Upload large datasets from ArcGIS for Desktop

When you consume a geoprocessing service through ArcGIS for Desktop, if the task contains input parameter that require you to provide datasets or files to upload, you need to be aware that there is a size limitation. The limitation depends on which data type you upload.

If the input data type is raster or file, the upload size limitation is 64 MB, which is the default heap size. If the size of the upload data or file is larger than 64 MB, you get error messages from the Result window and service crash information from ArcGIS Server logs after uploading.

If the input data type is feature class, the size limitation depends on the service task output download size, not the upload size. This is because during the task execution it creates a definition.dat file in the server job directory, the size of which is larger than the input feature class. If the definition.dat is larger than 64 MB, you get error messages from the Result window and service crash information from ArcGIS Server logs after uploading. For more detail about downloading large feature class, please refer to the section Download large feature class considerations.

If you get error messages from Results window and service crash information from Server log, you need to increase the ArcGIS Server heap size to avoid such errors. To increase the heap size, follow the steps described in Geoprocessing service settings: Advanced properties.

Upload large datasets from a web application

Web applications use the Representational State Transfer (REST) Uploads operation to upload files. This capability is set by the Uploads capability on the geoprocessing service property page. The default maximum upload size is 2 GB. If you want to upload larger files, increase the maximum upload sizes by following the steps described in Geoprocessing service settings: Advanced properties.

If the input data is a file such as a txt, zip, or jpg file, you can use the uploads resource operation to upload these file types. The setup of an upload file type is described in Geoprocessing service settings: Advanced properties.

Download large feature class considerations

In order to download large feature data from Desktop, you need to set the published geoprocessing service as asynchronous. In addition, you can only download large data using Desktop. If the client is web application and download output size is larger than 64MB, then publish the service with result map service.

One of the parameter settings for a geoprocessing service is Maximum number of records returned by the server. If the output of the geoprocessing service returns a feature class or table containing more records than this setting, the task execution result in the Results window will contain the message <data exceeds transfer limit>. You can reset the Maximum number of records returned by the server parameter of the service as follows:

1. In the Catalog window, make a server administrator connection to the server hosting the service.
2. Right-click the service and select Service Properties.
3. Click the Parameters tab and reset the Maximum number of records returned by the server value.
4. The service will be restarted automatically.

Maximum time

When working with long running geoprocessing jobs, you may also need to increase the maximum time a client can use a service. You can configure this on the Pooling tab of the Service Properties dialog box. The default is 600 seconds or 10 minutes. See Tuning and configuring services to learn about the time-outs associated with a service.