Configure utility services—Portal for ArcGIS | Documentation for ArcGIS Enterprise

Members of the default administrator role and those in custom roles with the appropriate privileges can configure the portal to use services to perform various tasks, including printing, geocoding, geometric calculations, spatial analysis, routing, and more. These are referred to as utility services. To learn more about these services, see Utility services.

The way you configure utility services for your portal depends on the service and where it originates.

Types of utility services

Use the following links to learn about the configuration options available for each utility service. After you decide how you want to configure your organization's utility services, proceed to the instructions to configure utility services.

Printing

Preconfigured print services are included with all ArcGIS Server sites. When you configure a hosting server, the hosting server's print service is automatically started and becomes your organization's default print service.

You can also add the following types of print services:

The preconfigured print service of a different ArcGIS Server site—The URL is the format https://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/Utilities/PrintingTools/GPServer/Export%20Web%20Map%20Task.
Your own ArcGIS Server print service—The URL is the format https://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/servicename/GPServer/TaskName.

Asynchronous print services are not supported.

Geometry

Preconfigured geometry services are included with all ArcGIS Server sites. When you configure a hosting server, the hosting server's geometry service is automatically started and becomes your organization's default geometry service.

Note:

The geometry service is shared with your organization by default. If your organization shares web maps publicly, set the sharing level of the geometry service item to Everyone (public). Otherwise, some maps may prompt users to sign in.

You can also add the following types of geometry services:

The preconfigured geometry service of a different ArcGIS Server site—The URL is in the format https://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/Utilities/Geometry/GeometryServer.
Your own ArcGIS Server geometry service—The URL is in the format https://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/servicename/GeometryServer.
The geometry service hosted by Esri—This service is available through ArcGIS Online and does not require credentials. The service URL is https://utility.arcgisonline.com/arcgis/rest/services/Geometry/GeometryServer.

GeoEnrichment

There is no default GeoEnrichment service. The following options are supported:

The ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service hosted by Esri—This location service requires an ArcGIS Online organizational account that has credits associated with it. It can be enabled for your organization by following the steps to configure ArcGIS Online utility services. This service will support the use of apps and tools such as the ArcGIS Business Analyst widget in ArcGIS Experience Builder and the Enrich Layer tool in Map Viewer.
A GeoEnrichment Service hosted through Business Analyst Enterprise—For organizations with Business Analyst Enterprise, a GeoEnrichment service may have already been published and configured as a utility service while configuring GeoEnrichment Server. The URL is in the format https://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/World/GeoEnrichmentServer.

If you have Business Analyst Enterprise, you must also configure routing and geocoding utility services for your organization. Ensure that you are following the installation steps for Business Analyst Enterprise.

Note:

The installable data included with ArcGIS Business Analyst Enterprise will support GeoEnrichment services in the United States only. An Esri Services engagement is needed for support with international data.

Hydrology

There is no default hydrology service. You can configure your organization to use the hydrology analysis service hosted by Esri. This analysis service requires an ArcGIS Online organizational account with credits associated with it. It can be enabled for your organization by following the steps to configure ArcGIS Online utility services.

Orthomapping Elevation

There is no default orthomapping elevation service. This utility service must be configured for organizations using Ortho Maker. The following options are supported:

The orthomapping elevation service hosted by Esri—This service requires an ArcGIS Online organizational account that has credits associated with it. It can be enabled for your organization by following the steps to configure ArcGIS Online utility services.
Your own ArcGIS Server orthomapping elevation service—When using your own service, ensure that the elevation service covers the area where your Ortho Maker projects are located. If you need a good quality, downloadable DTM of the globe for your projects, see DTM of the Earth. The URL is the format http://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/servicename/ImageServer.

See Ortho Maker setup and configuration for more information.

Elevation

There is no default elevation service. When you add an elevation utility service, you can select Elevation or Elevation (Synchronous). The following options are supported:

The elevation service hosted by Esri—This service requires an ArcGIS Online organizational account that has credits associated with it. It can be enabled for your organization by following the steps to configure ArcGIS Online utility services.
Your own ArcGIS Server elevation service—The URL is in the format http://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/serviceName/GPServer.

