Common deploy questions
This topic addresses common ArcGIS Enterprise deployment questions for installation and upgrades. The following additional topics contain common questions for planning and administration.
Deployment questions
ArcGIS Server
The following questions are common to ArcGIS Server.
Portal for ArcGIS
The following questions are common to Portal for ArcGIS.
ArcGIS Data Store
ArcGIS Enterprise Builder
The following troubleshooting tips can help resolve some common ArcGIS Enterprise Builder installation issues.
When I attempt to install ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Data Store, or Portal for ArcGIS, I see an error message that states, "An unexpected error occurred while unpacking file(s). Check for missing volume file(s). Error code 1 -2147467259."
The ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Data Store, and Portal for ArcGIS components use self-extracting packages that consist of two files with .exe and .exe.001 extensions. To extract the package for these setups, ensure both files are in the same folder.
Why are some folders left behind after uninstalling?
When you uninstall ArcGIS Server, some folders and files are left on disk. These are left for your convenience if you reinstall or upgrade the product. If you don't plan to reinstall, you can delete these files.
You may notice persisting files located at <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/usr that include the following:
You may notice persisting files located at <ArcGIS Server installation directory>\arcgisserver that include the following:
server directories
config-store
log files
Leaving these folders preserves map caches, your installation configuration, and other server resources that you may want to keep if you reinstall. Server directories that you created and registered on your own are also not affected by uninstalling.
I receive the message Could not connect to server on machine. ArcGIS Data Store or GIS Server on that machine may not be running or the machine is not reachable at this time.
ArcGIS Data Store cannot connect to the GIS Server site using the URL provided. Check the following and try again:
Make sure the URL is correct. The URL must be in the format
https://gisserver.example.com:6443.Confirm the GIS Server site is running.
I receive the message Could not configure data store machine. ArcGIS Data Store and ArcGIS Server must be the same release version.
ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Data Store must be at the same release. Either upgrade your GIS Server site to the same release as ArcGIS Data Store, or install and configure a version of ArcGIS Data Store that matches your GIS Server site.
After upgrading all parts of an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment that uses webhooks, one or more of the following messages appear in the ArcGIS Data Store log files, and webhooks do not function:
Severe Webhook log: Error in Webhook Processor. init WebhookProcessors failed. FS Webhook processor init failed Connecting to queue : <ID>Could not create a queue with id : <ID>SEVERE Failed to configure queue store.
You may need to run a repair operation on the relational store machine. Contact Esri Technical Support (USA) or your local distributor (outside USA) for assistance.
When starting ArcGIS Server, I get a warning stating that my /etc/hosts entry for this machine does not match the IP address of the machine.
ArcGIS Server has several processes that communicate among themselves. Therefore, the machine's IP address for the machine must be correct for those components to work.
There are two ways to address this issue:
Remove the entry in the hosts file for the machine.
If the entry is needed for some other purpose required by your organization, update the IP address. To make these changes, superuser access is required. To obtain the current IP address, run the ifconfig command. Then, open /etc/hosts in a text editor and either delete or modify the line.
Are setup log files created?
Yes. A setup log file is generated in the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/.Setup/ directory. The setup log file generated during installation is ArcGISServer_InstallLog.log.
Do I need to back up anything before installing ArcGIS Server?
All of your services, site information, and security settings are preserved when upgrading to ArcGIS Server. However, it's recommended that you back up your data before installing the software.
Note:
If you upgrade ArcGIS Server, information you previously defined in the init_user_param.sh script is retained. However, new parameters exposed by the script in the upgraded software will not be listed. To include any new features, review the information listed in Setting environment variables for ArcGIS Server and add the variables manually to your existing script.
Note:
If the server you're upgrading is connected to an Active Directory deployment that includes multiple domain controllers, but not all domain controllers are configured as global catalog servers, you'll need to manually specify the domain controller used by ArcGIS Server after performing the installation. For full instructions, see Configure the domain controller used by ArcGIS Server.
When I launch the setup, I receive a prompt that states, "The setup cannot proceed because ArcGIS Server is not supported on machines that include an underscore (_) in the machine name."
Several widely used internet host name specifications have designated the underscore character as nonstandard. Although Windows allows you to use the underscore in a machine name, it can still cause problems when you interact with other servers and platforms. For this reason, ArcGIS Server will not proceed with installation on servers that have an underscore in the host name.
