Error when publishing a network dataset from a file server

[ChrisAdams]

Has anyone come across, or have any ideas about this error when publishing:

NAServer requires at least one network analysis layer to be in the map.

This is the scenario:

Two ArcGIS for Server machines in a site.

All data hosted on a remote machine within the same network. The data is in a file geodatabase, is shared with the domain account running the ArcGIS for Server machines and has read permissions. The data is referenced via UNC paths and can be viewed in ArcMap fine.

*When publishing the network service, the server logs state:

NAServer requires at least one network analysis layer to be in the map.

This is not correct as I have added a network analysis layer by creating a new route.

*Note: if I copy the network dataset locally and reference the data over a UNC path, the service publishes fine.

So, why doesn't my network service publish when the data is remote? I believe it has been set up correctly and that the issue is specific to publishing a network dataset or perhaps it is the size of the data that I am publishing. This is a large, country scale network dataset.

[DmitryKudinov]

Chris,

This sounds like an access issue. Double check in Task Manager the ArcGIS SOC processes are run by a domain account which has access to the UNC location.

But at the same time, having a network dataset on a remote (from the solver perspective) location is not a practice I would recommend. Since you already have it in a File GDB container, why not to copy it locally on every node of the cluster? To do so, copy the containing filegdb manually to every server, and configure the Data Store inside the ArcMap's Server Properties dialog accordingly right before publishing the service.

On the other hand, if the reason you want to use a shared location is to simplify network dataset updates happening due to frequent street edits, I would recommend to consider an SDE based deployment instead.

Best regards.

[ChrisAdams]

Hi Dmitry,

The ArcGIS for Server account is definitely running as a domain account and has permissions to the drive. I successfully registered the UNC path with ArcGIS Server and there were no errors when analyzing the document.

I was considering putting the dataset on both machines. The reason it is on a separate machine is that we want it on a fault tolerant file server for resilience but I will consider this option. Thanks for your feedback. 

[CamilleMapua]

Were you able to find a solution to this issue?

We're running into the same error after successful publishing.

"NAServer requires at least one network analysis layer to be in the map."

[byander]

Camille,
Unfortunately, In my opinion, the ESRI community doesn't help each other like in the open-source community.
Recently I had the same problem and in my tries, I think I fixed this error.
1) Before publishing, I added a Route Analysis Layer in the same database, but empty.
2) Delete a service;
3) Create a Service Definition;
4) Publish a service again.

I hope these steps help you.

[GregMattisGov]

I just had this same issue occur and went to the Esri documentation, which did not resolve the issue. What ended up being the issue was that the data was stored in a file geodatabase on the server but it ended up being that the ArcGIS Server run as account did not have access to the data. Once I added the Read/Write permissions to the folder directory for the run as account, the Network Dataset published as expected.