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Frequently asked questions about distributed collaboration

This topic lists questions or issues that you may encounter when working with distributed collaboration and suggests possible solutions. If you don't find the problem you're looking for, you can search for articles on the Esri Support website.

ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Enterprise collaborations

ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Enterprise collaborations

Sharing web apps

Sharing feature layer data as copies and syncing edits

Sharing hosted feature layer views

Synchronizing workspaces on demand

Synchronizing workspaces using a scheduled interval

Other common questions

Troubleshoot

Can I set up a collaboration with an ArcGIS Enterprise organization using a different version of ArcGIS Enterprise?

Yes. Keep in mind that participants in the collaboration will only have access to the features available in the version of ArcGIS Enterprise their organization is using.

I have ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes. I want to set up a collaboration with another ArcGIS Enterprise organization, which is on Windows. Is that possible?

Yes. ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes can act as either the collaboration host or guest for an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment on Windows, Linux, or Kubernetes. ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes can also act as a guest for an ArcGIS Online hosted collaboration. For more information, see About distributed collaboration and Key concepts for collaboration.

How do I update the web-tier authentication credential or PKI certificate used for a collaboration with another ArcGIS Enterprise participant?

ArcGIS Enterprise supports changing the web-tier authentication credential and PKI certificate used to communicate with another ArcGIS Enterprise participant. Changes can only be made through the Portal Directory REST API. See the Distributed Collaboration Update Web-tier Authentication Configuration REST API topic for more information.

You can add, update, and delete web-tier or PKI certificate authentication for a collaboration's ArcGIS Enterprise participants. To learn more, see Manage collaborations and Manage collaborations as a guest.

Will nondefault SSL protocols or cipher suites on one site impact distributed collaboration with another site?

Nondefault configurations for the SSL protocol or cipher suites used on one site should not impact a distributed collaboration with another site, even if the protocols or ciphers do not match or overlap.

Can ArcGIS Enterprise collaborate with more than one ArcGIS Online organization?

No. An ArcGIS Enterprise organization can only collaborate with one ArcGIS Online organization at a time. For more information, see Set up an ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online collaboration.

Can ArcGIS Online organizations using a developer subscription participate in a distributed collaboration with an ArcGIS Enterprise organization?

No. An ArcGIS Online trial, personal use, or developer subscription organization cannot participate in distributed collaborations.

My ArcGIS Online organization changed its URL key. How can I reestablish my organization as a collaboration participant?

You can accomplish this in one of two ways:

  • The collaboration host can delete and re-create a collaboration with the new URL key.

  • The collaboration guest can leave the collaboration and request to be reinvited by the host using the new URL.

Why do I receive an SSL certificate error while attempting to accept a collaboration invitation for an ArcGIS Online organization?

If your organization is using a forward proxy, you must import the certificate used by the forward proxy into ArcGIS Enterprise as a root/intermediate certificate and proceed to accept the invitation.

I've disabled the option to allow access to my organization through HTTPS only. In ArcGIS Online, when I try to view feature layers shared by reference in a map viewer, I am prompted with Error: The layer, [layername], cannot be added to the map. What's happening?

In ArcGIS Online, this error message is used to inform the user that the requested content may not be added to the map. By default, ArcGIS Online is configured to only allow access through HTTPS. Verify that the ArcGIS Enterprise feature layer service URL is using HTTPS. If it is not, update the service URL to use HTTPS. To see how, follow the steps in the FAQ: Is it possible to update a service URL in an existing ArcGIS Online web map? support article.

Can I copy data from ArcGIS Online into my enterprise geodatabase?

No. Destination layers within a collaboration must be hosted layers from ArcGIS Online or ArcGIS Enterprise.

Can I copy data from an enterprise geodatabase to ArcGIS Online?

Yes. If the enterprise database is registered to a federated server in ArcGIS Enterprise, its data can be used as a source layer in collaboration between ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online.

When collaborating between ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Online, what changes are required to my network's firewall?

