Portal Naiveté

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04-23-2015 06:34 PM
RudyStricklan
New Contributor II

Maybe I should have known that it was all too good to be true. A client organization wants to publish web apps created in their ArcGIS Server Advanced Portal environment to anonymous users (i.e., anybody with the URL link can view the web app). The web apps created by Portal’s Web Application Builder work fine inside the organization’s firewall. All contributing content (e.g., web maps), and the web apps themselves, are shared to Everyone. However, anonymous users outside the firewall cannot access the web app—the web app viewer starts up, but hangs on displaying any content. Fiddler lets me know that a resource that is directed internally cannot be accessed, and we can probably get this tracked down. But it got me thinking: maybe anonymous access to Portal-produced content really can’t happen at all. One thread on this forum from an Esri staffer sates that “it is worth noting that Portal is intended to be an internal solution. There may be some means to get this working for external clients and it might be technically possible. This is where AGOL comes in…” No doubt about AGOL, but one of the reasons the client went with Portal was to minimize those credits they were burning with AGOL.

This 2015 UC Q&A exchange answered the question (I thought):

“Portal for ArcGIS can be accessed by anonymous users and named users. The ArcGIS administrator can grant additional privileges to named users. For example, an administrator can grant a named user permissions to use content from a particular group in the portal or to create and share maps with others. The number of anonymous users that can access a portal is unlimited. The number of named users that can access a portal is defined by your Portal for ArcGIS Named User License.

Use public web maps and web applications?

            Anonymous User: YES          Named User: Yes”

So the basic question is this: can web apps created by Portal’s Web Application Builder be consumed by anonymous users (provided proper permissions/ports/SSL/other-black-magic settings are correctly configured)? If “yes”, then we can surely struggle on to ultimately figure it out, but it would be helpful if there were a source reference that addresses anonymous user access configuration directly.

Thanks to anyone who can shed light or empathy.

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JeffSmith
Esri Contributor

Rudy,

Yes, web apps created by the Portal Web App Builder can be consumed by anonymous users.  How easy this is to accomplish depends a lot on your current Portal configuration.  Ultimately, when you select to share the web app with 'Everyone', you are allowing users without named accounts in Portal to access the web map (and all of the contents within the map).

From your description, it sounds like the problem you are having is allowing external users to view the contents within the web app.  This requires that your Server be exposed externally as well.  If you are using a reverse proxy to handle your external traffic, I'd recommend reviewing this help doc.  Once you have everything exposed externally, you will need to create the web map using the external service urls.  Make sure you are accessing Portal through your external url when creating the web map and using the Web App Builder.

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SteveCole
Frequent Contributor

I have no answer or solution; just a sympathetic "hear hear." This mindset is exactly where I have been about Portal. Our organization already has advanced AGS Server so I was thinking that Portal would be the way to go. I saw the comment in the other thread you were alluding to and that was definitely a bummer. I'll be interested in the informed responses that come up in this thread!

RudyStricklan
New Contributor II

Steve, I appreciate the empathy . Compared to ArcGIS Online, Portal is sort of like a car valet key in reverse: the key opens the door, but you can't really go anywhere because you can't get it started.

JeffSmith
Esri Contributor

Rudy,

Yes, web apps created by the Portal Web App Builder can be consumed by anonymous users.  How easy this is to accomplish depends a lot on your current Portal configuration.  Ultimately, when you select to share the web app with 'Everyone', you are allowing users without named accounts in Portal to access the web map (and all of the contents within the map).

From your description, it sounds like the problem you are having is allowing external users to view the contents within the web app.  This requires that your Server be exposed externally as well.  If you are using a reverse proxy to handle your external traffic, I'd recommend reviewing this help doc.  Once you have everything exposed externally, you will need to create the web map using the external service urls.  Make sure you are accessing Portal through your external url when creating the web map and using the Web App Builder.

PhilPonce
New Contributor

Jeff, your comment of "...you will need to create the web map using the external service urls" undoubtedly says it all for my situation. We configured the web app using the internal service URLs, and we'll try to set things right by configuring it via external access. Thanks so much for taking the time to lend your expertise.

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