Search Content by ArcGIS Server URL

[RogerDunnGIS]

Please create a UI or scripted feature which allows Portal and AGOL organizational account administrators to find content items which depend on ArcGIS Server URLs.  This search parameter could possibly use wildcards or regex expressions.

When a layer is removed from an ArcGIS Server service, the URLs for all the layers beneath that layer decrement by 1 (e.g myservice/4 becomes myservice/3).   Managing a a healthy GIS server means that sometimes layers within ArcGIS Server services get modified, deleted, or replaced.  Sometimes, entire services are planned for takedown.  In planning for such events, a GIS administrator needs to be able to search for items within their ArcGIS Portal and AGOL organizational accounts for anything that points to the service in question.  Their plan can then include the modification of said items to point to new URLs.

[Anonymous User]

I 100% agree with this request. I previously developed a stand-alone script to catalog services so I could find services that would be affected by underlying dataset changes, and a script to find maps in Portal with layers pointed at those services. I now have it implemented as a notebook, since we have a Notebook Server deployed. I use it frequently. Having an OOTB, general solution for Portal / AGO content items would be wonderful.

[RogerDunnGIS]

Update: When publishing a Pro map to a federated ArcGIS Server/Portal host, the user is warned if they have the following checkbox unchecked: Map > Properties > General tab > Allow assignment of unique numeric IDs for sharing web layers.  When checked, Server/Portal will write back to your project the layer ID of each resulting web layer.  Therefore, the map should be saved once published.  That ID can then be found for each layer under Properties > General tab > Layer ID.  If the map has not been published, then Layer ID will not be a visible field in the General tab of the Properties dialog.  Layer ID is not a read-only field, however, and the user can modify it to suit their needs.

The advantage of this feature is, of course, is to combat the very thing that originated my idea for the post.  Deleted layers will likely minimally impact web map configurations since the IDs of the remaining layers will be left unchanged.  Layers beneath the deleted layer will have the same IDs as before.  This will also hold true if layers are rearranged.

Still, I uphold my posted idea in that it would be good to have a built-in feature which allows me to know which maps will be affected by the removal of a service.  Furthermore, it would be good to have a built-in feature which allows me to know which other Portal/AGOL items are using these maps, such as dashboards, web apps, and survey 123.  Such tools could produce readonly data, as it would only be used to plan for such events, as one does.