I hope this is the right forum for this. Sorry if its not. This is what am trying to do. I want to be able to make a connection to an ArcGIS server from ArcMap and then connect to an Arcgis Server with a shared folder (which contains shapefiles, gdb's).
I am trying to accomplish this in a local area setting with the long term aim being general access to a wider audience outside of my LAN.
Is this possible?
I have an ArcGis Server 10.2.1 running Windows Server 2008 R2. I've installed ArcSDE and can connect to it from the Server manager and web adapter. I have a shared folder ( is this only visible to the various services?) in ArcGis Server that contains loads of Shapefiles and GDB's.
I can connect to the server from any machine running Arcmap (within my network). All I see is System, Utiliies and the SampleWordCities Map Service (as expected) but not the folder I shared with server. What am I missing.
Ok, if you need to make the geodatabase available for others to connect to in order to export a feature class, then you'll need to provide credentials for them to log into the database from ArcGIS Desktop. You said this would be over a LAN, so your users are still considered internal to the network. If they have ArcGIS Desktop installed on their machines and they create an SDE connection from within ArcCatalog, then they can connect to the geodatabase to view, edit, or export the data depending on the permissions you give to their user accounts. In summary, they would connect to SDE just like you would. Your security model will depend on your RDBMS, the number of people connecting, possibly your OS, performance based on distance, and a variety of end-user requirements.
Folders are shared for desktop access, not necessarily for server access; especially in the circumstance I think you described. Sharing folders for the purposes of ArcGIS for Server would really only be needed if you needed to publish services that reference data residing within the shared folder. Before publishing, you would need to register the folder with the data store. In any case, it sounds like you might need to make a folder connection within ArcGIS for Desktop. You can connect to local folders or UNC paths using the method described here. Connecting to an ArcGIS Server is not the way to access a shared folder. Let me know if this resolves your issue.
Thanks for your response. I do understand the folder connections via Desktop. I thought a similar process is possible via server at a remote location. I just want to be able to reach the folders for the purpose of retrieving data only. Is this possible? I think that will be a Data Service. Users will then be able to extract data an enterprise database for use.
I see ArcGis for Server Enterprise. Could that be what I need?
Reaching remote folders is still done using the same method I described... which is to create a connection to a shared UNC path via ArcGIS for Desktop. You cannot gain access to a remote folder, or any folder, by creating a connection to ArcGIS for Server. The edition of ArcGIS for Server (e.g., enterprise or workgroup) makes no difference in this case. Now, when you mentioned the ability to extract data, I immediately started wondering if you might be talking about or might benefit from a geodata service. Take a look at the article and let me know if this is what you are talking about. For a geodata service, you would require an enterprise geodatabase to begin with. Users essentially establish a server connection to your geodatabase over a LAN; there is no need for accessing a remote folder in that case.
That was some helpful article. I read through it thoroughly and was able to publish a geodata service. What I meant by extracting data was to be able to fully download a feature class from the gdb.
After publishing the geodata service. I couldn't really see the contects of the database. That is the ultimate goal. Be able to see the contents of a GDB and copy them to local folders locally if I do need them.
I really appreciate your guidance in all this. Attached is a snip of what I have now. [ATTACH=CONFIG]33504[/ATTACH]
Ok, if you need to make the geodatabase available for others to connect to in order to export a feature class, then you'll need to provide credentials for them to log into the database from ArcGIS Desktop. You said this would be over a LAN, so your users are still considered internal to the network. If they have ArcGIS Desktop installed on their machines and they create an SDE connection from within ArcCatalog, then they can connect to the geodatabase to view, edit, or export the data depending on the permissions you give to their user accounts. In summary, they would connect to SDE just like you would. Your security model will depend on your RDBMS, the number of people connecting, possibly your OS, performance based on distance, and a variety of end-user requirements.
Very true. I've been able to connect to the gdb from various computers within the LAN. Like Oliver Twist, I have one last question. What if I have users outside of my LAN, how do I go about setting them up to connect to the database as well.
Users who are outside of the LAN could connect to SDE if they had VPN access. There are likely other ways of getting users at remote sites connected to your instance of SDE if they are not already part of your wide area network (WAN). I would not offer access to SDE publicly over the internet, though.