In this configuration, all communication is initiated by ArcGIS Enterprise. As such, network firewall rules must support outbound communication over port 443.

Note:

These network firewall changes also apply to ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Enterprise collaborations in which participating organizations are on different networks.

Can I share web apps in distributed collaboration?

Yes. ArcGIS Enterprise collaboration participants can share web apps to other ArcGIS Enterprise participants that are at a version equal to, or later than, their own as well as ArcGIS Online. See Share web apps for supported apps. Group-based web applications are also supported.

ArcGIS Online participants cannot share web apps to ArcGIS Enterprise participants at any version.

Can a collaboration participant edit a web app they've received?

Once shared, most web apps may be edited by other collaboration participants. These edits will be overwritten once the original owner updates the web app. Edits made by a receiving participant will not be sent back to the original owner. However, web mapping applications cannot be edited by the recipient.

Can I share a web app item that references a custom web app that I've deployed to my web server?

Yes. Web app items that reference application URLs outside of your portal may be shared, as long as collaboration recipients have been granted permissions to access the externally hosted application.

Can I share ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World web apps to a collaboration?

No. ArcGIS Living Atlas web apps cannot be shared through distributed collaboration.

What happens if a collaboration participant shares a retired configurable app template to my organization?

Recipients using an earlier version of ArcGIS Enterprise can share a retired template in your current release, but you will be unable to view the shared application.

Can I share ArcGIS Instant Apps templates that require a group?

Distributed collaboration does not support the sharing of ArcGIS Instant Apps templates that require a group.

I have edited the symbology in a shared feature layer; however, the updated symbology is not replicated for receiving participants. Why?

When sharing a feature layer as copies, the original symbology is preserved. Subsequent symbology edits are not replicated. However, when sharing feature layers within a web map, the symbology is stored in the web map, and updates to the symbology are preserved.

What happens when a hosted feature service is shared to multiple collaboration workspaces in the same collaboration or in multiple collaborations?

When shared initially, the hosted feature service item is replicated. If subsequently shared, the item is not replicated again, and instead, the existing item is shared.

When attempting to share feature layer data as copies, I encounter the following error message in the logs: Failed to create replica. Multiple layers are referencing a dataset, which is not supported. Why?

This error is encountered when a web map contains multiple layers referencing a single dataset in the database (for example, a Roads feature class is referenced in the map as two separate layers: major highways and minor roads). When publishing web maps containing feature services to be shared as copies in collaboration, ensure authored maps do not contain multiple references to a single dataset.

What happens when a user changes the owner of a hosted feature service that has been shared as a copy?

Content that is currently shared continues to be replicated and synchronized and continues to work.

What happens when a user unshares a hosted feature service that has been shared as a copy to a group?

The hosted service will be deleted or unshared at the next scheduled sync. If that service is then shared back to the group or shared to a different group, a new copy is made and shared with receiving participants.

Why can't my receiving participants synchronize their edits to a feature service I've shared as a copy?

Edits made to a feature service by the source owner can be synchronized, one way, with receiving participants. However, the ability for receiving participants to edit their hosted feature services and synchronize the edits back to the source feature service, a two-way sharing of edits, is not supported.

To save your edits to a received item, export the feature service and publish the exported data as a new hosted feature layer. This new hosted feature service will not receive synchronized edits from the source feature service, but you will be able to make edits to the service.

You can allow two-way sharing of edits to feature layers between recipients. For more information, see Share content with collaboration groups.

I have a feature layer shared with a group linked to a collaboration workspace where the option to copy data is selected. How can I change the workspace setting to share as references?

Unshare the feature layer from the group. If you are using scheduled sync, wait for a sync to occur. The default sync interval is 24 hours. The system administrator must then edit the workspace and join a new group with sharing of feature layers as references. Share the feature layer with this new group.

My map and tile layer don't get copied, even though I have shared with a group linked to a collaboration workspace where the option to copy data is selected. What is happening?

