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Problem registering folder as data store in ArcGIS Server 10.1 SP1

DanielLewis

I have ArcGIS Server 10.1 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008. I am trying to register a shared folder using the UNC path as a data store. I've tried this in ArcCatalog 10.1 sp1 and through the web manager interface, and it fails with:
Invalid folder location. Unable to access this location.

The ArcGIS Server service account is a domain account with full permissions to the share and full NTFS permissions. I've verified this by logging into the ArcGIS server as the service account, opening the UNC path in question, and reading/writing files.

The path I'm trying to register is of the form \\server\share\folder. I've also tried just \\server\share, makes no difference.

I have an open ticket with ESRI on this, but the tech I'm working with seems to think I haven't applied permissions or I'm mistyping the path. As I stated earlier, I've verified I have the permissions correct and I'm using the correct path. It opens with no problem and that service account has full permissions. I think this may be an issue with ArcGIS Server.

Any assistance is appreciated.

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RichardWatson

I think that if you search the forums that you will find other users who have (and are) struggling with similar issues.

Just brainstorming:

Perhaps it is related to inability of ArcGIS Server to find your server. There have been many posts about server having issues with machine names which contain certain characters. Suggest that you use very simple names. Also, you might try using a fully qualified domain name. There have been various issues related to the resolution of machine names.

You might try running the SysInternals Process Monitor utility in order to ascertain what the underlying failure is, i.e. what is ArcGIS Server trying to do that is failing. That might give you the insight that you need to be able to understand the problem.

When I have problems like this what I try to do is to simplify as much as possible. I might start with a non-domain account and see if that works. Another thing to try is to just use local storage, i.e. not UNC. I understand that these configurations are not what you want to deploy but the goal here is to figure out why it is failing.

If you resolve this then please post the resolution. I am hoping that 10.2 has better error messages in these situations.

DanielLewis

I think that if you search the forums that you will find other users who have (and are) struggling with similar issues.

Just brainstorming:

Perhaps it is related to inability of ArcGIS Server to find your server. There have been many posts about server having issues with machine names which contain certain characters. Suggest that you use very simple names. Also, you might try using a fully qualified domain name. There have been various issues related to the resolution of machine names.

You might try running the SysInternals Process Monitor utility in order to ascertain what the underlying failure is, i.e. what is ArcGIS Server trying to do that is failing. That might give you the insight that you need to be able to understand the problem.

When I have problems like this what I try to do is to simplify as much as possible. I might start with a non-domain account and see if that works. Another thing to try is to just use local storage, i.e. not UNC. I understand that these configurations are not what you want to deploy but the goal here is to figure out why it is failing.

If you resolve this then please post the resolution. I am hoping that 10.2 has better error messages in these situations.

Thank you for the ideas. I'm trying to troubleshoot it with ProcMon right now. The error generated is:
LOGON FAILURE
Operation: CreateFile
Class: File System

From the ArcGIS server, I can login as the arcgis service account (a domain account) and access the unc path, using either the servername, the fqdn, or the ip, and create files. So, the error that is generated from ProcMon, could that mean that the ArcSOC service is trying to actually login to the server specified in the UNC path? If so, perhaps the service account needs special rights ("access this computer from the network", "logon as a service", etc.) to the file server in the UNC path? This shouldn't be, but all I can think of right now.

RichardWatson

Does the ArcGIS Server account have the rights needed to log on the machine which is hosting the UNC share?

I agree that this should not be needed but perhaps you could add it to see if that is the problem. If you don't control that server then can you do all of this on a test server which you can control?

See if there are any NT event log entries on the machine hosting the UNC share.

DanielLewis

Does the ArcGIS Server account have the rights needed to log on the machine which is hosting the UNC share?

I agree that this should not be needed but perhaps you could add it to see if that is the problem. If you don't control that server then can you do all of this on a test server which you can control?

See if there are any NT event log entries on the machine hosting the UNC share.

Yes, the ArcGIS server service account has rights to logon to the server hosting the UNC share. I've logged in as that account to make sure it has rights to do do it and access the share from both the hosting server and the ArcGIS server. I've deleted and recreated the share.

You mentioned special characters earlier. My servers do have a hyphen (dash) in the server names due to naming conventions. I can't change that. It hasn't been an issue before. I've also registered a different folder on this this same ArcGIS server that is hosted on a different server (with a dash in the name). It took about 100 tries before it took, and then it worked out of the blue for no reason. Very strange.

