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Need to Replace Out of Date Map Services in MXDs

RandyKreuziger

We just upgraded ArcGIS Server from 10.0 to 10.1. Several users have MXDs that contain a map service that retired during the upgrade. With the map service gone those MXDs take 10 to 30 minutes to open and another 5 minutes just to right click on the service in the TOC so it can be removed.

What is there in ArcPy to find and replace map services? Let me know if this topic should go in another forum.

And, why the heck does ArcGIS Desktop spend so much time looking for a map service before giving up?

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MattSayler

Looks like layer objects contain information for services in 'serviceProperties' but it's a read-only attribute. You'll probably have to setup the script to use AddLayer(), RemoveLayer(), etc. instead of findAndReplaceWorkspacePath()/replaceDataSource().

Edit: Actually looking a little deeper at AddLayer(), I'm not 100% sure if that will work, as it takes a path to a layer file. Is it possible to save a layer file for a service?

RandyKreuziger

Thanks Matt, RemoveLayer will work. I've just got one last problem. Since I'm running this script for other users I don't want to remove all layers with broken datasources. A user may have data on their C: drive or a protected network folder, but since I'm running the script those layers show up as broken.

.The only thing I want to remove are broken map services. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find just map services.
The line with lyr.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES") errors off if the broken layer is a table view since TableViews don't have the SUPPORTS attribute. Any ideas.

i

mport arcpy

fileName = "DBS100"
myMXD = "H:/_maps/" + fileName + ".mxd"
print myMXD
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(myMXD)
for df in arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd):
    for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListBrokenDataSources(mxd):
        print "  Broken DataSource: " + lyr.name
        # TableViews are erroring off because that object has no supports attribute .
        if lyr.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES"):
            if lyr.serviceProperties['ServiceType'] == "MapServer":
                print lyr.serviceProperties

del mxd

MikeVolz

This is definitely going to be a problem. Is there anyway you can restore the old mapservices again, so you can run a python script to remove and/or replace these mapservices? Can you have both versions of ArcGIS Server running at the same time or did you upgrade in place? This would be a reason why you would want to build new servers when you upgrade your ArcGIS Server environment.

MattSayler

Thanks Matt, RemoveLayer will work. I've just got one last problem. Since I'm running this script for other users I don't want to remove all layers with broken datasources. A user may have data on their C: drive or a protected network folder, but since I'm running the script those layers show up as broken.

.The only thing I want to remove are broken map services. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find just map services.
The line with lyr.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES") errors off if the broken layer is a table view since TableViews don't have the SUPPORTS attribute. Any ideas.

i
mport arcpy

fileName = "DBS100"
myMXD = "H:/_maps/" + fileName + ".mxd"
print myMXD
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(myMXD)
for df in arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd):
    for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListBrokenDataSources(mxd):
        print "  Broken DataSource: " + lyr.name
        # TableViews are erroring off because that object has no supports attribute .
        if lyr.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES"):
            if lyr.serviceProperties['ServiceType'] == "MapServer":
                print lyr.serviceProperties

del mxd

You could use ListLayers() instead of ListBrokenDataSources(), and just look for layers that have service properties that match the old service. It might work out better to make all your checks fairly explicit since there are a variety of situations you have to work with.

This is definitely going to be a problem. Is there anyway you can restore the old mapservices again, so you can run a python script to remove and/or replace these mapservices? Can you have both versions of ArcGIS Server running at the same time or did you upgrade in place? This would be a reason why you would want to build new servers when you upgrade your ArcGIS Server environment.

I don't think you can replace the source for services like you can for layers because it's not just a file path. You have to update the server, service name, etc. which are read-only. Using arcpy to remove and add the services as layers is the only way to automate this right now as far as I can tell. I'm not 100% sure, but that's what it has looked like from the research I've done.

MikeVolz

Matt:

You are probably right about not being able to replace the datasource. I would try to use the UpdateLayer method, but this might not be possible because the source might already be broken. You would need to know what the starting layer is so you know what layer to replace it with if you have multiple mapservices to choose from. This would be important if you had many mapservices that were retired at once and replaced with newer mapservices.

The UpdateLayer method is how I converted raster images sourced from SDE with raster mosaic datasets sourced from a mapped network location.

