Each WCS service exposes service-level metadata through its capabilities file. The capabilities file is the XML response that clients receive when they make a GetCapabilities request on the service. Configuring external capabilities files gives you the flexibility to do the following:

• Add metadata about the service.
• Add metadata about each layer.

To use external capabilities files with WCS services, you'll need to create the files and then configure the files for use with your WCS services. The sections below describe this process.

Creating external capabilities files

To configure a WCS service to use external capabilities files, you must prepare at least one WCS capabilities file. You can create the file from scratch, but it's often easier to use a system-generated capabilities file as a template.

By default, system-generated capabilities files are created automatically every time you send a WCS GetCapabilities request to the service. To use a system-generated capabilities file as a template, you need to manually send the GetCapabilities request and save the response as XML. If you want your WCS service to support different versions of WCS protocol—for example, 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, and 2.0.1—you must have one capabilities file for each version of WCS you want to support.

Follow the steps below to create external capabilities files for your WCS service.

1. If you haven't done so already, publish an image service and enable the WCS capability. For more information, see WCS services.
2. In a web browser, enter the URL of your WCS service. The URL is formatted http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/services/folder/service/ImageServer/WCSServer.
3. Append ?request=GetCapabilities&version=1.0.0 to the end of the service URL and press Enter. The XML displayed in the browser is the WCS version 1.0.0 capabilities for your service.
4. Save the results as an XML file. The file name must follow the format <prefix><WCS version>.xml. For example, when you save the result XML from a WCS version 1.0.0 GetCapabilities request, the file must use a common prefix (such as Roads) followed by the three-digit WCS version number (100). The resulting file is Roads100.xml.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each WCS version you want to support, for example, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, and 2.0.1.
6. Configure and customize metadata information for the WCS layers in each capabilities file.
7. Move all of the capabilities files into a common folder that is accessible through HTTP. Typically, this will be a virtual directory on your organization's web server.

Configuring a WCS service to use external capabilities files

To configure your WCS service to use external capabilities files, you'll need to update the WCS service to reference the URL of your capabilities files. You can do this in ArcGIS Server Manager or ArcGIS for Desktop.

In ArcGIS Server Manager:

1. Open ArcGIS Server Manager and log in. If you need help with this step, see Logging in to Manager.
2. Click Services > Manage Services.
3. In the Manage Services module, locate your service and click Edit . If you don't see your service in the list, it may be located within a subfolder under the Site (root) folder.
4. In the Edit module, click Capabilities.
5. In the capabilities list, click WCS.
6. In the WCS Configuration list, choose Use external capabilities files.
7. In the Specify the location and prefix box, specify the URL of the folder where you placed your capabilities files plus the common prefix you used for the files. For example, if the URL to the folder that contains your files is http://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services and the common prefix you used is Roads, then the URL you specify in the Specify the location and prefix box is http://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services/Roads.
8. Click Save and Restart.

In ArcGIS for Desktop:

1. In ArcCatalog or the Catalog window in ArcGIS for Desktop, expand the GIS Servers node and establish an Administer GIS server connection type to ArcGIS Server. If you already have an Administer GIS server connection set up, you can skip this step. For instructions on how to connect, see Making an administrative connection to ArcGIS Server in ArcGIS for Desktop.
2. Within your connection to ArcGIS Server, right-click your service and choose Service Properties.
3. In the Service Editor, click the Capabilities tab.
4. Click the WCS tab and select Use external capabilities files.
5. In the Specify the location and prefix box, specify the URL of the folder where you placed your capabilities files plus the common prefix you used for the files. For example, if the URL to the folder that contains your files is http://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services and the common prefix you used is Roads, then the URL you specify in the Specify the location and prefix box is http://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services/Roads.
6. Click OK.