ArcGIS Online REST Endpoint: Can't create folder to organize hosted feature layers

Question

I am administrating an Enterprise environment that includes the use of AGOL. My REST service directory on the Enterprise side is very organized, but I don't want to expose it to the public. I may create a second Enterprise Portal but was hoping that I could publish feature services to AGOL instead, and use that as a public facing API, as opposed to having to create a second Enterprise Portal (that would be the public facing API).

The ArcGIS Online side of the house is really messy because as far as I can tell, ArcGIS Online will not allow you to create folders at the REST endpoint. Having the functionality to publish a feature and register it to a folder on a GIS Server is great, and should be included in the ArcGIS Online publishing workflow. Yes I know that AGOL uses a cloud server, but why can't I create a folder?

Thoughts!?

jcarlson · Answer

One of the options for creating a collaboration is for items in the collaboration to come in as full copies, not references to the service URL. Per the docs:

Copies—Collaboration participants will receive a copy of the feature layer, and updates from the origin will be synchronized at a scheduled interval defined by the guest.

It doesn't take care of the REST directory issue, but would make the periodic data dump a bit easier.

TimothyCallahan · Answer

Josh,

We mainly use our Enterprise Portal because we want data to update in real-time. We have some internal information that is password protected but obviously exposed over https. I don’t like the idea of having public and private services on the same server.

I was thinking I could periodically dump our public services over to AGOL as sort of a data repository and lock down our Enterprise Portal.

Yes we could use HUB. Our cities website provides more data formats than current ESRI products do as far as I know, so we have not adopted it, yet.

Looks like I will have to set up a second Portal!

jcarlson · Answer

As I see it, one of the whole points of AGOL / Portal is that users don't have to browse a REST directory, but can explore available content through groups, galleries, searching by tag/type/location, or through a separate interface like Hub.

I would guess that the reason you can't create your own folders is sort of the same reason you can't directly query the underlying postgres database. That is, you're opting to use a system that does a lot of the backend management for you, and as a tradeoff, you're beholden to certain settings that are predetermined for you.

Is there a particular reason you want people to see the REST directory? As long as you closely manage the sharing settings on your services, your Enterprise REST directory doesn't need to show more than you want it to.