Administrators and publishers in an ArcGIS Enterprise organization can register user-managed data stores with federated ArcGIS Server sites. User-managed data stores contain source data for ArcGIS Server web services that run on federated servers. When you publish, no data is copied; the web services reference the data in the registered data store.
There are multiple types of data stores you can add as an item in a portal. Each type provides different functionality, as described in the next section. Register these user-managed data stores by adding a data store item to your organization. When you add a data store item, you register a data source with one or more federated ArcGIS GIS Server or ArcGIS Image Server sites. When adding a big data file share data source, you register with the portal's GeoAnalytics Server. Each federated server can have multiple data store items registered to it.
You can add a data store item in the portal. Another way to create a data store item is to register a data store to a federated ArcGIS Server site in ArcGIS Pro 2.5 and later releases.
These data store items provide much of the same functionality as those you register in ArcGIS Server Manager or ArcMap, but they also allow you to do the following:
- Control use of the data store contents by sharing the data store item. How you share the data store item determines who can use it when publishing in ArcGIS Server Manager, ArcGIS Pro, or ArcMap. Sharing settings on folder and cloud data store items also affects who can create imagery layers from them in the portal.
- Create web layers in bulk from database data store items.
Note:
You can still register data stores directly with a federated ArcGIS Server site through ArcGIS Server Manager, ArcGIS Pro 2.4 and older releases, or ArcMap; however, when you register data stores using any of these apps, no data store item is created in the portal, you do not get the functionality listed above, and data store registration is managed exclusively within the individual ArcGIS Server site (or sites) with which you registered the data store.
Types of data store items
When you add a data store item to an organization, you choose a data source that contains data to publish, and (for most data stores) you choose the federated servers that can access the data.
The following table describes the type of data stores you can add as items and the purpose of each:
| Data store item type | What you can register | Purpose of the data store item |
|---|---|---|
Folders | File shares | Publish imagery layers* in the portal that reference files in the file share and, in ArcGIS Pro, publish map image layers that reference files in the file share. |
Databases | Database connection files (.sde) that access supported versions of the following database management systems or cloud data warehouses: Databases can contain an enterprise geodatabase, but they don't have to. Geodatabases are not supported in cloud data warehouses. | For data store items that reference a cloud data warehouse, you can publish a map image layer in ArcGIS Pro 2.9 or later. For data store items that reference a database management system, you can publish map image layers and feature layers in bulk. One feature layer and one map image layer** are created for each feature class and table to which the registered database user has access. Note:If you do not want anyone to edit data using these feature layers, be sure the database connection you use when you add the data store connects as a user that has been granted only select privileges on the feature classes and tables in the database. Bulk publishing and editing are not supported for data in a cloud data warehouse. |
Cloud storage | Any of the following cloud storage locations:
| Publish imagery layers* in the portal or ArcGIS Pro. You can also use ArcGIS API for Python to publish scene, tile, or vector tile layers that reference caches you loaded to the cloud storage location. |
Big data file share | Any of the following file storage locations:
| The data store item is a system item that you do not use directly. Instead, interact with the big data file share item for input to and to store output from GeoAnalytics Tools in the portal or ArcGIS Pro. |
*To publish imagery layers in the portal, the data store must be registered with your portal's raster analysis server or image hosting server.
**To bulk publish map image and feature layers, the data store must be registered with a federated ArcGIS GIS Server site.
Adding a data store item in the portal registers the data source with the ArcGIS Server site or sites you specify. Database data store items that reference cloud data warehouses are registered with the portal's hosting server only. If you access the same source location (folder, database, or cloud data warehouse using the same credentials) from ArcGIS Pro and publish to one of these sites, you don't need to register the data store again.
Data access
Adding data store items to your portal makes it easier to share GIS data across your organization. You need to balance ease of access with the need to keep data secure. When you use data store items, access is controlled at multiple levels. See Controlling access to data published from data store items for details.
Methods for adding data store items
There are three workflows for adding a data store item to your portal. The one you use depends on whether you need to register a new data store, want to create a data store item for an existing data store, or your existing data store is registered with multiple federated servers.
Register a data store
To register a data store with a federated server, add a data store item in the portal. You can also register a data store and add a data store item from ArcGIS Pro under the following conditions:
- You're registering a database, cloud data warehouse, or file share with a federated server.
- You're using ArcGIS Pro 2.5 or later for database or file share data stores or ArcGIS Pro 2.9 or later for cloud data warehouses.
Create a data store item for a data store registered with a federated server
You may have a registered database or file share data store created under one of the following conditions for which you now want to create a data store item:
- When you registered the data store to the ArcGIS Server site, the site was a stand-alone ArcGIS Server site. The site was subsequently federated with the portal, and now you want to create a data store item for it.
- You registered the data store to a federated ArcGIS Server site prior to 10.7.1. Now that your portal is upgraded, you want to create a data store item for the data store.
- You registered the data store using ArcMap, ArcGIS Server Manager, or ArcGIS Pro 2.4 or an earlier release.
If your data store is registered with multiple federated servers, and you used the same name for the data store when you registered it with each of those federated servers, the organization administrator must associate the data store item with each additional server, as described in the next section.
Create a data store item that is associated with multiple federated servers
This is the most complex situation. The organization administrator must create a data store item for the data store from one of the federated servers and then use the federateDataItem REST operation to associate each of the other federated servers with the same data store item.
If the organization administrator does not use the federateDataItem REST operation to associate the additional federated servers—for example, you instead add federated servers to the item from the data store item page—you will end up with duplicate registered data stores. This results in the following:
- When you publish services from data in the data store, the publishing client will choose one of the duplicate data stores. You do not have control over which one it uses and you have no way to identify which one it did use.
- If the data store is a registered database, you must keep both the new data store item and the old registered database data store. If you do not—for example, if you delete the registered database data store in an attempt to clean up the duplication—and the password changes for the account that is accessing the database, the services that reference the deleted data store will no longer function.
Get started using data store items
See the following to learn how to use and manage data store items: