About the ArcGIS Web Adaptor

ArcGIS Web Adaptor (Java Platform) allows ArcGIS for Server to integrate with your existing web server. The Java Platform setup is compatible with Java EE servers such as WebSphere and WebLogic.

The Web Adaptor is an application that runs in your existing website and forwards requests to your GIS servers. It polls your site at a regular interval to learn which machines have been added or removed. It then forwards traffic to only the currently participating machines. When you prepare to expose your ArcGIS Server site to an external audience, you should install the Web Adaptor or implement comparable request forwarding and security technology.

Benefits of the Web Adaptor

The Web Adaptor provides the following benefits:

Web Adaptor deployment scenarios

The Web Adaptor can be used in various ArcGIS Server site configurations. For example, in a site with a single GIS server, you can install the Web Adaptor on the same machine as the GIS server, or offload it to a dedicated web server. In a multiple-machine deployment, you can have one entry point into your site by installing the Web Adaptor on a single web server, or you can establish redundancy at the web server tier by installing the Web Adaptor on multiple web servers.

The Web Adaptor's version must always match the version of its registered ArcGIS Server site.

The Web Adaptor is platform independent of ArcGIS Server; therefore, the Web Adaptor you deploy does not have to match the operating system platform of your ArcGIS Server site. For example, if you have a site comprised of Linux machines, you can deploy ArcGIS Web Adaptor (Java Platform) to work with ArcGIS Server.

For a detailed description of the different ways you can integrate the Web Adaptor into your existing site architecture, see Deployment scenarios.

Accessing your services with the Web Adaptor installed

After installing and configuring the Web Adaptor, the URLs that you use to access your services will change. Below are some examples of URLs that would change after installing a Web Adaptor to use port 80:

Services Directory (REST web services)

  • Without the Web Adaptor: http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/rest/services.

  • With the Web Adaptor: http://webadaptor.domain.com/arcgis/rest/services. For example, if the machine hosting your Web Adaptor is named wa with the domain myorg.net and your Web Adaptor is named arcgis, you'll access the Services Directory using the URL http://wa.myorg.net/arcgis/rest/services.

SOAP web services

  • Without the Web Adaptor: http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/services.

  • With the Web Adaptor: http://webadaptor.domain.com/arcgis/services. For example, if the machine hosting your Web Adaptor is named wa with the domain myorg.net and your Web Adaptor is named arcgis, you'll access SOAP web services using the URL http://wa.myorg.net/arcgis/services.

The Web Adaptor setup experience

The Web Adaptor has its own setup and installation guide which is separate from the ArcGIS Server installation. You must install the Web Adaptor on a machine running a web server. This can be a machine already running an ArcGIS Server site or a separate machine.

To learn more about the setup experience, see An overview of implementing the Web Adaptor with ArcGIS Server.

12/18/2014