Introduction

ArcGIS for Server 10.1 exposes a RESTful administrative API. This means that you can completely manage your server by any tool that can make HTTP requests.

The API is organized into Resources and Operations. Resources are entities within ArcGIS for Server that hold some information and a have well-defined state. Operations act on these resources and update their information or state. Resources and operations are hierarchical and have unique URLs (universal resource locators).

This document is designed to help you navigate through the APIs and help you be more productive in administering ArcGIS for Server.

Getting Started

The hierarchical root of the Administrator API begins with a well-defined URL called as the site URL. Typically, this is accessible at:

http://server:6080/arcgis/admin

Organized hierarchically from the site URL are the various resources and operations that are exposed by the Admininistrator API. To access a resource or invoke an operation you must create a request by:

1. Constructing a URL to the selected resource or operation as defined in the API Reference
2. Providing the relevant parameters in their specified format
3. Accessing the URL over the prescribed HTTP method (typically GET or POST)

The API is stateless, which means that the server does not keep track of transactions from one request to the next. Each request must contain all the information necessary for successful processing. The server will process each request and return a well-defined response.

For more information see the API Reference section of this document.

Administrator Directory

The Administrator Directory, which is installed with each instance of ArcGIS for Server, is a simple HTML interface that allows you to interact with the resources and operations exposed by the Administrator API. This can be helpful when building scripts for administrative tasks and applications. The Administrator Directory is accessible by navigating to the site URL in a web browser.