MattSayler

Oh, that's a good idea. UpdateLayer uses an existing lyr file, same as AddLayer, correct? I told Randy to use AddLayer and RemoveLayer, but I bet that would shortcut things a little. I was thinking that wouldn't work because of the Read-Only attributes, but it probably just does a remove and an add under the hood.

Can a lyr file be saved for a service though? That's the biggest question in my mind.

MikeVolz

I would think you could create a lyr file from a service as my organization has a few lyr files like this. I believe the only problem with this method is if the mapservice exists in a group layer as you need to know the index of the layer inside the group layer if you want it to maintain its visibility with respect to the other layers in the group layer. This might not be the case, so it would need to be tested.

RandyKreuziger

It finally came to me. Putting the supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES") inside a try except was the missing piece. Now I should be able to remove all broken map services without it failing when the broken layer is a TableView. See the code below.

New question. Is there a way in 10.1 to determine the MXD version? I'd like to run this script on 10.1 but save out MXD in the same version as the original.

mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(myMXD)
for df in arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd):
    print "*** New Data Frame"
    print "    Listing Data Frame Layers"
    for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListBrokenDataSources(mxd):        
        print "  Broken DataSource: " + lyr.name
        # TableViews are erroring off because that object has no attribute supports.
        try:
            if lyr.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES"):
                if lyr.serviceProperties['ServiceType'] == "MapServer":
                    print "MapServer"
                    print lyr.serviceProperties
        except:
            print "Layer has no SUPPORTS attribute: " + lyr.name

MattSayler

Not seeing it in the map document properties directly. Kind of strange since you can select a version using the 'saveACopy' method. 'Describe()' will only return the type ("MapDocument").

Only other way I can think of is to test for properties that are unique to different versions. Looks like there are some candidates between 10.0 and 10.1 at least:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/#/MapDocument/00s30000000n000000/
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/MapDocument/00s30000000n000000/

for example:

if mxd.activeDataFrame:
    print "Version 10.1"

Not sure how bulletproof that methodology will be though.

JeffreyBarrette

Document versioning needs to be added. Please add this to the ideas site.

The above idea is good but it only tells you what version of ArcGIS is installed, not what version the MXD is. The text element class is the most useful for this: text.textAngle = 10.2, text.clone=10.1.

Jeff

RandyKreuziger

Document versioning needs to be added. Please add this to the ideas site.

There are at least 3 relevant proposals in the ideas site. Time to vote 🙂

https://c.na9.visual.force.com/apex/ideaView?id=087E00000004qGSIAY

https://c.na9.visual.force.com/apex/ideaView?id=087E00000004b98IAA

https://c.na9.visual.force.com/apex/ideaView?id=08730000000c1LUAAY

MikeVolz

In regards to ArcMap maintenance it would be good if the user had the option of either embedding the SDE credentials in the mxd or using .sde files outside the mxd to create the necessary SDE connections. This could mean the difference between updating a few .sde files as opposed to thousands or more SDE connections inside mxd files.

Please vote at the following location:

http://ideas.arcgis.com/ideaView?id=087E00000004wTD&returnUrl=%2Fapex%2FideaList%3Fc%3D09a300000004xET%26category%3D%26p%3D2%26sort%3Drecent

RandyKreuziger

Just when I thought I had it :mad:

With several users dead in the water we decided to recreate the missing Map Service so users could get into their MXDs while I work on the script. That's created a new issue. In my script I'm removing all broken Map Services, but now that a dummy Map Service is available there's no broken map services to delete. So I need to delete a Map Service based on its name but I can't figure out how to find the orginal Map Service name.

Both lyr.name and lyr.longName display the name from ArcMap's table of contents. Several users have renamed the Map Service name after adding it to the map's TOC, so I'm unable to test for the original name.

None of the service properties for a Map Service give the source map service name.
print lyr.serviceProperties

{u'UserName': u'',
u'ServiceType':
u'MapServer',
u'Connectionfile': u'C:\\Users\\xyz\\AppData\\Roaming\\ESRI\\Desktop10.0\\ArcCatalog\\arcgis on gisolymap01.ags',
u'URL': u'http://gisolymap01/arcgis/services',
u'Server': u'',
u'Allowinsecuretokenurl': u'0',
u'Anonymous': u'-1'}

Any ideas?

MikeVolz

According to documentation for layer in v10.1, the URL should get you the name of the service as this is part of the URL, unless it is through a LAN. Are you working on a LAN when processing this script?

