Web tool and geoprocessing service settings
When sharing a tool as a web tool or a geoprocessing service, property settings define how they are consumed by client applications. The most common and frequently changed tool parameters can be set while sharing. Less common settings can be changed in ArcGIS Server Manager after the tool has been shared. A few advanced service properties can only be set on the ArcGIS Server Administrator REST API.
Settings in ArcGIS Pro
The subsections below describe the available settings when sharing a web tool or a geoprocessing service in ArcGIS Pro, including creating a connected or offline service definition.
Settings in the General tab
In the General tab, which is the default tab whenever you launch the sharing pane first, has the following settings available. Many parameters can be modified in ArcGIS Server Manager after the web tool has been shared, or the web tool's item page in the portal.
Name
The name of the web tool that will be shared to your portal. This name must be unique on your portal and cannot contain spaces or special characters. This parameter inherits from the tool metadata.
Summary and Tags
The summary and tags that help describe the document and make the web tool searchable. These parameters inherit from the tool metadata.
You can use the Tags drop-down menu to select existing tags. The maximum is 128 tags.
Category
The category of the web tool item. This setting is not available for geoprocessing services published to a stand-alone ArcGIS Server.
Version
The version of ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Server the tool will be shared to. This parameter is only enabled when saving an offline service definition for a web tool.
Data, Tools, and Scripts
Options to configure the consolidation and publishing behavior for the data, tools, and scripts.
Include data, toolboxes, and scripts in service definition — Determines whether all referenced data, toolboxes, and scripts are packaged into the service definition. When this option is checked, certain consolidation settings are automatically locked to either checked or unchecked states. For most workflows, keep this option selected unless you have advanced sharing scenarios for your web tool or geoprocessing service. This option is enabled by default.
Non-URL Data—Controls whether the data is copied to the server (becoming static) or remains referenced by the web tool. A matching entry in the server data store must be set up for the data to use the Reference registered data option. If the server data store does not set up the data, it will be copied during publishing. This is only applicable when publishing or overwriting as a web tool or saving as a connected service definition. When saving the result as an offline service definition, ensure that all the data from the parameter can be referenced when using the Reference data option, as there is no alternative to copy the data if the server data store does not set up the data. When you uncheck the Include data, toolboxes, and scripts in service definition option, copying any data become impossible, and this option will be locked into the Reference registered data status. The default option is the Reference registered data.
URL Data—Controls whether data referenced by a URL is left as‑is during publishing or is converted to another data type by downloading the data from the URL. This setting determines if ArcGIS Pro publishes the service using the original URL reference or retrieves and transforms the data at publish time. This option is available in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 and later. URL data refers to the URL of different types of web layers or services. Only feature layers, feature services, and feature sublayers of web image layers can be configured. When the Convert feature layer check box is checked, the feature layer or service of the parameter or project data is converted to a feature class during publishing. If unchecked, the feature layer URL is preserved. There is no option to convert the URL of web image layers, and the web image layer URL will always be preserved as-is during publishing. When you uncheck the Include data, toolboxes, and scripts in service definition option, converting URL data become impossible, and this option will be locked into the unchecked status. The option is enabled by default.
Consolidation options—Learn more about using consolidation options
Location
Specifies where the web tool item or geoprocessing service will be created.
For web tool items published to ArcGIS Enterprise, the options are as follows:
Folder—Select or create a portal folder where the web tool item will be created. The default is the root of the portal.
Server and Folder—For the server, web tools must be shared to a portal with one or more federated servers. If the portal has more than one federated server, designate the server where the web tool will be published. For the folder, either select an existing folder or create a folder on the ArcGIS Server site. The default is the root folder of the ArcGIS Server site.
For geoprocessing services published to stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites, the option is as follows:
- Folder—Select or create a server folder where the geoprocessing service item will be created. The default is the root folder of the server.
Share with
Available to web tools published to ArcGIS Enterprise only, specify with whom and to which groups the web tool will be shared. A web tool is always shared to My Content. Sharing a web tool to Everyone makes the item public; anyone who has access to the portal website can find and use it, and group owners can include it in their group content. Sharing a web tool to ArcGIS Enterprise shares the web tool with all members of the portal who have access to an item. You can share to any group to which you belong.
Settings in the Configuration tab
Upload, Validate, Execution mode, View output in map image layer, Message Level, and Maximum number of records returned are available on the Configure service capabilities and parameters sub-tab.
The Number of instances, Service timeouts - Maximum usage time, Service timeouts - Maximum wait time, and Service timeouts - Maximum idle time settings are available on the Configure Pooling sub-tab. See Tune and configure services for more considerations when specifying these settings.