I see a dialog box indicating there are missing dependencies.
The .NET Extension Support feature requires the appropriate version of Microsoft .NET.
If the appropriate version of Microsoft .NET is not found, the .NET Extension Support feature will not be available for installation.
If your operating system includes the appropriate version of Microsoft .NET, make sure it's enabled using Windows Features. If your operating system does not include Microsoft .NET, you can download it from the installation media and enable it using Windows Features.
See the ArcGIS Server system requirements for the current supported version of Microsoft .NET.
How do I create a log of the installation?
The log can be created anywhere on the local machine. The example below creates a log of the installation on drive C.
msiexec /I <path to the ArcGIS Server media or download folder>setup.msi /L*V C:\ArcGIS_Server.log
Note:
Windows Installer requires the System account to have full control of the system drive and the target drive.
How do I install custom fonts for use with ArcGIS Server?
ArcGIS Server only supports TrueType fonts and OpenType fonts. For fonts to be used successfully within a GIS service, the font must either reside on the server or the font must be embedded within the GIS resource. For example, most fonts can be embedded into a map document, but occasionally you may come across a situation in which a layer uses a font that is not embeddable. When you publish, a warning (20025) will display in ArcGIS Pro indicating that the layer uses fonts that are not embeddable and are not on the server.
To address this issue, install the fonts directly on the machines in the ArcGIS Server site. To so do, copy the fonts you want to use and place them in the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/fonts directory. Make sure the account running ArcGIS Server has read permission on the font files. For the changes to take effect, you must restart ArcGIS Server.
After installing ArcGIS Server, I see An error occurred while searching for [users\roles]: [IP Address]:3268.
When ArcGIS Server is configured to enforce security with users and roles managed in Microsoft Active Directory, it uses the Active Directory Global Catalog to obtain user and role information. However, ArcGIS Server will be unable to enforce security if it binds to a domain controller that does not also serve as a global catalog. In this case, you'll need to manually specify the domain controller used by ArcGIS Server after performing the installation. For full instructions, see Configure the domain controller used by ArcGIS Server.
How do I change the ArcGIS Server account?
After you install ArcGIS Server, you can change the account by using the configureserviceaccount utility. This utility is bundled with the ArcGIS Server installation and can be launched by clicking Start > ArcGIS > ArcGIS Server > Configure ArcGIS Server Account.
You should not use your operating system's tools to manually change the ArcGIS Server account. The utility has been designed to apply permissions to various directories across all the machines in your deployment. Changing the account manually could result in server failure leading to system downtime.
For full instructions on how to change the ArcGIS Server account using the utility, see Change the ArcGIS Server account.
I am concerned about the security implications of the primary site administrator password reset (PasswordReset.bat) script. What can I do about this?
If you are in a highly secure environment, you should restrict file permissions to the configuration store, and disable the primary site administrator account. Performing these two tasks ensures that the primary site administrator account password reset script will have no effect on the security of your site.
To learn more, see Best practices for configuring a secure environment.
How do I set access permissions on files created by ArcGIS Server at run time?
The files generated by ArcGIS Server at run time are only accessible by the account running ArcGIS Server. To change the access permissions of the files generated at run time (for example, server logs), you must set the user file mode creation mask (umask) in the init_user_param.sh script. To edit this script, navigate to the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/usr directory.
By default, umask is set to 077, which means that no other users can read or write data to the runtime files. This is sufficient for most private ArcGIS Server systems.
If umask is set to 022, it allows only the account running ArcGIS Server to read and write data. However, anyone on the system can read the data.
Setting umask to 002 is a good option when the account running ArcGIS Server shares data with other users in the same group. Keep in mind that members of the group to which the account running ArcGIS Server belongs can also create and modify data files. Those outside of the group are not allowed to create and modify data files.
Setting umask to 007 completely excludes users who are not group members of the account running ArcGIS Server.
You must restart ArcGIS Server immediately after modifying access permissions for your changes to take effect. Keep in mind that once you modify the umask setting to a value other than 077, you have altered the access permissions of all the files created by ArcGIS Server at run time.
How can I view the current hardware specifications of a machine in my ArcGIS Server site?
