topic Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer in ArcGIS Enterprise Questions

How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:26:34 GMT

Hi Everyone,

This may not be a viable option but I wanted to hear the ideas of the GeoNet first. I have ArcGIS Server (Standard Workgroup 10.4) installed and licensed on a local computer on my company's local area network. I can get to the server manager on this computer by going to https://localhost:6443/arcgis/manager/site.html .

How can I access this server manager from another computer on the same network? I know the PC's local IP address and have tried all sorts of combinations of accessing this from another PC but have had no luck. I can also see the PC's files by typing in \\and the IP address, etc.. Is this sort of thing possible?

Thanks!

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:52:03 GMT

Adrian, assuming you have permission to access the other machine, you should be able to use the IP or the machine name....and the port.

https://<other machine name or IP>:6443/arcgis/manager/

If you are getting an error, try a different browser...or as mention, make sure you have permissions.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:59:54 GMT

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks for the reply. I wish it were that simple. I tried this https://192.168.0.126:6443/arcgis/manager in Chrome and Firefox and both times the connection timed out.

I can see the entire C drive on that machine if I look in a Windows Explorer folder by typing in \\192.168.0.126 . Everything is "shared" on that PC but I am not sure how to get in it from another PC on the same network.

Are there other permissions I need to 'activate'?

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 22:06:14 GMT

Can you get to the admin login page?

https://<machine>:6443/arcgis/admin/login

EDIT: btw, that works for me for both the manager and the admin, if I use the machine name (maybe the IP but not the IP), but not if I use the web URL since I have that disabled for the web adapter. Also I should note that I am admin on all my machines with my domain account, so that part isn't is eliminated on my mahcines. just fyi.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 03:10:31 GMT

Rebecca,

I appreciate the extra info. I am excited to try this /admin/login route but unfortunately I just realized that I will not have a VPN connection or a LAN connection until next week sometime. (though, it does work if I remote into the PC and try it!) But, to be clear, are you saying you use the computer's name as opposed to the computer's IP address in place of "<machine>"?

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 03:32:03 GMT

Adrian Welsh wrote:
But, to be clear, are you saying you use the computer's name as opposed to the computer's IP address in place of "<machine>"?

Yes, the machine/computer name and the port for both the admin and manager. At least on our network, I would get an error when using the ip....my guess is it is due to the SSL certificate. As for my mentioning the web adaptor not working, that is by design, (recommended for security) that is, I have that disabled on purpose, so to manage, I have to be within our domain (although VPN remote works, since that gets me into the domain).

i noticed that you have site.html in your post....I doubt that is the issue, but you might try without.

also, for kicks, try it with http and :6080 My guess is it knows you should be https, and would definitly be need isf you have security enabled, but it's been a while since I did the install (but hope to test 10.4.1 very soon). and if you do have security in place, do you have a SSL installed? Self signed? Seems like I had to have all that, but again, been awhile and our production is still 10.2.2.

hope it works....and of course, I'm sure you know you can always do many of the things thru Catalog on any machine...just not the true admin stuff (logs, security, etc).

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 14:18:42 GMT

Rebecca,

This is some good information. I tried with and without https/http as well as ste.html, etc. But I will continue try many more combinations when I get a chance again.

My main issue is that I want to publish my data to this 'server' from a different computer than what the server is on. Though, I'm not sure how to make that initial connection to the 'server' computer (which is why I am trying to log into server Manager just to see how to make this connection).

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 14:35:47 GMT

You do that in catalog (or ArcMap, thru the catalog) and create either an Admin or Publisher connection...go down to the ArcGIS Server category in the catalog TOC and create a new connection.

ArcGIS Help (10.2, 10.2.1, and 10.2.2)

Have you tried that yet? That is the connection you need to publish from another machine. But make ysure you have those rights to publish with whatever account you use in the connection file. If your personal account doesn't have the rights, you can connect as the AGS administrator.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 15:07:45 GMT

I have ...sort of... tried that but figured I wouldn't get far since I cannot make a connection to the server itself

Steps:

In the Catalog tree, expand the GIS Servers node.
Double-click Add ArcGIS Server.
Choose Administer GIS server and click Next.
For the Server URL, type the URL of the ArcGIS Server site you want to connect to, for example, http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis. If you need help constructing this URL, seeComponents of ArcGIS URLs.

I am guessing if I put that URL in (with my info) that it would not connect since the server is on a local PC that is on a network (not on an actual server - which may be my inherent issue).

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:52:05 GMT

I typically use the machine name for the connection too.

If you have to change your password often, I would recommend NOT storing your user/pass, because if it's like our system, if there are 3 bad attempts, we get locked out and network services staff need to do an unlock. For some reason, these seem to cause an issue, even if you aren't accessing it.

When you publish, it will ask for your credentials. Once published, it doesn't need them again.

Just fyi, I used ArcMap 10.3.1 on my local machine to publish to an ArcGIS Server 10.2.2 on a server (although that shouldn't matter) just now with this process, and it when smooth, although I had to register the data, which is easily done the the analyze window when publishing. I did this to my dev machine, which has expired ssl certs, and it gave me warnings, (3 I think) but did it just the same. I'm now able to see it in REST directory.

edit: btw - one way I think about computer name vs url ...if using the port 6080 or 6443 that is the computer name...that is not using the web adapter. so my sample above uses machine name.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

JonathanQuinn — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 20:47:53 GMT

It sounds like the firewall would be a good thing to check. If ports 6080/6443 aren't open between your machine and the machine where Server is installed and running, you won't be able to connect to Manager or the Admin endpoint through 6080/6443. Can you reach the REST endpoint through 6080/6443? Do you have the web adaptor installed, and if so, can you reach the REST endpoint through the web adaptor? If you can, that'd again point to a firewall problem.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 16:25:08 GMT

Jonathan Quinn,

I didn't think of actually opening the port. That did the trick [for the most part]. I am able to see the server manager and such now. I followed these directions to open the port:

How to Open Ports: 13 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow

and under "Specific local ports" I typed in 6443. Also, I learned that 6443 is for https while 6080 is for http (Ports used by ArcGIS Server—Installation Guides (10.4.1) | ArcGIS for Server )

Ok, now for my dumb question. Is it safe to assume that if I do not have an actual web server, when I publish my map service and put in on a place like AGOL, then I can only see this service when I am on my local network? The only place I can see my REST service now is here: https://192.168.0.126:6443/arcgis/rest/services/11203_Server_Test/MapServer

But computers outside my network cannot see this. Please let me know if there is a way that I am not thinking about.