Upload
Specifies whether a client can upload a file to the server to use as input for the web tool. The upload operation is typically used by web clients that need a way to send a file to the server for processing. The upload operation returns a unique ID for the file after the upload completes, which the web app can pass to the web tool.
The default is unchecked.
Validate
Enables the validate operation for all tasks in the web tool or geoprocessing service. The operation allows clients to use the validate operation before running the tool. Regardless of the execution mode, the validate operation only supports synchronous calls. Clients making a validate request must wait until they get the validate response.
The default is unchecked.
Execution mode
Specifies how the client (the application using the web tool) interacts with the web tool and gets the output. When a web tool is set to Synchronous, the client waits for the task to finish. Typically, a synchronous service runs quickly (within a few seconds). When set to Asynchronous, the service usually takes longer to run, and the client must periodically check the server to determine whether the service has finished and, if it has finished, get the result. A web app using an asynchronous service must have logic implemented to check the status and handle the result once it is finished running.
The default is Asynchronous.
View output in map image layer
When publishing a web tool or a geoprocessing service, you can view the output as a map image. The map image is created on the server and transported back to the client as an image (a .tiff file with style information). Symbology, labeling, transparency, and other properties of the map image are the same as the output layer from the ArcGIS Pro session when originally published. Consider the following when using this parameter:
If the tool outputs a large number of features that the client must symbolize and draw, it will be faster for the client to receive a map image.
For data distribution reasons, you don't want to send the client any features, only a map image.
The result of the tool is a dataset that is not transportable, such as a network or topology. The only way to send output to the client is using a map image.
Note:
An output map image can only be used when the web tool's Execution mode parameter is set to Asynchronous. This parameter is not supported when publishing a web tool to Kubernetes.
The default is unchecked.
Message Level
Returns messages of the following levels to the client that ran the web tool as follows:
None—No geoprocessing messages are returned to the client, only an indication of whether the operation was successful or failed. This is the default.
Error—Only tool messages that produce an error are returned to the client.
Warning—All tool error and warning messages are returned to the client.
Info—All tool messages from the operation are returned to the client.
Caution:
Any message, regardless of level, may contain dataset paths and names, which may pose a security risk. The Info level is detailed and typically contains references to dataset paths and names. In general, return messages at Info or Warning level in a development and testing environment, and use the None or Error level in a production environment.
The default is None.
Maximum number of records returned
The maximum number of results the service can return to a client. Setting this value to a large number means the GIS server can handle sending many individual records or features to the client. To return no features, set this value to 0 (zero). This property will not have an effect when the Add optional output feature service parameter parameter is checked.
The default is 1000.
Number of instances
The minimum and maximum number of instances of the geoprocessing service that can run on each server machine for ArcGIS Enterprise or the gp-server-sync pod for ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes at any one time.
Service timeouts - Maximum usage time
The maximum time, in seconds, that a service can be used. You may need to increase the default of 600 seconds (10 minutes) for long-running geoprocessing tasks. Alternatively, you can reduce this time to ensure a client will not abuse your services.
Service timeouts - Maximum wait time
The maximum time, in seconds, that a client will wait to connect with an instance before timing out. When all instances are busy processing requests, subsequent requests are queued. If the wait time elapses before an instance becomes available, the task will fail. The default is 60 seconds (1 minute).
Service timeouts - Maximum idle time
The maximum time, in seconds, that an instance will continue to be active before pool shrinking occurs. Any instances above the minimum number of instances that have not been used will be shut down once the idle maximum time value has elapsed.
Settings in the Content tab
The settings described below can only be modified at the time of publishing a web tool or a geoprocessing service. To change any of these for a published tool or geoprocessing service, you either need to create a new one, or overwrite the existing one. To configure the tool properties for individual tool, click the edit button 
next to the tool name, and the properties for the tool you selected will be available to configure under the tool view. For the first tool, or the only tool in your toolbox, tool properties will show by default without clicking the edit button. To add more tools, use the Add Tool button.
Default configurations
The Add optional output feature service parameter, Add optional Output Image Service parameter, and Remove all default values options configured in this section will apply to all tools. You will not see the Add optional output feature service parameter or Add optional Output Image Service parameter if none of your tools have any feature or raster output parameters. You can also configure these two settings for the feature or raster output parameter for individual tool. To remove the default values for single parameters, configure the Remove default value of a parameter.