The Hardware Configuration resource in the ArcGIS Server Administrator Directory displays hardware information for the specified machine in your ArcGIS Server site, giving the specifications of the CPU and operating system, amount of system memory, and number of physical and logical processors. It updates the information when it detects any changes to the configuration of your machine, as well as each time the machine is restarted.
I see an Invalid database connection or The data item is inaccessible error when I try to register a database with ArcGIS Server.
These errors can appear if the database client software or libraries are not found on the server machine. Each machine in your ArcGIS Server site must have the 64-bit version of the database client software installed to allow ArcGIS Server to access the database. You must install these clients before you can register your database with ArcGIS Server. See Database clients for more information. Restart ArcGIS Server after you install the database client software.
ArcGIS Web Adaptor does not recognize unavailable machines or new machines I've added to my site.
By default, ArcGIS Web Adaptor checks the site for new or unavailable machines every minute. If you've waited over one minute since a machine was added, removed, or disabled, and the Web Adaptor still doesn't recognize the changes, it could be because you changed the properties of the user who originally registered the Web Adaptor with the site.
For example, if the account used to register ArcGIS Web Adaptor with the site was disabled, the password changed, or the role type was demoted to a role that does not have administrative privileges, the Web Adaptor will be unable to check the status of your site for new or unavailable machines. To fix this issue, you'll need to reconfigure the Web Adaptor. For full instructions, see Configure ArcGIS Web Adaptor with a server site.
How do I change the temp directory used by ArcGIS Server?
The default location for the temp directory is <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/temp. To specify a different temp directory, set the SERVER_TEMP_DIR variable in the init_user_param.sh script. To edit this script, browse to the <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/usr directory. Remove the # sign in front of the SERVER_TEMP_DIR environment variable, and specify the location of a new temp directory. The location you specify must be accessible by the account that was used to install ArcGIS Server.
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# Modify this section to change the temp directory
#
# The default location for the temp directory is at
# <ArcGIS Server installation directory>/arcgis/server/temp.
# The specified directory needs to be accessible by the account
# that was used to install ArcGIS Server.
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#SERVER_TEMP_DIR=<Location_to_temp_directory>
For your settings to take effect in the init_user_param.sh script, you must restart ArcGIS Server. To restart, run the startserver.sh script on each machine in the site.
Why does the setup prevent me from installing Portal for ArcGIS if the installation user has file handle limits of less than 65,535?
For the portal to run properly, the file handle limits for the installation user are required to be set to 65535. An installation diagnostics tool checks whether these limits are set properly in the /etc/security/limits.conf file. If the limits are set incorrectly, the diagnostics check will fail.
There are soft and hard limits for file handles on Linux. To determine the limits, use the following commands:
Soft limit:
ulimit -SnHard limit:
ulimit -Hn
To increase the soft and hard limits, you need to edit the /etc/security/limits.conf file with superuser access. For example, add two lines in the file as follows:
<Portal for ArcGIS installation user> soft nofile 65535
<Portal for ArcGIS installation user> hard nofile 65535
After making this change, sign out and sign back in with the particular user information for the new values to take effect. To verify that the limits have been modified appropriately, use the ulimit -Sn and ulimit -Hn commands as described above.
If the installation folder name exceeds 34 characters, the portal service is not created when installing or upgrading Portal for ArcGIS. How do I resolve this issue?
Download the transform file (.mst) provided in the following Esri Knowledge Base article and apply the file during a silent installation or upgrade by using the TRANSFORMS command line parameter as follows:
<path to the Portal for ArcGIS setup download>\setup.exe /qb ACCEPTEULA=yes TRANSFORMS=<path to the transform file>\portalfix.mst
After upgrading, the organization does not display correctly, displays an error message, or I can't log in. What's wrong?
Clear your browser's cache (including cookies). These errors are typically due to information from the previous version of the website being cached in the browser. If you still can't log in, make sure you are using the initial administrator account or an account that has administrative privileges to the organization.
After upgrading, I don't see all of my items, groups, and users in the portal. What's going on?
After installing the software and specifying the initial administrator account, you must reindex the portal. This step completes the upgrade of the portal. Initially, you may not see all of your items, groups, and users because the reindex is not complete. Depending on the number of users and volume of content in your organization, it may take some time for the reindex to complete. For example, a small organization (hundreds of users and content items) running Portal for ArcGIS on a machine with 8 cores may take 15 minutes to reindex. Conversely, a large organization (tens of thousands of users and content items) running Portal for ArcGIS on a machine with 8 cores may take more than 3 hours to reindex.