Directions and Routing

There are no default routing services. The following options are supported:

The routing services hosted by Esri—These services require an ArcGIS Online organizational account that has credits associated with it and the privileges to use routing services. They can be configured as a utility service from the ArcGIS Online page. Using this service consumes credits from the specified account.
Your own ArcGIS Server routing services—If you have a network dataset that models your street data, you can use it as a source for your routing services. Once it's added to your organization as a data store item, you can publish your routing services and configure them as utility services from the Utility services page. If you have existing routing services—for example, hosted on a stand-alone server—you can configure them as your routing services.

To publish routing services in ArcGIS Enterprise, an ArcGIS Network Analyst extension is required. See Configure routing services for more information.

Cached Elevation Image Service

By default, the Terrain 3D service hosted by Esri is configured as the cached elevation image service. Though it is available through ArcGIS Online, it does not require ArcGIS Online credentials.

You can also add your own elevation service to supplement the default with higher-resolution elevation data for your area of interest.

Symbols

Preconfigured symbol services are included with all ArcGIS Server sites. When you configure a hosting server, the hosting server's symbol service is automatically started and becomes your organization's default symbol service.

The following options are also supported:

The preconfigured service of a different federated ArcGIS Server site—The URL is the format http://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/Utilities/Symbols/SymbolServer.
Your own ArcGIS Server symbol service—The URL is in the format http://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/servicename/SymbolServer.

Symbol services must be hosted on federated server sites.

Geocoding

The ArcGIS World Geocoding Service, hosted by Esri and made available through ArcGIS Online, is configured as the geocoding utility service by default. The default service does not require ArcGIS Online credentials or support batch geocoding.

You can add multiple geocode services. The following options are supported:

The ArcGIS World Geocoding Service configured for batch geocoding—This location service requires an ArcGIS Online organizational account that has credits associated with it and the privileges to geocode. It can be configured from the ArcGIS Online page.
Your own ArcGIS Server geocode service—You can add a locator from its geocode service URL or choose a locator item that already exists in your organization. This includes locator views created of ArcGIS World Geocoding Service. The URL is in the format http://gisserver.example.com/arcgis/rest/services/folder/servicename/GeocodeServer.

Geocode services can be from server sites not federated with your organization. See Configure the organization to geocode addresses for more information.

Note:

If you specify one or more locator views along with the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service, users may encounter multiple matching suggestions when searching for locations. To ensure an optimal publishing and geosearch experience, configure batch geocoding and geosearch as appropriate when configuring locators for your organization.

Add a locator

To add a locator, complete the following steps:

Verify that you are signed in as a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with administrative privileges to manage utility services.
At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Settings tab.
Click Utility services.
In the Geocoding section, click Add locator and do one of the following:
- Choose From URL and provide the URL to the locator—for example, https://webadaptorhost.example.com/webadaptorname/rest/services/World/GeocodeServer.
- Choose From Existing Locator and choose the locator item. Only locators shared with your organization or with the public are available.
For Locator Name, provide the name that you want to appear in the drop-down menu of locators on the site (for example, in Map Viewer).
Tip:
Provide a descriptive name for the locator—for example, Restaurant Locator.
For Placeholder Text, provide a hint that will appear in the input box on the site.
Tip:
Make the hint as clear as possible—for example, Enter a restaurant name.
Optionally, check the appropriate boxes to allow geosearch and batch geocoding.
Configure the number of threads for batch geocoding, and click OK to save your changes.
This number should be less than the number of instances available for the service. To adjust the number of instances for your published geocode service, sign in to ArcGIS Server Manager for the ArcGIS Server site where the geocode service is running.
The option to configure the number of threads for batch geocoding is not available for the ArcGIS World Geocoding Service or for locator views.
For more information about batch geocoding threads, see Best practices for portal batch geocoding.
Click Save.
Repeat the process to add more locators.
Manage the locators in the following ways:
- To edit an existing locator, click the More options button next to the locator and click Edit. Make your updates, and click Save.
- To delete an existing locator, click the More options button next to the locator and click Delete.
- To reorder how the locators appear in the geosearch drop-down menu on the site, drag the locator up or down to the correct position.

