Collaborating layer published by reference as copy in AGOL

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02-05-2020 03:35 PM
AdrienLepoutre
New Contributor III

Our goal: publish our data by reference from a registered file geodatabase in Portal. When this data needs to be external, we would like to collaborate with (via distributed collaboration) as a copy (to become a hosted feature layer) to AGOL.

This synced copy would then leverage the cloud capabilities for public facing request levels. However when going through the process of setting up the collaboration and reading the online documentation, it was not clear that this set-up was possible. For example: when setting up the collaboration workspace, we have the choice between (screenshot ) sending "Feature layers [...] in my portal [...] as References or as Copies (If possible). When selecting "Copies (if possible)", a message appears mentioning only "hosted feature layers" for which you need to "checked 'Enable Sync'". The conditionality ("if possible") combined by the fact that feature layers by reference (hanging off a map image layer) do not have the "Enable sync" option available, it seems to me that it means that to have a synchronized copy in AGOL collaborated via Portal, it needs to have been published as a hosted feature layer during the initial publishing to Portal (?) If so, that would mean that by reference feature layers in Portal could only be collaborated to AGOL as references, hence the "If possible" (inferring that it is not possible for layers initially by reference) ? Testing it out with layers by reference, the URLs were always pointing to the original Map image layer (by reference) on the Portal REST.

Only when published as hosted initially (and synced) did the URL change to a cloud-like URL. However an ESRI staff explained that this setup was possible yesterday. I wanted to find confirmation that this was either not possible or indeed possible in a way we hadn't figured out yet.

Thank you,

Adrien

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5 Replies
ThomasJones1
Esri Contributor

Hello Adrien Lepoutre‌,

It is possible to share a referenced feature service as a copy to ArcGIS Online as long the feature service meets a few requirements. The 'if possible' I believe refers to that when the collaboration is set to share as copy it will always  try to share as copy'first. If for any reason the collaboration fails to share as copy it will revert to share as reference.

As you mentioned all layers in the feature service need to support the 'sync' capability.

  • All layers either need to be archived or versioned (without the option to move edits to base). 
  • All layers need to have a GlobalID field.
  • I would recommend using a GUID field from the primary and foreign keys for any related tables. 

If your referenced feature service already supports sync's but it is still sharing as a reference I would recommend reviewing the collaboration sync logs to determine why the service is failing to share a copy.

Hope this information is useful.

Thanks,

Thomas.

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AdrienLepoutre
New Contributor III

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for your detailed answer. This makes sense. 

From what I understand from the data preparation involved for a web service to support "sync" capability, the original data source needs to be a registered enterprise geodatabase - sync capabilities cannot be achieved with data by reference in a file geodatabase? 

I tried turning sync on in "Feature Access" on a service by reference pointed at a file geodatabase, but it gave me an error, referring to the data preparation.

Thank you,

Adrien

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AdrienLepoutre
New Contributor III

Hi Thomas,

It looks like I managed to create the hosted copy with the collaboration.

However now I am having issues with the syncing - it says that it failed and the records do to permeate through.

The portal logs indicate that" The requested capability is not supported." although syncing is enabled on the feature layer.

Do you know what could be the cause of this issue?

Thank you,


Adrien

 

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AdrienLepoutre
New Contributor III

Works now, thank you!

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ThomasJones1
Esri Contributor

Hello Adrien Lepoutre‌,

I am glad you were able to share your content as a copy successfully. Just to follow up on your enterprise geodatabase vs file geodatabase question you are correct sync can only be enabled on services referencing data in an enterprise geodatabase. Enterprise geodatabases support the archiving or versioning functionality which sync requires. 

Thanks,

Thomas.