Enable Non-Interactive ArcGIS Pro Authentication for Service Accounts and Automated Workflows
As more organizations are forced to move from Concurrent Use and Single Use licensing to Named User licensing, there is a growing need for a supported method to run ArcGIS Pro-dependent automation without requiring an interactive user session.
Many enterprise GIS environments rely on:
- Scheduled ArcPy scripts
- FME Form automated workflows
- Windows Task Scheduler jobs
- Enterprise ETL processes
- Overnight geoprocessing tasks
- Data synchronization and maintenance jobs
Today, these workflows often depend on ArcGIS Pro being previously opened and signed in by a user. Organizations have reported situations where automated processes fail until ArcGIS Pro is launched interactively and the Named User license is refreshed. [support.esri.com], [support.safe.com]
The current model creates challenges for:
- Servers located in data centers
- Service accounts with interactive logon disabled
- Cybersecurity policies that prohibit user logins on servers
- High availability and disaster recovery environments
- FME and Python batch processing platforms
Suggested Enhancement
Provide a supported mechanism that allows ArcGIS Pro licensing and authentication to operate in a fully unattended manner.
Possible approaches could include:
- Service Principal authentication
- Application identities
- Managed Service Account (gMSA) support
- OAuth client credentials flow
- Command-line licensing/authentication tools
- Named User token refresh APIs
- Machine-based licensing for automation workloads
- Headless ArcGIS Pro authentication
For example: arcgispro.exe /signin service_account or proauth.exe --login service_account or an API that allows a scheduled process to securely refresh authentication without launching the ArcGIS Pro user interface.
Many organizations use ArcGIS Pro as a dependency for:
- FME Esri Geodatabase readers/writers
- ArcPy automation
- Enterprise geodatabase maintenance
- Data replication
- Nightly GIS processing
- Asset management integrations
Without a supported unattended authentication mechanism, organizations risk:
- Failed overnight jobs
- Manual intervention by GIS administrators
- Reduced reliability of enterprise automation
- Increased operational costs
- Barriers to adopting Named User licensing
Benefits
A supported non-interactive licensing model would:
- Improve reliability of enterprise automation
- Support modern DevOps and server environments
- Eliminate the need to periodically open ArcGIS Pro
- Enable secure service account usage
- Simplify migration away from Concurrent Use licensing
- Improve support for FME, Python, Task Scheduler, and enterprise ETL platforms
As ArcGIS Pro becomes the primary desktop GIS platform and Concurrent Use licensing is phased out, unattended processing should be a first-class and supported deployment scenario for enterprise organizations.