You can check the status of the reindex by following the steps below. When the store and index counts are equal, the reindex and upgrade processes are complete.
Open the Portal Administrator Directory and sign in with the initial administrator account. The URL is formatted
https://portal.example.com:7443/arcgis/portaladmin.Click System > Indexer > Index Status.
Refresh the page to obtain the latest status.
When attempting to create the initial administrator account when upgrading Portal for ArcGIS, I receive the message There was an error creating your initial administrator account. How do I resolve this to complete the upgrade?
Information in the portal logs can help you resolve the issue. This error can occur if network connectivity was temporarily lost when creating the account. To access the logs, browse to the logs directory and open the most recent log file (for example, C:\arcgisportal\logs\<machine name>\portal\portal-20141201.095803-8596-0.0.log). If necessary, users in the United States can contact Esri Support and international users can contact their distributor for additional help.
When attempting to create the initial administrator account when upgrading Portal for ArcGIS, I receive the message There was an error creating your initial administrator account. How do I resolve this to complete the upgrade?
Information in the portal logs can help you resolve the issue. This error can occur if network connectivity was temporarily lost when creating the account. To access the logs, browse to the logs directory and open the most recent log file (for example, <Portal for ArcGIS installation directory>/arcgisportal/logs/<machine name>/portal/portal-20141201.095803-8596-0.0.log). If necessary, users in the United States can contact Esri Support and international users can contact their distributor for additional help.
After an upgrade, when I open Organization > Settings > ArcGIS Online to update subscriber and premium ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content, I see an error message that credentials are invalid or ArcGIS Online cannot be accessed. What is wrong and how do I correct these issues?
The organization must validate your ArcGIS Online credentials before you can update subscriber and premium ArcGIS Living Atlas content. If it cannot, one of the following messages is returned in interface and in the logs for the hosting server:
The credentials used to access subscriber and/or premium Living Atlas content are invalid. Update credentials with valid ArcGIS Online organizational account credentials before you upgrade Living Atlas content.—ArcGIS Enterprise connected to the ArcGIS Online organization and determined that your existing credentials are invalid. Make sure the password has not changed for your ArcGIS Online account and, for premium content, that the account still has credits available.
If the password changed or if you need to provide a new account to access subscriber and premium ArcGIS Living Atlas content from ArcGIS Online, update credentials. If you updated credentials as part of upgrading Portal for ArcGIS, click Upgrade Content to complete the ArcGIS Living Atlas content upgrade.
ArcGIS Online cannot be accessed from this portal. Check your firewall settings or portal proxy settings before you upgrade Living Atlas content.—ArcGIS Enterprise cannot connect to the ArcGIS Online account associated with your credentials. In most cases, this is due to issues on your network that are preventing communication with ArcGIS Online.
Cannot validate credentials used to access subscriber and/or premium Living Atlas content, therefore you cannot upgrade the content. Contact Esri technical support or your international distributor.—In rare cases, problems with the Portal for ArcGIS upgrade can prevent you from upgrading ArcGIS Living Atlas content. If you see this message, contact Esri technical support (in the United States) or your international Esri distributor (outside the United States) to identify and correct the problem.
When I access the organization after installing Portal for ArcGIS, I see a notice that the number of licenses assigned in the organization exceeds the number of licenses available. How do I resolve this issue?
You cannot have more users assigned licenses than what ArcGIS Enterprise is licensed for. This notice shows whether you have more add-on licenses or user types assigned than you have available. Users assigned licenses that exceed the number of licenses available may not be able to access the organization. To resolve this issue, go to the Licenses tab and reassign licenses that are in overdraft. Alternatively, to add licenses, obtain a new portal license file. See Manage licenses to learn more about assigning licenses in the organization.
I can't install ArcGIS Data Store to a second location on the same machine.
Only one installation of ArcGIS Data Store is supported per machine.
When you install the software, you choose which data types to install. On a Microsoft Windows server, you can run the ArcGIS Data Store installation additional times to add data store types, but you cannot change the installation location. On Linux servers, you cannot run the installer again on the same machine.
I receive the message There is already a standby configured in the data store ('<primary data store machine name>'). A data store cannot have more than one standby machine.
