Can you switch from hosted feature layers to published services from SDE for an ESRI Solution?

[Shawnzeecatz]

Hello everyone,

I am interested in using an ESRI solution. I am used to publishing/creating my own feature services from SDE and then using them in Field Maps for example. My question is, when I deploy an ESRI solution for Enterprise in my Portal, I see it creates a series of hosted feature layers - can I replace them with published feature services from my SDE? Should I do this? Are there pros & cons to this? Has anyone done this?

Some reasons I might want to do this include added control over schema and perhaps who and how it is used. Also, it's not clear if hosted feature layers consume credits?

I'm sure I am confusing a few concepts/terms here, so if anyone can help me figure this out, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!!!

Shawn

[Laura]

You'll have to append your data to the layers in the solution. I've started to use my own layers and copy some of the applications to remake them in a way that better suits me and so I can use referenced layers. 

[ChrisFox]

@Shawnzeecatz, There is not really an easy way to swap out data sources in web maps and apps, so using your own layers would require some work to reverse engineer/recreate the items on top of your services. With the hosted layers you can add additional fields, we encourage people to do this to customize the solution to meet their needs. You can also control the sharing of the layers just like any other items to determine who has access and set what level of editing permissions are available.

Hosted layers in Enterprise do not consume credits. The are hosted on your infrastructure in the ArcGIS Data Store that is installed with the base install of Enterprise.

[Joshua-Young]

@Shawnzeecatz sometimes you can get away with:

1. Export the hosted feature services to a file geodatabase (optionally, reproject the layers if needed)
2. Load the exported layers into your enterprise geodatabase (EGDB)
3. Publish the layers from the EGDB to your portal
4. Use ArcGIS Online Assistant (works with ArcGIS Enterprise as well) to swap out the layer IDs and URLs in the JSON of the web maps and apps in the solutions

This only works if you keep the layer schema exactly the same as what was in the solution. If you start adding and removing fields things may not work correctly. If the solution uses hosted feature service views, you will need to publish additional services of the layers to match what is exposed through the views (available fields, editing permissions, etc.). Before modifying any JSON in ArcGIS Online Assistant be sure to save a copy of the original JSON first.

By far the easiest way to use a solution is to use the provided services and append your data into those hosted feature services. It would be really cool if there was a tool that automated swapping out data sources in the solutions, but that would be a very difficult task with how many variables could be involved.