topic Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory in ArcGIS Enterprise Portal Questions

Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

Martin1 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 15:02:56 GMT

Hello,

we need to change the server of our ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 single machine deployment because the Windows Server installation is corrupt.

I have created a backup with WebGIS DR and successfully deployed it to the new server.
However, I noticed that the Admin URLs of Portal, as well as ArcGIS Server and DataStore have changed. Before, they were pointing to SERVERNAME:6443 / :7443 / :2443. After applying the backup the servername has been replaced by the public facing URL (Web Context Url).

The public facing URL does not support the use of ports like :6443, so the new deployment is not working. I was able to edit the values for ArcGIS Server and Datastore but I have found no way to change the Admin URL for Portal (see attachment).

Is there a way to change this in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 or anything else I can do when creating the WebGIS DR backup?

Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

GlenterpriseUK — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 21:31:14 GMT

Hi @Martin1,

I do not think that what you are trying to achieve is possible.

Is Server and Data Store working correctly after changing their "admin url"?

Worth reaching out to Esri Support.

Regards,

Glen

Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

Martin1 — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 06:39:21 GMT

Hi @GlenterpriseUK

Thanks for answering. I changed the "admin url" of Server and Data Store to the new machine name in the Portal and Server Administrator Directories. It seems to be an accepted workflow.
However, it is hard to tell if everything works perfectly.

What made the whole system come back to life, was editing the hosts-file on the server, and let the web context URL on the server point back to the IP of the server. Like that the ports are reachable. However, I doubt that this is a suggested, sustainable workflow.

I was wondering if the following workflow for 11.4 and onward could be a solution for me:
Update the organization URL
I was thinking that I could maybe get the system running via edits to the hosts-file, than update to 11.5 and then change the Portal Admin URL to the new servername.

Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

GlenterpriseUK — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 10:31:19 GMT

Hi @Martin1,

I am glad that you got the whole system come back to life by editing the host file.

You can attempt to upgrade to 11.4 or 11.5 but please ensure that you have a full backup (which should be tested before the upgrade) in case something unexpected happens.

You can update the organization URL starting at 11.4 but bear in mind that the functionality is about changing the public‑facing (external) organization URL, not the internal machine URL.

Also something worth considering if you plan to change the organization URL at 11.5 is that at ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5, this workflow is impacted by a defect that could result in the corruption of your organization's content. Before proceeding with the workflow, you must install Portal for ArcGIS 11.5 Web Applications Patch

Regards,

Glen

Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

JakeSkinner — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 20:00:34 GMT

Hi @Martin1,

I have created a backup with WebGIS DR and successfully deployed it to the new server.

I'm assuming you edited the hosts file when you did the restore. If the web adaptor and any ArcGIS application exist on the same server you will want to make sure you edit the hosts file like below:

10.0.0.2 newmachine.domain.local alias.domain.com

My guess is you did not have the Fully Qualified Domain name in the hosts file, and only had the alias.

Re: Change Portal Admin URL in Portal Administrator Directory

Martin1 — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:42:33 GMT

Hi @JakeSkinner,
That was exactely it. I missed putting the Fully Qualified Domain name in the hosts file, and only had the alias.
Thanks for your help.