Why am I unable to Publish/Create a Hosted Layer in Portal for ArcGIS?

[Mark_Hotz]

ESRI online help states that I should be able to create a hosted later from under the "Content" tab in "Portal for ArcGIS":

Follow these steps to create a hosted feature layer from a template or another feature layer.

1. Verify that you are signed in with an account that has privileges to create content and publish hosted feature layers, and open the My Content tab of the content page.
2. Click Create and choose Feature Layer.

However, when I follow these steps in Portal I don't see any option to create a Feature Layer.  As I'm the one with Administrator privileges I would assume that I am not restricted by permissions etc.  Am I missing something?  Am I not doing this right?  I created a layer using the Feature Access option when publishing, but this doesn't seem to affect anything either: 

Suggestions?

Thank you

[DerekLaw]

Hi Mark,

Do you have an ArcGIS Enterprise base deployment installed and configured?

I.E., have you installed ArcGIS Server - federated with Portal, and also the ArcGIS Data Store installed? Then a hosting server deployment configured?

• Base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment—ArcGIS Enterprise | ArcGIS Enterprise 
• Configure a hosting server—Portal for ArcGIS (10.6) | ArcGIS Enterprise 

Hope this helps,

[Mark_Hotz]

Derek:

Thanks for the response...it is appreciated.  I do have ArcGIS Enterprise installed and configured; however, you have drawn my attention to something else that is probably at the root of my issue.  I have not yet federated ArcGIS Server with Portal.  Do I need to federate first?  I'm surmising that I have not quite completed my process here :-).

What should it look like in Portal after federation is completed?  Does each feature class from our enterprise geodatabase appear in Portal as a hosted layer (as what happens under "Content" in AGOL), or do I still need to search elsewhere from within Portal when I need to add layers?

Or does the federation process perhaps only federate my existing map services, and I will still need to republish from ArcMap every time a layer in Portal needs updating?

Thanks

[DerekLaw]

Hi Mark,

> I have not yet federated ArcGIS Server with Portal.  Do I need to federate first? 

Yes. First you would configure your ArcGIS Server site with the ArcGIS Data Store. Then, federate the Server site with Portal for ArcGIS. After you've federated, the Server site will be available to become a hosting server for Portal.

After you've deployed the ArcGIS Enterprise base deployment, then you should be able to publish/create hosted layers in Portal.

> What should it look like in Portal after federation is completed?

Each web service that already exists in the Server site (before federation) will become a web layer in Portal (after you've federated). These will appear on the Content page of the admin account that performed the federation.

Hope this helps,

[Mark_Hotz]

Derek:

Thanks for the feedback.  I have federated Server and Portal now and everything works really well.  However, now I'm thinking that my original question (about publishing a hosted layer) has to do with not yet installing and configuring the ArcGIS Data Store.  This has to be in place anyway for us as there is some key functionality that we require that will need this to be set up first.  I'm working on that now.

[WenfengLi]

I think the original question is more about the "Create New Feature Layer" option in Portal. I also wonder wheather we have the same "create new (empty) feature layer" option in Portal as in ArcGIS Online. It descripted in the following link:

https://community.esri.com/groups/technical-support/blog/2015/05/14/the-secret-way-to-create-an-empt...

[MarleyGeddes]

A new experience for creating empty feature layers was added to Online in the June release.

See details on this new feature here: Creating Empty Feature Layers for Data Collection 

Adding this ability is on the roadmap for Portal for ArcGIS as well. However, I cannot say with certainty what version of the software it will be in. 

[WenfengLi]

Thank you Marley for the information. Just wonder whether this option is also available in Portal 10.6.1.

[MarleyGeddes]

The option is not available in Portal 10.6.1.

It is on the road-map to include in Portal but I do not know what version it will be in.

[deleted-user-EpRzjYvkmULR]

I just attended a Webinar today in which the presenter said this functionality will be implemented in the 10.7 Enterprise release planned for March 2019.