used to preview ArcGIS Server services in the Services Directory. See Connect the ArcGIS Server Services Directory to your portal for details.