Only two machines are allowed to participate in a relational store: one primary and one standby machine. To add a new standby machine, you must first remove the existing standby machine.
I receive the message Unable to create directory.
Possible reasons you would see this message include the following:
The content directory you specified is already in use.
If you specify an existing directory, the directory cannot contain any files.
You don't have privileges to create a directory in the specified location. Confirm that you have sufficient privileges.
You specified a directory on a remote machine. The ArcGIS Data Store content directory cannot be stored on a machine that is remote from the ArcGIS Data Store installation.
When configuring a relational store, I receive the message Failed to start relational store database.
This message indicates the PostgreSQL database needed for the relational store could not be created. There are many reasons for this; however, the most common is that the Data Store Configuration app or configuredatastore utility could not connect to PostgreSQL to create the database. Either the ArcGIS Data Store account does not have sufficient permissions on the ArcGIS Data Store content directory, or the PostgreSQL service (Windows) or process (Linux) could not start due to security settings on the machine. Confirm that PostgreSQL is running. If it is not, check whether domain policies, firewall settings, or antivirus software settings prevented it from starting. If PostgreSQL is running, confirm that the ArcGIS Data Store account has full control (read, write, and execute permissions) on the content directory.
Configuring a relational store on a Windows machine fails with the message ERROR: You must copy the latest ST_GEOMETRY library to the PostgreSQL software location.
You likely do not have the correct version of the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable for Visual Studio installed on the machine where you installed ArcGIS Data Store. Check the ArcGIS Data Store system requirements to determine which version of the redistributable is required for the ArcGIS Data Store version you are using.
I can't use a different ArcGIS Data Store content directory when I configure another type of ArcGIS Data Store on the same machine.
That is as designed. All ArcGIS Data Store types running on the same machine use the same ArcGIS Data Store content directory.
If my ArcGIS Data Store fails or I discover that, after testing my upgraded deployment, I have to revert to the previous software version, how do I restore my data stores to the previous ArcGIS Data Store version?
ArcGIS Data Store must run the same version as the other components in the base deployment. If you have a backup of the deployment that you created with the webgisdr utility prior to upgrading, you can install older software and restore most of the components using that backup. If the deployment includes a spatiotemporal big data store, follow these steps to restore it to a previous ArcGIS Data Store version after you have restored the rest of the ArcGIS Enterprise deployment to the previous version:
Uninstall ArcGIS Data Store from every spatiotemporal big data store machine.
Install the ArcGIS Data Store version to which you want to revert onto all spatiotemporal big data store machines. Do not proceed with configuration.
Restore the spatiotemporal big data store using the
restoredatastoreutility and the backup file of the spatiotemporal big data store that you created before upgrading.
Note:
Depending on what version you are reverting to, you may also need to use the restoredatastore utility to restore other types of data store that are not included in the backups created by the webgisdr utility. For example, the graph store was not included in the backups created with the webgisdr utility until 11.5, and the object store was not included in the backups created with the webgisdr utility until 11.4 and only if you set the INCLUDE_OBJECT_STORE_CACHES property to true.
How do I create a log of the installation?
The ArcGIS Enterprise Builder setup automatically creates log files for install and uninstall in your ProgramData directory.
My setup fails to uninstall. The setup is interrupted and ArcGIS Enterprise Builder is still installed on my machine.
ArcGIS Enterprise Builder requires the extracted files to be in the ProgramData\ArcGISBuilder<version> directory to uninstall.
If you deleted these files, you need to extract them elsewhere and copy them back to this location.
During installation I receive this message, "A website must be configured and started on port 80".
The ArcGIS Web Adaptors require port 80 to be running and started on your web server. See Plan a base deployment for more information on requirements.
On the ArcGIS Enterprise Account setup dialog, I receive this message, "The password does not meet the password policy requirement. Check the minimum password length, password complexity and password history requirements."
If you're creating a new local account as part of the installation, the password you specify for the account must adhere to the local security policy.
If the password does meet the minimum strength requirements of your set policy, the installation returns this message. Your system administrator can provide you with your password policy requirements or you can view an explanation of the requirements by performing the following:
From the Control Panel, open Administrative Tools, search for Local Security Policy and expand Account Policies.
Select the Password Policy folder and double-click Password must meet complexity requirements.
In the Password must meet complexity requirements Properties dialog box, click the Explain tab.