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Technical Article   Problem:  ArcGIS Server postinstallation hangs when pre-existing services have large caches

Article ID: 32766
Bug Id: N/A
Software:  ArcGIS Server 9.2, 9.3, 9.3.1
Platforms:  Windows XP, 2003Server, Vista, 2008Server

Description

When running the ArcGIS Server postinstallation on a system where ArcGIS Server has been previously installed, the ArcGIS Server Post Install hangs if the server has map or globe services with large associated caches located in the default location.

Cause

Caches are built for Map and Globe services in ArcGIS Server to increase performance by serving pre-created tiles directly from a Web server. These caches consist of files inside a cache directory, by default C:\arcgisserver\arcgiscache. Caches may contain very large numbers of cache files. If the ArcGIS Server postinstallion is run after creating a cache in the default location, then the permissions for every file under C:\arcgisserver are updated. This can take a long time and the ArcGIS Server postinstallion appears to hang during this time.

Solution or Workaround

The following steps outline how to prevent the ArcGIS Server postinstallion from needing to change the file permissions of every file in default-located caches by using operating system tools.

  1. Stop the ArcGIS Server Service. -show me-

    a) Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
    b) Select the ArcGIS Server Object Manager service and click Stop.
    c) Close the Services dialog box.
  2. Rename the directory containing the ArcGIS Server server directories. This directory is C:\arcgisserver by default. For example, rename it to C:\arcgisserverBackup. Use Windows Explorer or a command prompt to rename the folder.

      This breaks any UNC shares previously configured; reestablish them in step 8, below.

  3. Run the ArcGIS Server postinstallation. For more information on the postinstallation, see the Install.htm page on the ArcGIS Server installation CD.
  4. Log out of Windows and log back in.
  5. Stop the ArcGIS Server service as it has been re-started by the ArcGIS Server postinstallation. -show me-

    a) Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services.
    b) Select the ArcGIS Server Object Manager service and click Stop.
    c) Close the Services dialog box.
  6. Delete the ArcGIS Server cache directory created by the ArcGIS Server postinstallation.
    This is C:\arcgisserver\arcgiscache unless it was changed in step 3.

     It is very important to NOT delete the ArcGIS Server Directories parent directory, C:\arcgisserver, by default.

  7. Move the cache sub-directory of the directory renamed in step 2 back to the location used during the postinstallation in step 3, C:\arcgisserver by default.

    For this example, move
    C:\arcgisserverbackup\arcgiscache to C:\arcgisserver\arcgiscache

     Even though the move process happens instantaneously, it may take some time for the permissions inherited by the moved files to propagate to all files in the caches. If the cache is inaccessible even after performing step 9, wait some additional time, then re-start the affected Map or Globe services.

  8. If UNC shares for the ArcGIS Server directory sub-directories were broken in step 3, re-establish them now.
  9. Start the ArcGIS Server Service as described in step 1.

Created: 3/7/2007
Last Modified: 6/17/2010

Article Rating: (2)
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Comments

By Anonymous - 02/12/2010 2:03 PM

I would like to see a new article that discusses the topic outlined below.

This article says that you should rename the C:\arcgisserver directory prior to rerunning the post install. after the post install runs, it will have created a new C:\arcgisserver directory. -wouldn't this process then mean that any services or other input files would be lost since the post install will not recreate any input .msd or .mxd that existed in the original pre-install directory? Should these as well as the other original subfolders be moved back to the newly created C:\arcgisserver directory afterwards too? I'm just a little confused, b/c it seems that this will affect more than just the cache. I do appreciate this article, but think it needs a little clarification for slower users like myself.

By Anonymous - 10/01/2009 11:25 AM

The article is incorrect or the solution didn’t work.

You can't rename the arcgisserver directory or the upgrade installation won't launch. It gives you an error unless the arcgisserver directory exists. You have to recreate it after you rename it or it won't work.Also - ou did not address whether this needs to be done if hte arcgiscache virtual directory is pointing ot another location but all else is pointing to the default path.

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By Anonymous - 03/04/2008 8:52 AM

The article needs to be updated.

This article is good, however for most people by the time they read it it's already too late - their Post Install is already hanging and it's too late to go back. For users in that situation, you should update the article to explain that they can still move their Cache files to a different folder (on the same drive) and that will un-hang the Post Install. Subsequently they can move the Cache files back and Windows will apply permissions itself, as described in the article.

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