Can't See Server Data On ArcGIS Online Web App

[LloydBronn]

I'm currently testing an ArcGIS Server (10.3) deployment. I've published a sample geodatabase and map as geodata and map services on the server. I've linked these services with our ArcGIS online account and created a web map and web app from them. My issue is this: I can view the data with attachments on the web app from the web browser on the server. If I view the same page on the web browser on other computers, I can't see the data. I have everything set in the server manager and on ArcGIS online to share with everyone(public). Is this an issue in the IIS manager on the Windows Server, or on the ArcGIS server itself? Currently our server is local to our network.

Web browser on the server:

Web browser on another computer on our network:

[AnthonyKobah]

Hi Lloyd

By "other computers", do you mean computers outside of your network or inside?

I will check the following

1. How is the map service referenced in the application? Just machine name or Fully Qualified Domain Name? 

machine name = http://<MachineName>/rest/services/MapServiceName/MapServer

FQDN= http://<MachineName>.domain.com/rest/services/MapServiceName/MapServer

Assuming the machine is on a domain. 

2. Open up Dev Tools (Network) and check the request when you open the application. 

What errors (if any) do you see? 

[LloydBronn]

Any other computers, in and outside of our network. The machine is not on a .com domain. It's local to our network right now. It seems like that might be the issue. Sorry, where do I find Dev Tools?

[AnthonyKobah]

IE, hit F12

Chrome and Firefox:

Ctrl-Shift-I or Q(Firefox only)

[RandallWilliams]

To add to Anthony's comment:

"My issue is this: I can view the data with attachments on the web app from the web browser on the server. If I view the same page on the web browser on other computers, I can't see the data."

My guess is that you're referencing your services using http://localhost/arcgis/rest instead of your server's Fully Qualified Domain name. In any case, the issue is that the other machines on your network can't resolve to the hostname that was used when you added your service as items to 'My Content' on ArcGIS.com.

[LloydBronn]

You're right. I checked dev tools and it is trying to access the local host. Our domain is only local right now (we don't have a .com domain set up yet), so I guess this is the problem. Thanks!

[RandallWilliams]

Hi Lloyd,

Don't fret! I think we can address this.

Every machine on a network has a private IP address called a 'loopback address' with the name 'LOCALHOST' that resolves to IP 127.0.0.1. This is why your services are visible on your server - you're telling the browser to look at LOCALHOST for the service resource. Now, because you don't have ArcGIS Server running on every machine on your network, nobody can see your service. Think about it like this:

Assume you have a gold bar in your pocket. You send out an email to your office telling them 'you have a gold bar in your pocket'. Everyone gets excited and checks their pockets, but they don't have any gold. Instead, you send out a new email saying 'Lloyd Bronn has a gold bar in his pocket'. Now everyone flocks to you to marvel at your fortune.

In this case, we need to do the same thing with how you've referenced your service in ArcGIS.com - we need to tell it to not look at 'LOCALHOST', but instead to your GIS Server name - which I'm betting folks on your network can 'see'.

To to this, you can right click on 'My Computer' on the server and go to properties, and get the full computer name.

For instance, on my server the full computer name is 'randallsserver.esri.com'. (that's not the real host, I've obfuscated that in the screen cap below).

So, instead of adding the service to ArcGIS.com as http://localhost:6080/arcgis/rest/services/myservice/mapserver, you'd add the service as http://yourmachinename.yourdomain.com/arcgis/rest/services/myservice/mapserver. That should fix it. Essentially, instead of telling everyone to look on their own machines for the service, you're now telling them to look at your server for the service.

You don't have to have an externally accessible .com domain - mine's not.

Hope that helps!!

[SujithaPaidi]

Could you also publish to an ip address instead of the machine name? 

[RandallWilliams]

Sure! Should work if you're only using HTTP. If you're using HTTPS, then you're going to get certificate mismatch errors in your browser because the certificate is issued to a machine name rather than an IP (because IP addresses can change while machine names are generally static).

[LloydBronn]

Thank you Randall. Does the full computer name have to end in .com? Ours does not. It follows this format "SERVERAPP.COMPANY.DOMAIN." We have a .com website, do we need to link the server with that?