Thanks again.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

JonathanQuinn — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 16:32:31 GMT

Great! I'm glad that's worked out. Not a dumb question at all, you do somewhat have a web server, as 6080/6443 are running in a web server themselves. You're right, though, if you do not have an externally facing web server, then only you or people within your network can see your services even if you put them in a public webmap on AGOL. If you want people outside of your network to view your services, you should work with your IT staff to install the web adaptor, (or use a reverse proxy), on a public facing web server.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 16:44:02 GMT

Oh, interesting. There is a lot to learn in the server world...

Since we don't really have IT, it's basically me, sort of...

How do you know which web adaptor to install (IIS vs. Java EE)? I'm guessing it's IIS, but not certain. Our ArcGIS Server is basically installed on a machine that will be running all the time and is hooked up to internet as well as the LAN. Nothing more, nothing less.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

JonathanQuinn — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 16:53:00 GMT

Yeah, definitely can go down a rabbit hole pretty quick.

If you're on Windows and you can enable IIS, you should use the IIS web adaptor, (it actually enables it for you, depending on your version). If you were on Linux or were using another web server like WebLogic or Tomcat, you'd use Java, but IIS should work for you.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:34:35 GMT

Jonathan,

I ran through the setup, it installed all the necessary Windows IIS stuff, then did the ArcGIS IIS stuff. It appears to be installed and configured correctly since it seems happy.

Though, I am unsure what 'public facing server' address to type in.

I tried http://meridmain-south/arcgis/rest/services/ but this likely doesn't go anywhere since there isn't a domain extension in it. I tried toying around with the instructions here: About the ArcGIS Web Adaptor—Installation Guides (10.4.1) | ArcGIS for Server

Accessing URLs with the Web Adaptor installed

After installing and configuring the Web Adaptor, the URLs that you use to access your services will change. Below are some examples of URLs that would change after installing the Web Adaptor:

Services Directory (REST web services)

Without the Web Adaptor: http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/rest/services.
With the Web Adaptor: http://webadaptor.domain.com/arcgis/rest/services. For example, if the machine hosting your Web Adaptor is named wa with the domain myorg.net and your Web Adaptor is named arcgis, you'll access the Services Directory using the URL http://wa.myorg.net/arcgis/rest/services.

But I couldn't figure out how to make my combination work in order to have it be public facing. What kind of web address do I need to use in order to make this public facing?

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

JonathanQuinn — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 22:15:47 GMT

You'll need to make sure there's some way for requests outside of your organization can get into your network. Unfortunately, the web adaptor doesn't do this for you. I think you have two options, either start searching for "how to make a public web server" in Google, (which may turn up results like this one or this one), or look into our Amazon AMI's, which are already hosted on a machine that is publicly accessible. Here's a somewhat old blog on the topic.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

AdrianWelsh — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 19:22:21 GMT

Jonathan,

That's some interesting and semi-complicated stuff. I'll have to get with my guy who deals with the WiFi routers in order to make this happen. I believe my company wants to go the route of making a public web server versus cloud services like Amazon.

I read through that main article that goes into detail on how to make this happen but I guess I am not clear on will the end result will be. Will I eventually have a dedicated IP address that I can 'reference' or put into a web browser that will essentially pull up that computer's data? And with that IP address, I will be able to remotely access the server software, etc?

Thanks again!

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

JonathanQuinn — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 20:00:05 GMT

So I'll be honest and say I don't have much experience with making public web servers, but I believe the general idea would be that once you set up port forwarding, you'll have a public IP address that you can use to access internal resources when you're outside of your network. Then, you'll look into assigning a domain name to your IP address, (for example http://meridman-south.com). This article might provide some clarity, but this is probably best handled by the guy who sets up your WiFI routers or your ISP. Perhaps someone with more knowledge in this area will cross this thread and provide more insight.

Re: How to access ArcGIS Server Manager on a different network computer

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:34:18 GMT

I also don't have much experience doing the actual "public access" part of a web server (we use IIS) as far as the IP/domain-name go. I also don't know enough about the differences between the ArcGIS Server Workgroup Standard and ArcGIS Enterprise (which I have access to), but once you have you IIS working, I suggest setting up the web adapters and have all access thru that, and NOT directly to your ArcGIS Server.

About the ArcGIS Web Adaptor—Installation Guides (10.4.1) | ArcGIS for Server

Also, you typically what to turn off external (i.e. web adapter) admin access...If I recall, you do that when you are actually setting up the adaptor. .I typically set up two webadaptors, and not with the default arcgis name. I have one for services that will be fully public, and another for those that will be secure and will be accessed with an SSL cert. Then getting into the proxies is a whole other issue.....especially when you are trying to use them with AGOL and OpenData ...it may be no one else needs this, but to explain better, this is the idea I submitted, fwiw https://community.esri.com/ideas/12119 Proxies in general confuse me...and I don;t think I am alone.

You may also want to look thru ArcGIS REST API the security section.

Much of that you can test before actually making it public, and you maybe already have.