Only feature layers are replicated with data copy. Other layer types (such as map or tile) are shared as a reference. Refer to sharing content to a collaboration for details.

When attempting to share a feature layer as a copy, the item was instead copied as a reference because it had not been sync enabled. After enabling sync on the feature layer, it continues to share by reference. What is happening?

When shared initially, the item was copied as a reference because sync was not enabled on the layer. Subsequent synchronization attempts will continue to share as references even if sync has been enabled. To share the feature layer data as copies, unshare the item from the collaboration. This will remove the item from the receiving participants. Then, reshare the item to the collaboration. Since the feature layer now has sync enabled, it will be shared as a copy.

Can I share a feature layer with branch versioning to a collaboration as a copy?

Yes, feature layers with branch versioning can be shared from ArcGIS Enterprise to ArcGIS Enterprise and from ArcGIS Enterprise to ArcGIS Online.

When attempting to share a feature layer as a copy to a workspace configured to allow two-way sharing of edits, the item is shared as a copy. Edits made by the source are shared with the receiving participant, but edits made by the receiving participants are not received by the source. What is happening?

Your feature layer has sync enabled, but may not support replica tracking or bidirectional sync. To troubleshoot, access the feature layer using the ArcGIS REST API and confirm the layers have the following:

  • Has sync enabled—The feature service property capabilities should appear as follows:

    "capabilities": "Query,Create,Update,Delete,Editing,Sync"

  • Supports replica tracking—The feature service layer property isDataReplicaTracked should be true:

    "isDataReplicaTracked": true

  • Supports bidirectional sync—The feature service property syncCapability should have the secondary property supportsBiDirectionalSyncForServer set as true:

    {
  "syncCapabilities": {
    "supportsBiDirectionalSyncForServer": true
  }
}

If the feature layer does not support all the required capabilities listed above, unshare the item from the group joined to the collaboration workspace, update the service to enable the capabilities and reshare to the group. For more information on enabling feature layers to support two-way sharing of edits, see Share feature layers with collaboration groups.

Can a receiving participant edit the schema of a shared feature layer and share those edits back to the source?

No, two-way editing of a feature layer's schema is not supported. Both the source and receiving participant can edit the schema of a feature service, but the workspace sync operation only includes edits (insert, update, and delete operations) that were available at the time the view was shared to the collaboration.

Note:

To send schema changes to receiving organizations, unshare and share the layer to the workspace.

Does distributed collaboration support sharing services that use SDO_Geometry, which aren't registered with an enterprise geodatabase, as copies?

No, distributed collaboration does not support services using SDO_Geometry that are not registered with the enterprise geodatabase. Distributed collaboration uses feature service replication to share service data between participants. Since replication needs the data to be registered with the enterprise geodatabase—as it provides a mechanism to keep track of changes through archiving, versioning, and branch models—registering data with the enterprise geodatabase is required.

Can I share feature layers that include the esriFieldTypeDateOnly, esriFieldTypeTimeOnly, esriFieldTypeTimestampOffset, esriFieldTypeOID, and esriFieldTypeBigInteger geodatabase field types with collaboration participants?

Yes, feature layers that include these field types can be shared with collaboration participants as references in both ArcGIS Online-to-ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Enterprise-to-ArcGIS Enterprise distributed collaborations.

Do I need to share both the hosted feature layer and the feature layer view with a collaboration workspace group?

Users have the option to either share both items or just share the feature layer view. If you share both items with the collaboration group, participants will receive the data to create the hosted feature layer as well as the view data to create a second hosted feature layer. The relationship between the hosted feature layer and the feature layer view is not maintained. If only the hosted feature layer view is shared, the view definition will determine the data collaboration participants receive, while the hosted feature layer the view is associated with will not be shared. Instead, the view data will be used to create a hosted feature layer on the recipient's portal.

I have multiple views created from a single hosted feature layer. Can I share more than one view with a collaboration at a time?

