If you're configuring ArcGIS Enterprise in an environment where there is no Internet connection available or Internet access is prohibited by your organization, you may encounter the following issues:
- When accessing the ArcGIS Enterprise portal website and ArcGIS Portal Directory through HTTPS, it takes some time (up to a minute) for the applications to load in Internet Explorer.
- You cannot print or preview a web map successfully.
- Searching for or locating an address in a web map fails.
- Calculating area or drawing geometry does not work correctly.
- You cannot specify the extent of a web map item in the portal website.
- Basemaps do not appear when adding OGC WMS services to Map Viewer.
- If you've enabled sharing to social media, these links open with a 404 error.
To alleviate these issues, you need to configure specific HTTPS settings and repoint the portal to local resources. To get started, see the following sections.
Configure HTTPS settings
When setting up your ArcGIS Enterprise portal in a disconnected environment, you will need to ensure that the portal trusts certificates from your certifying authority. See Configuring the portal to trust certificates from your certifying authority for details.
You will also need to modify the behavior of Internet Explorer so that it does not connect to the internet when using HTTPS.
Prevent Internet Explorer from connecting to the Internet when using HTTPS
By default, Internet Explorer attempts to connect to the Internet when you access HTTPS URLs in the browser. In an environment that does not have access to the Internet, the browser will attempt to connect to the Internet for a period of time, usually one minute. For example, after one minute, the browser will time out and connect to the URL successfully. This behavior is commonly mistaken for a poor connection, as the browser seems to hang until the time out value is reached.
To prevent this behavior and allow access to the portal website and ArcGIS Portal Directory immediately in the browser, reduce the time out value on each machine where Internet Explorer is installed. To do so, follow these steps:
- Click Start > Run.
- On the Open dialog box, type mmc and click OK.
- Click File > Add/Remove Snap-in.
- On the Add or Remove Snap-ins dialog box, select the Group Policy Object Editor snap-in and click Add.
- On the Select Group Policy Object dialog box, click Finish.
- On the Add or Remove Snap-ins dialog box, click OK.
- Under Console Root, expand Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings and select Public Key Policies.
- Under Object Type, double-click Certificate Path Validation Settings.
- Click the Network Retrieval tab, and enable Define these policy settings.
- Change the Default retrieval timeout settings values to 1 second.
- Click OK.
- Under Console Root, expand Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > System > Internet Communication Management and select Internet Communication Settings.
- Double-click Turn off Automatic Root Certificates Update and select Enabled.
- Click OK and close the console.
Point the portal to local resources
The items that you'll need to point to local resources include the ArcGIS Enterprise portal's utility services and website-specific properties. The utility service settings are configured through the portal. The website has its own configuration files, which you must modify.
Disable external content
Because some Esri content requires external access to the internet, you must disable the content to prevent requests to ArcGIS Online resources. When disabling the content, a select group of items will be disabled:
- All basemaps owned by "esri_[lang]"
- All content owned by "esri_nav"
- All content owned by "esri"
To disable external content, complete the following steps:
- Sign in to the ArcGIS Portal Directory as an Administrator of your organization. The URL is in the format https://webadaptorhost.domain.com/webadaptorname/portaladmin.
- Click System > Content > Configuration> Update.
- Ensure the False option is selected and click Update.
Once external content has been disabled, you will need to specify a custom group whose basemaps will be shown in the basemap gallery.
Basemaps
The ArcGIS Enterprise portal comes preconfigured with a collection of basemaps from ArcGIS Online. These basemaps are not supported for use in a disconnected environment. Instead, create your own custom basemaps and configure the portal to offer these basemaps in the basemap gallery. See Customize basemaps for details.
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content
ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World is a collection of ready-to-use geographic content available from ArcGIS Online. It can be disabled from your ArcGIS Enterprise portal for disconnected environments. However, you can still use Living Atlas boundary layer content in a disconnected environment by downloading files from My Esri and publishing them to your portal as feature layers.
Utility services
To learn how to update the utility services to point to local services, see Configure utility services for full instructions. The following provides an overview of the necessary changes.
Print service—When you click Print in the portal Map Viewer, the print service is used to preview and print the map. By default, the service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you'll need to configure your portal to use a print service from an ArcGIS Server site; otherwise, you won't be able to print and preview web maps. The service can be the ArcGIS Server site's preconfigured print service or a custom print service hosted on the server.
If you specify a hosting server for your portal, the hosting server's print service is automatically configured with the portal. You'll only need to start and share the print service to use it in the portal. However, if you've previously configured a print service with your portal, the URL is not updated when specifying a hosting server. You'll need to start the service, share the service, and then configure it as a utility service.
