Supporting multiple map services

Maritime Chart Service allows you to configure as many map services as your system resources can support on a single instance of ArcGIS Server. By default, when you install the Maritime Chart Service capability, it is added to all existing map services, but you must enable the capability before you can use it. The installation creates a default location for all configuration files that the map service uses. You can configure each map service that runs Maritime Chart Service independently or share some of the support control files.

Setting up a second map service with Maritime Chart Service enabled

To support more than one map service with Maritime Chart Service enabled, you must repeat the steps in Setting Maritime Chart Service properties, and you also must copy the existing maritimechartservice folder containing your controlfiles, sencs, logs, and datasets support folders to a new location.

1. Repeat the steps to set Maritime Chart Service properties if you haven't already done so.
2. Locate the maritimechartservice folder that was created and appended to the following path by the installer: <ArcGIS Server installation drive>\arcgisserver\directories\maritimeserver\maritimechartservice.
3. Copy the maritimechartservice folder to a new location.
4. Rename the new folder and update the property paths.

   If you're sharing S-57 or S-63 datasets between multiple map services, make sure to set your datasetsDirectory path to that shared location. See the next section for more information.

5. Delete the existing .senc files in the new senc folder.
6. Delete existing log files in the new logs folder.
7. Make any additional modifications to your controlfiles folder and datasets.
8. Restart your map service.

Sharing control files and datasets

As described in Setting Maritime Chart Service properties, you can set three directory property paths. The workingDirectory property path should never be shared and should always be on the physical server running your map service. You can share the other two directory property paths, controlFilesDirectory and datasetsDirectory, between map services depending on your operational needs.

The datasetsDirectory and controlFilesDirectory property paths can be located on either the physical server or a file share.

The benefit of sharing your datasetsDirectory property path between multiple map services is the use of a single set of S-57 or S-63 datasets, reducing the amount of maintenance when applying updates. This ensures that all shared services are using the same updated S-57 or S-63 datasets.

The benefit of using a single datasetsDirectory location per map service is that each map service is self-contained and can be updated independently of each other. For example, if you want to provide services with ENC, IENC, and AML but not expose those services to all users, they must be managed individually.

The benefit of sharing your controlFilesDirectory property path between multiple map services is that you can ensure that all shared map services are uniform, meaning that the same S-52 view groups, symbology, and settings are identical and configurable, if necessary.

The benefit of using a single controlFilesDirectory location per map service is that you can configure each map service individually.

In the following image, three map services share the same S-57 datasets, but each map services has a unique set of configuration settings based on what the service uses. For example, to only provide a Navigational Aids or Channels service, you can configure your S52DisplayProperties.xml file for each map service to only show those features (layers) in your view.

If you have completed all the configuration steps necessary, you can download a sample web viewer from GitHub that shows how to use the Maritime Chart Service capability.