Yes, multiple views from the same layer can be shared with a collaboration. Each shared view will be received by collaboration participants as a hosted feature layer that will be named based on the title of the shared view.

Do I need to have sync enabled if I want to share my view as a copy with a collaboration?

Yes, sync must be enabled on each view shared as a copy. However, sync can only be enabled for a view if it is already enabled on the view's associated feature layer.

Can hosted feature layer views be shared as references?

Yes, all hosted feature layer views can be shared as references. Each view that is shared as a reference causes a new item to be created in participating portals, with the new item referring to the original view service. Be sure to configure your collaboration workspace to share feature layers and views as references.

Are view schema changes applied to shared items?

No, view schema changes are not applied when an item is synced. The workspace sync operation only includes edits (insert, update, and delete operations) that were available at the time the view was shared to the collaboration.

When I share a hosted feature layer view that has multiple layers, each with a different area of interest defined, the item is shared as a reference rather than a copy. Why is this happening?

A hosted feature layer view with multiple layers can only be shared as a copy if each layer has the same area of interest defined.

When I share a hosted feature layer view with editor tracking enabled and a field definition, the item is shared as a reference rather than a copy. Why is this happening?

A hosted feature layer view with editor tracking enabled can only be shared as a copy if each of the editor tracking fields is included in the view field definition. Editor tracking fields include created_user, created_date, last_edited_user, and last_edited_date.

I am the administrator and host of an ArcGIS Enterprise collaboration. Can I synchronize a collaboration workspace on demand?

No. Only guest participants using ArcGIS Enterprise can synchronize on demand.

Which organization members have the ability to synchronize a collaboration workspace on demand?

ArcGIS Enterprise members with the administrator role have the ability to synchronize a collaboration workspace on demand.

How often can I synchronize a collaboration workspace on demand?

Once an on-demand workspace synchronization has started, you cannot start another job until the current job completes. If a scheduled synchronization job is already running, you cannot start another on-demand synchronization until the current job completes.

Why is the Sync Workspace option disabled?

When a synchronization job is already running, the Sync Workspace option is disabled. Once the job completes, the Sync Workspace option is enabled and you can use it to start another synchronization job. To determine the latest status for scheduled synchronization jobs, view the Sync Status report for its respective workspace.

Once on-demand synchronization has started, what items will be synchronized?

The behavior of on-demand synchronization is the same as scheduled synchronization. All items shared to a group will be synchronized. Updates for shared feature layers (including feature edits) in the group will also be synchronized.

My environment is physically located in the Eastern time zone (EST) though I administer it from Pacific time zone (PST). If I configure my collaboration to run at a scheduled interval using PST, for example, 8 p.m., when will the scheduled synchronization job actually run in my environment, given the difference in time?

To avoid time zone discrepancies, scheduled times are displayed in the client's local time but are stored in the system as their equivalent coordinated universal time values. If you schedule the job to run at 8 p.m. PST, after being converted to its equivalent UTC value, the sync will run at 11 p.m. Eastern time, as both times are equivalent to 3 a.m. UTC.

I want to protect received items in my collaboration from being deleted. Where can I specify this for my items?

For each received item, click the Settings tab and enable Delete Protection for the item.

How are multipatch feature layers shared in collaboration?

If the multipatch feature layer is not sync enabled, it is shared as a reference. If the multipatch feature layer is sync enabled and the collaboration is set up to share as copies, it is shared as a copy. However, subsequent edits are not synchronized when shared as a copy.

I have a feature layer and a WFS layer published from it. Which of these items should I share with the group for collaboration?

You must share all the layers and their derived layers (such as WFS or tiles) with the collaboration group explicitly. This ensures that your derived layers will not be broken links when they get replicated through collaboration. In general, you must explicitly share all the items that you want to contribute through collaboration.

My collaboration group has received items that are configured with an HTTP URL and fail to open.