The URL for this documentation is:

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//00s300000008000000

Go to the area Keys for a web service dictionary.

Please let me know if this helps.

My organization has decided to avoid using services in mxds (especially outside services) as you never know when they will be retired which would cause broken links as you are experiencing.

RandyKreuziger

Michael,
I'm gettting a URL back but it doesn't list the mapservice or the folder. Here is what I get: http://aimsw.xyz.wa.lcl/arcgis/services

According to the documentation the URL will be null if through a LAN

[INDENT]URL �??Property displaying the URL to the service. If the connection to ArcGIS for Server is through a local area network (LAN), this value will be null[/INDENT]

Could it be that ESRI is not making the map service name available through arcpy?

MikeVolz

Randy:

I would log an incident with ESRI at this point because their documentation is misleading at best. If you are on a LAN, then you should have received a Null value but you got the URL without the service name. If you are not on the LAN, then you should have received the URL including the service name but you did not get the service name in the URL. The documentation that I referred to is for arcpy's mapping module which should be exposed in python.

T__WayneWhitley

Just to add to what Michael said at post #15:
I think the service name is simply fetched with the name property...but 1st you have to make sure it is service - I think at 10.1, more direct access was provided for that property, meaning you don't have to get it from the serviceProperties dictionary; it is simply isServiceLayer (and of course, if true then get the name).

This is a little testing on one of my 10.0 map services, and I think you'll get the picture:

>>> if mapServiceGrp0.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES"):
...     for i, j in mapServiceGrp0.serviceProperties.iteritems():
...         print "{0}:  {1}".format(i, j)
...         
UserName:  
ServiceType:  MapServer
Connectionfile:  C:\Documents and Settings\whitley-wayne\Application Data\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcCatalog\mc-gisappserver (admin).ags
URL:  
Managerurl:  http://mc-gisapperver/arcgis/services
Server:  mc-gisappserver
Allowinsecuretokenurl:  0

I could have looked up the ServiceType key directly and identified it as a MapServer...but I need the name, so this:

>>> # This 1st one is an SDE 'service' - have to distinguish between SDE and other supporting service layer...
>>> mm = mapLyrs[0]
>>> mm.name
u'MonroeGISData.DBO.BM_MileMarkers'

>>> # so I could have queried a bit further to get type 'SDE' above...but with DBO in the name I already know.
>>> # This 2nd layer is the map service from 1st code section above - I need the name.
>>> mapServiceGrp0 = mapLyrs[1]
>>> mapServiceGrp0.name
u'MonroeCountySDE_Environmental_Layout'

It should be that simple -- just with 10.1 and above you can readily identify whether a service (and serviceProperties yields more details about that service).

Hope that helps,
Wayne

PS- If it shows better what I mean about 'SDE service' vs for example a 'Map Service', see this where I use an identical technique looping through the serviceProperties dictionary:
http://forums.arcgis.com/threads/94600-PLEASE-HELP!-Features-do-not-get-updated-in-Geoprocessing-Service#7

RandyKreuziger

This is a little testing on one of my 10.0 map services, and I think you'll get the picture:

>>> if mapServiceGrp0.supports("SERVICEPROPERTIES"):
...     for i, j in mapServiceGrp0.serviceProperties.iteritems():
...         print "{0}:  {1}".format(i, j)
...         
UserName:  
ServiceType:  MapServer
Connectionfile:  C:\Documents and Settings\whitley-wayne\Application Data\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcCatalog\mc-gisappserver (admin).ags
URL:  
Managerurl:  http://mc-gisapperver/arcgis/services
Server:  mc-gisappserver
Allowinsecuretokenurl:  0

Wayne, using your code from the first example still returns a URL without the map service name. I need the folder /map service name. We do go through a balancer but that shouldn't be a problem.

UserName:  
ServiceType:  MapServer
Connectionfile:  C:\Users\kreuzrsk\AppData\Roaming\ESRI\Desktop10.0\ArcCatalog\arcgis on aimsw.xyz.wa.ags
URL:  http://aimsw.xyz.wa.lcl/arcgis/services
Server:  
Allowinsecuretokenurl:  0
Anonymous:  -1

MikeVolz

Randy:

At the least it seems like this is a new idea for ideas.arcgis.com to access a mapservice name (not the TOC name that can change) with python scripting as it does not seem possible at this point.

