Webgisdr Backup Error: "Export operation failed. String index out of range: -1"

Mehretab · ‎10-24-2019

We are planning to migrate our ArcGIS Enterprise to new machines using webgisdr utility.

Our Portal datastore and web Adaptore are installed in one machine while ArcGIS Server is installed in another machine (Linux VMs).

After filling the necessary parameters we run the webgisdr tool and we are having the following error message, which I found to be not informative:

==================================================
Starting the WebGIS DR utility.
==================================================

The configuration and base backup time in the current Web GIS
-------------------------------------------------------------
Portal: https://xxxxx/portal at 24.10.19 08:03
|
| --   Hosting Server: https://xxxxx/arcgis at 24.10.19 08:03
|    |
|      |-- Relational Data Store: https://xxxxxxx.com:2443/arcgis

Starting the backup process with the WebGIS DR utility.

Starting the backup for Portal for ArcGIS:
Url: https://xxx.com/portal.

Starting the backup for ArcGIS Server:
Url: https://xxxxx/arcgis.

Starting the backup for ArcGIS Data Store:
Url: https://xxxx:2443/arcgis.

Failed to back up the ArcGIS Server:
Url: https://xxxx/arcgis.
{"code":500,"messages":["Export operation failed. String index out of range: -1"],"status":"error"}

The following ArcGIS Data Store has been backed up successfully:
Url: https://xxxx:2443/arcgis.

The backup of ArcGIS Data Store has completed in 00hr:01min:20sec.

The following Portal for ArcGIS has been backed up successfully:
Url: https://xxxxx/portal.

The backup of Portal for ArcGIS has completed in 00hr:05min:57sec.

The backup of Web GIS components has completed in 00hr:06min:32sec.

The SHARED_LOCATION and BACKUP_LOCATION is a network directory.

I change the log to debug to get more details but couldn't find any hint.

The same error is generated when we try to use the exportSite tool in Server admin:

I have been roaming around to understand what this "string index out of range: -1" is implying to no success.

Mehretab.

Mehretab · ‎07-09-2020

After several months of testing and trying to figure out the problem Esri Support finally got the source of the problem.

"We were able to test the whole configuration you have and have determined the issue to be with your existing services and the FolderInfo.json file stored in the folder containing the service. If either one of the two are deleted the export site function works correctly. This causes us to believe that there is an issue with them existing together.

However, if we publish a new service to ArcGIS Server, using an mxd of the existing service, the export site function works fine. Would it be possible for the user to republish his services so as to regenerate all the FolderInfo.json files and then attempt to backup the site?"

The FolderInfo.json file they are referring is the file in /config-store/services/<folder containing the service>

The file contains one line of code, information about the folder name and a few more information.

{"folderName":"yourFolderName","description":"None","webEncrypted":false,"isDefault":false}‍‍

Deleting the FolderInfo.json would make the folder containing the services invisible in ArcGIS manager or any client interface. The worst thing is, the Webgisdr Backup tool completes successfully, but it will exclude the services in the hidden folders. Basically there will be no content in the backup.

The only way going forward was to republish all the services and generate a new FolderInfo.json.

Weird though, this small file will cause such inconvenience in ArcGIS Enterprise.

View solution in original post

JonathanQuinn · ‎10-31-2019

Those types of errors are challenging to troubleshoot without Supports help. You can try again with server logging DEBUG logs but you may want to reach out to Support for further assistance. If you do, have them log a bug to improve on that error.

Mehretab · ‎07-09-2020