When an organization is configured with HTTP and HTTPS, a service copied by reference is configured with an HTTP URL. Because the organization blocks mixed content, the item will fail to open. To resolve this, manually change the URL to be HTTPS. It is recommended that you allow access to the organization through HTTPS only, which is the default configuration.

My organization is configured to allow access through HTTP and HTTPS. Can this organization participate in distributed collaboration?

To invite a guest to a collaboration, each guest organization's URL must be specified as HTTPS.

My organization is using web-tier authentication with Kerberos only. Can I participate in distributed collaboration with another ArcGIS Enterprise organization?

Yes, with some limitations. Kerberos will prevent the other organization from directly communicating with yours. This means you will be unable to send content using immediate synchronization. The content can still be shared, but only through scheduled synchronization. Any content you have shared to your collaboration group can be synced immediately with other participants if you have set your collaboration sync settings to Sync immediately.

You cannot set up a functional collaboration between two or more organizations that use Kerberos authentication only.

Can I invite a guest to join my collaboration if their organization URL uses an IP address?

Yes, the system will validate the values are within the range of an IP address, for example, https://203.0.113.255/.

Can I store credentials for a service that has been shared by reference?

Yes. You can save credentials for all service items that are shared by reference in a collaboration. The credentials are entered on the sending organization and are applied to services that are shared with collaborating organizations. However, there are several limitations that are applied to this feature.

For more information, see Manage collaborations as a guest and Manage collaborations.

Credentials are associated with a collaboration workspace and must be for a built-in user with Viewer privileges; credentials for a user with higher privileges will be blocked. The option to save credentials will only work in an ArcGIS Enterprise-to-ArcGIS Enterprise collaboration. Credentials cannot be sent to or received from ArcGIS Online. This feature will not work on ArcGIS Enterprise systems that use web-tier authentication, such as IWA or PKI-based client certificate authentication.

Credentials must be entered and saved by an administrator on the sending organization. If the sender can reach the receiver, items on the receiving organization will be updated immediately with the stored credentials. If the sender cannot reach the receiver, the items will be updated during the next scheduled sync.

How can I make my items shared as copies default to being shared as references when there are errors?

When creating a collaboration, you can select If unable to share as copies shares as references if you selected Copies when setting up the workspace sync settings. Enabling this option ensures that, if there were to be errors when sharing items as copies, those specific items will be shared as references instead. This option can be updated when editing a workspace. For more information, see Manage collaborations.

Can I share Esri-owned content with collaboration participants?

No. Distributed collaboration does not support sharing Esri-owned content, which includes content owned by the following:

  • Esri_[lang]

  • esri

  • esri_apps

  • esri_boundaries

  • esri_demographics

  • esri_livingatlas

  • esri_nav

  • esri_notebook

What happens when one item in a group containing multiple items fails to be shared?

If an item fails to be added to a group when sharing, and that item is part of a group of items, the process will proceed so the other items are moved successfully. An error is logged indicating that one item failed. Have your administrator inspect the organization logs for details.

I am not receiving any content from the sending organization through collaboration. What could be the cause of this?

There are a few cases that could be contributing to content not being received in your group. They are as follows:

  • Your group may not have been joined to a collaboration workspace. Contact your system administrator to check that the collaboration workspace has been correctly configured and that the group in question has been joined to the workspace.

  • The scheduled sync may not have occurred yet. As configured by the administrator, collaborated content synchronizes on a scheduled interval. The default interval is 24 hours. The guest organization's distributed collaboration administrator can sync a workspace on demand using the Sync Workspace option. Alternatively, sync on demand can be called using the collaboration REST API. For more information, see the Sync REST API documentation for distributed collaboration.

  • The available disk space within receiving organizations may have reached 10 GB or less. When such a threshold is reached, no content is synchronized. A SEVERE level log message is recorded to indicate this. The collaboration administrator will also receive notification indicating the content store disk space usage threshold has been reached. Once the disk space is freed up, content synchronizes again. By default, the content store disk space threshold is 10 GB. This value can be modified through the Portal Administrator Directory.