- Add optional output feature service parameter
An optional input parameter that specifies whether all feature outputs can be saved as a hosted feature service when using the web tool. This parameter is only supported when publishing as a web tool with asynchronous execution mode published to ArcGIS Enterprise. It is not available for configuration otherwise. The parameter is checked by default.
[Learn more about using web tools with an output feature service]../../analysis/geoprocessing/share-analysis/use-web-tools-with-output-feature-class.md)
- Add optional Output Image Service parameter
An optional input parameter that specifies whether all raster outputs can be saved as image services when using the web tool or geoprocessing service.
Learn more about using web tools and geoprocessing services with an output image service
- Remove all default values
Starting at ArcGIS Pro 3.3, when checked, all the default values used when running the tool will be removed, and the Remove default value check box in the tool parameter configuration above will be automatically checked. The default is unchecked.
Add Tool
To add tools from the geoprocessing history to an existing web tool or geoprocessing service, click the Add Tool button 
on the Content tab. To remove tools, click the tool name, and choose Remove, or you can click the trash icon.
Name of the tool
The name of the tool. The default is based on the tool metadata.
Description of the tool
The description of the tool. The description does not inherit from the tool metadata. If blank, provide a description and it will remain each time when sharing from history.
Name and Description of a parameter
The name and description of the parameter. Both properties inherit from the parameter name and description from the tool metadata. Modifying these properties will not affect the original tool metadata.
Type of a parameter
The parameter type defines whether the client must supply a value for the tool to run successfully. On the Content tab, only optional parameters can be changed to required. To change a required parameter to an optional parameter, exit the sharing pane, edit the properties of the tool, and run the tool again to create a new result.
Keep data type as Composite
This property is only available when the parameter is a composite data type. It specifies whether the parameter will be published as a composite data type (checked). The default is unchecked.
Input Mode of a parameter
Specifies how clients will input features to the task.
User defined value—The client provides a value for the parameter.
Choice list—A list of strings (the choice list) is provided and the client must choose one or more of the strings from the choice list. Depending on the data type of the input, the strings can be the names of layers or simple keyword options.
Constant—The value supplied for the parameter when the result was created will be used. Since the value is constant, the client cannot change it, so it will not become a task parameter when the service is published.
Mix Mode: user defined and choice list—Only available for composite or value table parameters. Configure the input mode for each data type in the composite, or each data type for each column in the value table. If any data type does not support the choice list, only the User defined value option will be available for configuration.
Convert data type to String of a parameter
This property only applies to the areal unit data type. It specifies whether the areal unit will be converted to the string data type (checked) or published as an areal unit (unchecked). The default is unchecked.
Remove default value of a parameter
Starting at ArcGIS Pro 3.3, when checked, the default value used when running the tool will be removed during the publishing process. The default is unchecked.
Default Value of a parameter
The default value of the tool is determined by the parameter value specified when the tool is running. To add or change the default value of a parameter, run the tool again with the corresponding parameter.
Only use default layers of a parameter
This property applies to choice list input mode only. It specifies whether only the option that are used when running the tool will be checked in the list view under this check box (checked). The default is unchecked.
Geometry Type of a parameter
This property applies to features only. The geometry type comes from the input and output features that are used to create the result. It cannot be modified on the Content tab. Rerun the tool using features of the specified geometry type, and share the result created by that operation.
Schema of a parameter
This property applies to features and tables only. The schema is a list of fields (attributes) that must be supplied by the client when they construct the features for input to the tool. This list of fields is the same as the layer or dataset that was used as input or output to the tool that created the result.
ArcGIS Server Manager settings
The parameter settings in the subsections below can be modified in ArcGIS Server Manager after the service has been published, excluding ArcGIS Enterprise Manager for ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes.
Note:
Modifying any of the following settings causes the service to be restarted.
Parameters
The following parameter settings are available:
|
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Cluster |
The cluster the service will run under. This setting can only be modified if ArcGIS Server participates in a cluster. |
|
Directories |
The directories used by the server to write files when running the tool. |
Capabilities
The following capabilities parameter setting is available:
|
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
|
WPS |
Enables WPS capabilities on geoprocessing services, allowing other clients to connect to and consume tools through OGC standard protocols. |
Processes
The following processes parameter setting is available:
|
Parameter |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Recycling |
Controls how often and when a service is recycled. The default is once every 24 hours starting at midnight. Geoprocessing services only run in high isolation, unlike some other service types that can run in either low or high isolation. |
Portal for ArcGIS Item settings
Starting at ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0, you can manage many settings in the item page of your web tool item in Portal. See manage web tools on what settings you can update after you published your tool.