Geocode service—The ArcGIS Enterprise portal is preconfigured to use the World Geocode Service hosted by ArcGIS Online, which allows you to find and map a specified address or place name. In a disconnected environment, you'll need to set up your own ArcGIS Server geocode service to find addresses.
Geometry service—Geometry services perform the calculations necessary to do such spatial analysis as buffering and calculating area. The ArcGIS Enterprise portal uses an ArcGIS Online geometry service by default. In a disconnected environment, you'll need to set up your own ArcGIS Server geometry service. The service can be an ArcGIS Server site's preconfigured geometry service or a custom geometry service hosted on the server.
Route service—Route services allow you to find directions between two or more locations. The portal's route utility service is used for the Directions functionality available in web maps. By default, there is no route service configured with the portal. To get directions from Map Viewer in a disconnected environment, you'll need to publish your own ArcGIS Server route service.
Website properties
configurePortalAGOEnv: true,— Used to determine the proxy used for configured utility services. In a disconnected environment, set this property to false.
extentService: "<URL to local map service>",—The extent service is used to update or set the extent of a web map item on the Set Extent dialog box in the portal website. By default, the extent service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you'll need to configure your portal with a GIS Server map service. The service must use the WGS 1984 geographic coordinate system with well-known ID (WKID) 4326.
gcsBasemapService: "<URL to local map service>",—The GCS basemap service is used as the basemap for OGC WMS services that do not support the Web Mercator coordinate system. By default, the GCS basemap service originates from ArcGIS Online. In a disconnected environment, you'll need to configure your portal with a GIS Server map service. The service must use the WGS 1984 geographic coordinate system with well-known ID (WKID) 4326.
portalAGOConfigEnabled: true,—Controls the display of the ArcGIS Online tab in the Organizations Settings page. In a disconnected environment, set this property to false. To disable access to Living Atlas content, follow the steps to disable access to Living Atlas content in your portal, then set this property to false.
portalLivingAtlasConfigEnabled: true,— Together with the portalAGOConfigEnabled property, this property controls the display of the Configure Living Atlas Content section within the ArcGIS Online tab in the Organizations Settings page. In a disconnected environment, follow the steps to disable access to Living Atlas content in your portal, then set this property to false.
searchArcGISOnlineEnabled: false,—With this property, you can disable the option in Map Viewer to search for layers in ArcGIS Online. The default is true. When disabled, the option to search for layers in ArcGIS Online will be hidden from the Search for Layers dialog box in Map Viewer.
showSocialMediaLinks: false,—Indicates whether Facebook and Twitter links are displayed on the item details dialog box. The default is false, meaning that the links are not displayed. If this property was set to true after installation, you'll need to disable the links in a disconnected environment.
The file that contains these properties is located in <Portal for ArcGIS installation directory>\customizations\<version number>\webapps\arcgis#home\js\arcgisonline\config.js. It's recommended that you make a backup copy of this file before modifying it.
Tip:
After you modify the properties in the file, you'll need to restart your portal to apply your edits and clear your browser's cache (including cookies) to see the changes in the portal website. To learn more, see Set advanced portal options.
Modifications to these properties will not be preserved in an upgrade. Changes to the config.js file must be reapplied after upgrading.
ArcGIS API for JavaScript
Portal for ArcGIS 10.7.1 includes versions 3.28 and 4.11 of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript as part of the installation. Portal for ArcGIS 10.7 includes versions 3.27 and 4.10 of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript. The portal and web application templates automatically reference the installed API. The 3.28/3.27 version of the API is available at https://<webadaptor host>.<domain>.com/<webadaptor name>/jsapi/jsapi. The 4.11/4.10 version of the API is available at https://<webadaptor host>.<domain>.com/<webadaptor name>/jsapi/jsapi4.
You may want to download and host your own version of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript to use with the developer edition of Web AppBuilder for ArcGIS or to take advantage of the newest API features.
The locally hosted API can also be used to preview ArcGIS Server services in the Services Directory. See Connecting the ArcGIS Server Services Directory to your portal for details.
Web application templates
ArcGIS Enterprise includes a variety of web application templates that users can publish to the portal or download and host on a web server. See Configurable application templates in the portal help for details.
Out of the box, the web application templates that users publish to the portal are automatically configured to use the locally hosted ArcGIS API for JavaScript. If your users want to download the web application templates and use them to create applications that are hosted on a web server, they will need to follow the instructions included in the readme file that is bundled with the templates.
Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS
Operations Dashboard for ArcGIS is an application that provides a common operational picture to monitor an event or system in your organization. You can deploy Operations Dashboard with your ArcGIS Enterprise portal to build operation views, which include maps, lists, charts, and other tools to display and track live geographic data.