I have shared feature layers to a group that is joined to a collaboration workspace where the option to copy data is selected. However, the receiving organization in my collaboration is instead receiving the feature layers as references. What is happening?

Feature layers are replicated by reference under the following conditions:

  • The feature layer does not support the sync capability, or sync is not enabled on the feature layer. To enable sync, refer to sharing feature layer data as copies. In such cases, both the collaboration administrator and group owner will receive notification indicating that an item, intending to be shared as a copy, was shared as a reference. An entry will be written to the portal logs indicating that the item was shared as a reference because sync was not enabled.

  • The feature layer exceeds the maximum item size of 1 GB, which will cause the item to be shared as a reference. To verify, enable INFO level portal logs and look for the log entry that indicates the size of the shared feature layer data item.

My feature layers are not receiving edits. What is happening?

Feature layers that have been copied to a receiving organization may stop synchronizing edits if the collaboration is deleted (by the host), the collaboration workspace is deleted, your organization has been removed from collaboration (by the host), or if your organization administrator has left the collaboration. It is also possible that no edits have been made to the feature layer in the sending organization.

Another possible cause is that the edits you are attempting to synchronize are greater than the size limit imposed by the collaboration host administrator.

I am using ArcGIS Enterprise and my feature layers are not receiving edits from an ArcGIS Online organization. I see the following severe error message in the server logs: Initialization of Layer: failed. What can I do to address the error?

Check to see whether the associated layers have a renderer that is based on an expression. To do so, follow these steps:

  1. Open the My Content tab of the content page and choose the View item details option for the feature layer.

  2. Click the Visualization tab.

  3. For each layer listed, check the Change Style button to see whether the Attribute to show parameter is set to an expression. If so, do one of the following:

    • In ArcGIS Enterprise, change the Attribute to show parameter to be a field rather than an expression and click Save Layer. Once you have made this change for all applicable layers, edits should be received in the next sync.

      Note:

      Once you change the Attribute to show parameter and save the layer in ArcGIS Enterprise, you do not need to make changes to the corresponding feature layers in the ArcGIS Online organization.

    • In the ArcGIS Online organization, change the Attribute to show parameter to be a field rather than an expression. Next, unshare the item from the collaboration group, sync, and reshare the layer with the option to recopy the data.

    • Create a view in the ArcGIS Online organization, adjust the layers in the view to not use expressions, and share the view with the collaboration rather than the feature layer.

My collaboration is configured to use PKI-based client certificate authentication through IIS, and we have received the following error message: Response from 'https://sampleserver.example.com/portal' was 413 Request Entity Too Large. 'https://sampleserver.example.com/portal' must configure server to allow large request entities. What can I do to address the error?

An administrator for the IIS web server that is using PKI-based client certificate authentication must increase the value of the uploadReadAheadSize property to 51,200,000 (50 MB). For example, if the PKI portal's web adaptor is installed as 'portal' under the Default Web Site in IIS, the following command could be used to change the uploadReadAheadSize property:

%windir%\system32\inetsrv\appcmd.exe set config "Default Web Site/portal" -section:system.webServer/serverRuntime /uploadReadAheadSize:"51200000" /commit:apphost

Additional details on the uploadReadAheadSize property can be found in the Server Runtime documentation.

I received a feature layer by reference through collaboration. When adding the feature layer to Map Viewer and attempting to use the Print tool, I received the following error message: An error occurred while creating the printed map. What could be causing this?

Any of the utility services must have access to, and be authorized to run an operation on, the feature layer. When attempting to use the Print service on a feature layer shared by reference, your organization will make a request to the organization that shared the feature layer with you, and the organization will allow the operation to proceed. If you are receiving this error, you must confirm with the organization that its firewall and security allow for inbound requests.

Alternatively, a workaround would be to have them share the data to you as a copy or to publish the data in your organization using the source data that has been shared.