At this point, the only thing I haven't tried is to login to the arcgis server with the service account and map the UNC share as a drive letter, then see if it will register as a drive letter. I shouldn't have to do that, and I will have to do it for all servers in the site. I definitely think something is wrong with ArcGIS server 10.1 sp1 and wish ESRI would chime in. I do have a ticket open for this with ESRI (waiting on a phone call now).

If anyone else is having this problem, can you let me know if you resolved it and what you did, or what you have done to troubleshoot if you haven't resolved it yet?

RichardWatson

You could try \\IP address\share\folder.

Anything in the NT event log on the server hosting the share?

DanielLewis

You could try \\IP address\share\folder.

Anything in the NT event log on the server hosting the share?

I cannot access it via the IP, just tried. This is a MS Windows cluster on Server 2008. Perhaps this is part of the issue. I'll try to determine why it doesn't work with the IP. Anyone have any pointers?

ErwanCaradec

Hi,
i have the same problem on a Windows 2008 R2 / ArcGIS for Server 10.1 SP1.

i also tried to register a new folder under the existing shared folder \\host\arcgisserver\ like the default registered folder ExportWebMapTemplates with the same permissions for the arcgis account, with no success ...
I think it is not a permissions issue with my server.

I also tried specifiing the shared folder adress like this : file://host/folder with no success.

for test only : On my test server i tried to edit the xml configuration file .\config-store\data\arcgis-dataspace.xml, adding an item manually under /fileShares, with success. I coul'd then publish a service without uploading datas.

<Item>
        <Path>/fileShares/\\host\sharedfolder</Path>
        <Type>folder</Type>
        <Info>{"dataStoreConnectionType":"shared","path":"\\\\host\\sharedfolder"}</Info>
</Item>

I'll open a ticket for this too.

Erwan

ErwanCaradec

Hmmm,
i don't understand, today it works fine with ArcGIS for Desktop and ArcGIS Manager Web interface... without changing anything.

MathHeinzel

I had a similar problem, though my server was in a different domain than the computer with the data. The error was finally resolved by adding a local user to my computer with the data share with the same name and password as the arcgis server account. Perhaps having the arcgis server run under a domain account is the problem, rather than a local account?

Also, before finding the solution, I was also able to mount the share,, etc. It was not share permissions, but NTFS permissions that were the problem. The server is trying to view the file using the credentials of your arcgis server account. It makes no sense to me that it works in my case, across domains, simply because I created a local user with the same name and password aas a local user, unless the authentication is skipping SID altogether and just using a name and password. Could you try adding a local user with the same name and password as the domain user on the machine hosting the data?

I have ArcGIS Server 10.1 SP1 running on Windows Server 2008. I am trying to register a shared folder using the UNC path as a data store. I've tried this in ArcCatalog 10.1 sp1 and through the web manager interface, and it fails with:
Invalid folder location. Unable to access this location.

The ArcGIS Server service account is a domain account with full permissions to the share and full NTFS permissions. I've verified this by logging into the ArcGIS server as the service account, opening the UNC path in question, and reading/writing files.

The path I'm trying to register is of the form \\server\share\folder. I've also tried just \\server\share, makes no difference.

I have an open ticket with ESRI on this, but the tech I'm working with seems to think I haven't applied permissions or I'm mistyping the path. As I stated earlier, I've verified I have the permissions correct and I'm using the correct path. It opens with no problem and that service account has full permissions. I think this may be an issue with ArcGIS Server.

Any assistance is appreciated.

THayes2000

I had a similar problem, though my server was in a different domain than the computer with the data. The error was finally resolved by adding a local user to my computer with the data share with the same name and password as the arcgis server account. Perhaps having the arcgis server run under a domain account is the problem, rather than a local account?

Also, before finding the solution, I was also able to mount the share,, etc. It was not share permissions, but NTFS permissions that were the problem. The server is trying to view the file using the credentials of your arcgis server account. It makes no sense to me that it works in my case, across domains, simply because I created a local user with the same name and password aas a local user, unless the authentication is skipping SID altogether and just using a name and password. Could you try adding a local user with the same name and password as the domain user on the machine hosting the data?

I have the same problem when I try to register a folder using the UNC path \\servername\foldername

When you register data via data stores it does not recognize the UNC path. All my MXDs from which my Map Services are derived have data sources referenced using UNC path.