Tip:

To reset locators to the default locator, delete the URL and click Save. When you refresh the page, the utility service reverts to the default URL. If you need to delete the locator item from the organization in the future, you must remove it from the geocoding utility service list before deleting the item.

Configure utility services

How you configure utility services depends on where the service originates. Follow the instructions specific to the origin of the service that you will configure as a utility service for the portal.

If the service is provided by ArcGIS Online and requires credentials from an ArcGIS Online account, use the ArcGIS Online tab on the Settings page of the portal to select the service to be configured, and store the account credentials. See Configure ArcGIS Online utility services for instructions.
If the service is from a federated server, start the service, share the service, and configure it as a utility service.
If the service is not from a federated server and requires credentials, add the service as an item to the organization, specify credentials to the service, share the service, and configure it as a utility service. Services from secured ArcGIS Server sites are added in this way.
If the service is not from a federated server and does not require credentials, add the URL directly to the Utility services tab of the Settings page.

Note:

If the portal accesses any of the utility services over HTTPS, but the ArcGIS Server site on which the utility service runs uses a certificate that is either self-signed or issued by an internal Certificate Authority, you must configure the portal to trust that certificate. For instructions, see Configure the portal to trust certificates from your certifying authority.

Configure a service from a federated server

To configure a service from a federated server, complete the following steps:

On the ArcGIS Server site that you have federated with the portal, start the services that you want to configure as utility services.
To do this, sign in to ArcGIS Server Manager for the ArcGIS Server site. Use a portal member account with administrator privileges. Server Manager is typically available through a URL such as https://gisserver.example.com:6443/arcgis/manager.
The ArcGIS Server preconfigured print and geometry services are stopped by default.
Sign in to the portal as a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with administrative privileges to manage utility services.
Locate the service that you need to configure as a utility service and share it.

How you share a service depends on who needs to use the functionality the service provides. For example, if you want anyone who connects to the portal to access thumbnails and print maps, share the print service with Everyone. If you want to allow organization members to geocode locations, but you don't want anonymous users to do this, share the geocode service with the portal organization. If you want to restrict the use of analysis tools that require GeoEnrichment to the members of specific groups, share the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service with those groups only.
Open the item page of the service item and copy the URL at the bottom of the Overview tab.
Open the Organization page of the portal and click the Settings tab.
Click Utility services.
Go to the appropriate utility service section and click the edit button.
Add the URL and, if necessary, append the task name to the service if it is a print service or route service.
See the sections on specific utility services above for details.
Click Save.

Configure a service that is not from a federated server and requires credentials

Verify that you are signed in as a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with administrative privileges to manage utility services.
Follow the steps to add an item from a URL.
You must enable the Store credentials with service item option.
Because this is a secure service, you must provide credentials to access it. Provide a valid username and password to access the service.
Once the item is created for the service, share it with those who need to access it.

How you share a service depends on who needs to use the functionality the service provides. For example, if you want anyone who connects to the portal to access thumbnails and print maps, share the print service with Everyone. If you want organization members to geocode locations, but you don't want anonymous users to do this, share the geocode service with the organization. If you want to restrict the use of analysis tools that require data enrichment to the members of specific groups, share the ArcGIS GeoEnrichment Service with those groups only.
Copy the URL at the bottom of the Overview tab on the item page.
Open the Organization page of the portal and click the Settings tab.
Click Utility services.
Go to the appropriate utility service section and click the edit button.
Add the URL and, if necessary, append the task name to the service if it is a print service or route service.
See the sections on specific utility services above for details.
Click Save.

Configure a service that is not from a federated server and does not require credentials

Verify that you are signed in as a member of the default administrator role or a custom role with administrative privileges to manage utility services.
At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Settings tab.
Click Utility services.
Go to the appropriate utility service section and click the edit button.
Add the URL and, if necessary, append the task name to the service if it is a print service or route service.
See the sections on specific utility services above for details.
Click Save.
Repeat these steps as necessary to configure other services as the organization's utility services.

Tip:

To reset the utility services back to their default URLs, delete the URL for each utility service you configured and click Save. When you return to the Utility Services page, the URLs are reset to their defaults.

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