Server Setup:
-Windows Server 2008, R2
-IIS 7.5
-ArcGIS for Server 10.1, SP1
-GIS Server Authentication Tier
-Windows Authentication | Active Directory
-ArcGIS Explorer for Desktop (AGX) 1750 and 2500
I have added one map service from our secure ArcGIS for Server into AGX and saved it as a new NMF file. The map service contains 50 data layers from one source - our SDE SQL geodatabase.
With security turned on, it takes five minutes to open the NMF map file using both AGX 1750 and 2500.
If I set the security to "Public, available to everyone" at the map service folder level on ArcGIS for Server, it takes 45 Seconds to open the same NMF file.
Using a secure map service that contains only eight data layers, AGX 1750/2500 maps open in thirty seconds.
It appears that secure map services with many data layers takes forever to open in ArcGIS Explorer Desktop. I am unable to test the performance of secure map services in ArcGIS Online for Organizations, since AGO currently has a bug that does not allow the loading/saving/sharing of secure services.
Is anyone else experiencing this behavior?