I think I got it working when I added the drive letter to the path and did not use the UNC path. I am still not sure since in data stores I get a green check mark when I choose Validate All, then I log out of ArcGIS Server Manager and then log back in and the orange question marks reappear next to the folders (File Geodatabases).

I am using a domain account. One machine. Full Admin rights.

I am still trying to figure out the advantages of registering data in a one machine environment.

PF1

We ran into this problem this morning, and found our issue and subsequent fix. Details below, and links to other threads that may be helpful on this issue... not to say this will fix all of your problems, but we had the same symptoms described...

The Problem:
Both Publishers and administrators could not register new folders with the server. This has worked in the past. The service account (domain) has been granted read permissions to the locations trying to register.

Basic steps attempted:

Through ArcCatalog:

Launch ArcMap
add data residing on a UNC path
File->Share As Service
Existing Connection
Analyze Document (Get warning that data will be copied to server)
Right click warning and register data store

Through ArcGIS Manager:

Open web-browser. Navigate to: https://hostname.domain:6443/arcgis/manager
Login with AD credentials
Navigate to 'Site' -> 'Data Store'
Click 'Register Folder'
Provide generic name
Paste in full UNC path to location
Click Create

Both attempts would return the message

"Invalid folder location. Unable to access this location."

We would try to 'Validate All' registered folders and databases from the arcgis Manager console. This would take a few minutes and upon completion it would return a red exclamation mark indicating that it was not valid.

We launched the arcgis/admin API and went to 'data->validateAllDataItems'. Executing that threw an error that one of our machines was unreachable.

Looking into the machine, we could NOT RDP to it. It seemd to hang on a restart from a windows backup.

The Fix:
We could manually update the arcgis-dataspace.xml file as indicated by erwan.caradec. For better or worse... This allowed our users to continue to publish data that resided in that location.

We re-booted the hung server, and all went back to working normal. We could validate the registered objects. we could also delete the registration and re-register existing folders/databases.

so bottom line... it appears that the ArcGIS Server 'site' did not recognize that one of the servers were hung (not responsive). It appears that that 1 hung server in our multi-machine deployment prevented any user from registering data stores.

Background:
We have a multi-machine environment. 2 Microsoft NLB web-adaptors. 4 ArcGIS Server machines participating in 2 clusters (2 nodes in each cluster). All running Windows 2008 R2 and ArcGIS Server 10.1 SP1

user store: Windows Domain
role store: Built-in
Authentication: ArcGIS Server, token based

Here were other links/threads that were helpful or related to this:
Can't Register UNC Directory
database will not register by folder
Serving Mosaic Dataset (Image extension) from NFS mounted directory

HTH

WilliamCraft

I believe the user account for the ArcGIS for Server Windows Service (i.e., the local or domain account you specify during installation) must have at least READ permissions on the folder you wish to set up as a data store. Either add that user to a local group with implied rights to the path or set specific permissions on the folder for the user account itself.

If shared paths do not validate, try mapping the share as a drive letter and registering the folder that way.

LeeAllen

I agree with William. I was having the same issue, so went into the server that the shared folder is on, created an account for arcgis, and gave it file and share permissions on the shared folder. It worked.

Version 10.2.2

deleted-user-IeBnIKjmF3rR

Per a suggestion above, I was trying to use a server with a dash "-" in the server name, copied data to another server and was able to publish.

QaisarNadeeem

I faced the same issue on ArcGIS for Server 10.4.1. I had the satellite image (file) on other server and was not able to publish the folder, after reading your i did the following

1. created an identical windows account on the server containing data

but no luck after some investigation and reading from (Make your data accessible to ArcGIS Server—Documentation | ArcGIS Enterprise )

i found that the user must be identical to ArcGIS Server Service Account in user name and Password, then give permissions on the the shared folder to this account, and i was able to register the folder successfully.

Qaisar Nadeem

JamalNUMAN

I have the following case:

The data is stored in machine (m1) and the ArcGIS Server is installed in machine (m2) where these two machines are on the same group.

How the ArcGIS Server User Account in machine m2 can have an access to the D drive of machine m1 (whew the data is stored)?

MehdiPira1

@DanielLewis ,

Try this, go to properties of the folder > Security > Share and try sharing the folder with Administrators first then try to create the datastore (ArcGIS Server Manger > Site > Data Stores > Register Folder). If it doesn't work, try to share with Everyone. Then register the folder.

I hope that helps.

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