T__WayneWhitley

Hmmm, yes, now I see limitation in this method if you intend to use it with mxds, i.e. precisely identify which services are which.
I also see Michael's point; I don't use the map services locally in mxds either - and therein seems to lie the problem with identifying by name - the name property returns that as it is in the map TOC. And that can be changed by the user (or whoever authored the mxd).

The only way I can really confidently identify (not really absolutely) with arcpy from the mxd perspective is to examine the contents of the layers within the map service - but then again I must know what a map service contains, and this doesn't always apply to map services obtained from elsewhere (someone else's server). Searching metadata in this case may be your answer.

Otherwise, with this since I know precisely what is inside this 'composite' map service, I can rename in in the map TOC (in this case, the 2nd layer 'test', and I know what I have in my datastore and can logically ID it - yes, this is weak, but may be one of your optional work-arounds with arcpy

>>> mapLyrs = arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd)

>>> mapLyrs

[<map layer u'MonroeGISData.DBO.BM_MileMarkers'>, <map group layer u'test'>, <map group layer u'Overview'>, <map layer u'MileMarker'>, <map layer u'Overseas Hwy - US 1'>, <map layer u'Base Map Annotation Water'>, <map group layer u'Base Map Annotation'>, <map layer u'Overview'>, <map layer u'Overview Island Level'>, <map layer u'Monroe County Boundary'>, <map layer u'Miami-Dade County Boundary'>, <map group layer u'MCPA'>, <map layer u'Roads'>, <map group layer u'Parcel ID Text'>, <map layer u'Default'>, <map layer u'Parcels'>, <map group layer u'Historic Areas'>, <map layer u'Historical Structures'>, <map layer u'Tavernier Historic District'>, <map layer u'Marsh Rabbit Buffer'>, <map layer u'Marsh Rabbit Habitat'>, <map layer u'Endangered Species'>, <map layer u'Habitat 2009'>, <map group layer u'Tier Overlay District'>, <map layer u'Tier Overlay District'>, <map layer u'Tier Labels'>, <map group layer u'FEMA'>, <map layer u'Flood hazard zone lines'>, <map layer u'DFIRM panel labels'>, <map layer u'Flood hazard zone text'>, <map layer u'CBRS'>, <map layer u'Zoning'>, <map layer u'FLUM (Draft)'>, <map layer u'2006 Orthophotography'>, <map layer u'2009 Orthophotography'>, <map layer u'2012 image catalog'>]

EDIT:
Interesting, I have never used this command before:

ListMapServices
Resource Center » Professional Library » Geoprocessing » The ArcPy site package » Mapping module » Functions » Managing Documents and Layers
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/ListMapServices/00s30000004s000000/

MikeVolz

ListMapServices appears to generate a list of all mapservices that are hosted on a specific server. That does not appear to help this situation as you would want a different ListMapServices that would list all the mapservices found in an ArcMap document using their original name and not the name that appears in the TOC.

T__WayneWhitley

Yes I see the dilemma....unfortunate. But is it at least an option to examine the 'sub-layers' inside the map service and identify it in that fashion? I admit, it is difficult.

That list command is being deprecated anyway - at 10.1 there is a lot more to explore with the Administrator API:

Scripting with the ArcGIS Server Administrator API
Services » ArcGIS for Server (Windows) » Administering ArcGIS for Server » Scripting ArcGIS Server administration
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#//0154000005r1000000

Maybe there is a solution for this thread outside of arcpy?...shot in the dark, but if the new map service is named the same on a new server you could edit your hosts file to redirect, not much of a workaround but could get you out of this pinch.

Wayne

MikeVolz

I have just detected another problem with out-of-date services that you can test yourself as well. Some GIS users added ArcIMS services from public sites such as USGS which I believe required credentials. At this point in time, the service has been retired. This causes my python script to hang on these mxds for about 20 minutes (very problematic if my batch of mxds is over 500 files).

To try to solve this problem, I opened this file in ArcMap and deleted this service and then saved the mxd. When I re-opened the saved mxd, I was still getting a dialog box asking for the ArcIMS service credentials even though I deleted this service. I then repaired the mxd with MxdDoctor which finally solved the problem.

Why would ArcMap hold on to any part of the retired ArcIMS service if I deleted it from the mxd and subsequently saved the mxd without any reference to this retired ArcIMS service?

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