Use a desktop .bat file or other method to trigger a Data Interop Spatial ETL tool/.fme file to run on a remote computer

[kmsmikrud]

Hi,

We have purchased a few data interoperability desktop licenses with one that is dedicated to a virtual machine to run scheduled tools. This will meet some of our needs, but I would also like to trigger the .fme file or ETL Spatial Tool to run on demand from a local computer. Is this possible?

My use case is we do not have enough desktop licenses for users to check out in ArcGIS Pro, but I thought maybe it would be possible for a user to enter in the parameters in a .bat file and those are passed along to the ETL tool on the VM, as an on demand way of using the tool.

We did not purchase the Data Interoperability Server license to publish a web tool to our enterprise so I believe that option is out since it would be dependent on the desktop user having the license.

[Anonymous User]

Interesting use case indeed.  Technically running a batch file on the local computer is not possible - assuming you are planning to use Windows Command line to run on that batch file. 

A better approach may be is to use the Task Scheduler on the local machine and Connect to the remote machine to run the ETL tool.  

At the bottom part of this blog written by Bruce Harold shows how to configure a similar task to run an ETL tool in Task Scheduler.
https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-data-interoperability-blog/scheduling-web-etl-with-arcgis-data/...

Of course, some user permissions on the remote machine need to be set for the user running the tool. Also, there is a setting in the Task properties that the task can be run on demand.

Hope that helps.

[BruceHarold]

Thanks Renato, a related topic:  https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-data-interoperability-blog/building-a-data-driven-organization-...

[kmsmikrud]

Thanks RSalaleon and Bruce Harold for the replies.

We do have the ability to run scheduled ETL tools on the virtual machine that I mentioned which is great. What doesn't work currently is an on demand way to run the tool by way of triggering the tool to run on the VM from another machine. The on demand way is necessary for folks to basically collect aerial survey data and be able to download that data to their local machines by specifying a few parameters.

We only purchased the data interoperability extensions for desktop and do not have a server license which is why I was trying to figure out a way to make use of the the VM interoperability license. The scheduled tasks work fine and I use the ArcGIS Online Connector in a few current FME work benches.

Currently we have script tools for the users to run in ArcGIS Pro which work fine with a good network connection, but sometimes the biologists are on research vessels or limited network and then the script tools get timeout errors so I was trying to figure out a way to move the scripts/work benches to run on the VM or to run as a web tool making use of the server connection to run.

I explored sharing a web tool to our Portal but then because the AGOL data is only shared to a group from what I understand there may be issues there in accessing and making edits to the AGOL feature layers prior to download.

Thanks,
Kathy

[BruceHarold]

Kathy, just to clear one thing up, if you did have Data Interop on your server it is not necessary for client machines to also have Data Interop licensed or installed to call a web tool that uses Data Interop on the server.

I can picture one architecture that might work in the absence of a web tool, namely setting up a scheduled task on the VM with high frequency that checks for and processes inputs it can access.  

[Anonymous User]

Kathy, please send an email to rsalvaleon@esri.com and we can discuss offline. A high-level discussion on your workflow and your ETL tool may be appropriate to address your goal.

[kmsmikrud]

Thank-you RSalvaleon! I will send you an email shortly. Much appreciated!