Currently when you republish an ArcGIS Server service there is a loss in user access to the service - for large services this could be up to 5 minutes.
So, a solution, a bit like IIS AppPool Recycling
- AGS gets changed to have a unique number for each version of each service - so republishing changes this
- AGS has a look up table, so when requests for "MyService" comes in it looks up this unique number and passes requests on to that service
- When a service is republished, this will publish the service to a new number
- When the service is completely published all new requests get directed to new service - this should be a almost instant change as it changes just one field in one record in a system table.
- When all requests to old service have been completed that service is removed
This will cut our overtime bill down, as we have several services that only get restarted out of working hours.
Cheers
ACM