Web Map: Trials & Tribulations for Small-Shops Provisioning - Presented by: Rob Grant, GIS Supervisor and Mike Buller, GIS Developer/Analyst April ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Web Map: Trials & Tribulations for Small-Shops Provisioning Presented by: Rob Grant, GIS Supervisor and Mike Buller, GIS Developer/Analyst April 17, 2018
Web Map: Install-Configure-Play Presented by: Rob Grant, GIS Supervisor Mike Buller, GIS Developer/Analyst April 17, 2018
Agenda The CVRD and its web map history. Organizational structure. Challenges and how we solved them. What does the future hold? April 17, 2018
Board of Directors Brian Carruthers
Chief Administrative Officer
Allison Nelson
Executive Assistant
Mark Kueber Hamid Hatami Ross Blackwell John Elzinga
General Manager General Manager General Manager General Manager
Corporate Services Engineering Services Land Use Services Community Services
Department Department Department Department
• Finance • Asset Management • Community & Regional • Public Safety
• Human Resources • Capital Projects Planning • Facilities & Transit
• Information Technology Management • Development Services • Arts & Culture
• Legislative Services • Environmental Services • Economic Development • Cowichan Lake Recreation
• Procurement • Recycling & Waste • Building Inspection & Bylaw • Island Savings Centre
Management Enforcement • South Cowichan
• Water Management • Parks & Trails Recreation
April 17, 20182007
2008
2009
10 years in the making
2010
2011
Silverlight and HTML5
2012
Latitude Geographics Hosted
2013
2014
Latitude Geographics Hosted
2015
Planning for in-house
Brief History
ELA for Geocortex Essentials
2016
Migrate web map from Latitude
Geocortex Essentials - 3 sites
2017
ArcGIS Online – 1 site
Geocortex Essentials - 3 sites
ArcGIS Online – 2 sites
2018
D e v e l o p i n g Ta r g e t e d W e b M a p sProblems to be Overcome
• Historical CVRD GIS person skill set: lots of GIS analyst
experience; some IT experience; little to no
programming/development experience.
• Messy architecture somewhat a result of “let’s throw it
against the wall and see what sticks”.
April 17, 2018Learning Outcomes • Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting. April 17, 2018
Learning Outcomes • Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting. • Keep your environments organized and “clean”. April 17, 2018
Learning Outcomes
• Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting.
• Keep your environments organized and “clean”.
• IT support and knowledge required…whether from co-
workers or yourselves.
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• CVRDWEB
• Hosts multiple websites
on multiple ports (not
GIS-specific). IIS.
• Hosts Geocortex
Core/Essentials.
• Hosts multiple
instances of Geocortex
HTML5 Viewer.
• Production &
development sites.
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• IIS. on multiple ports (not
• No SDE connections. GIS-specific). IIS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
server. Core/Essentials.
• Some FGDB on • Hosts multiple
network share. instances of Geocortex
• Also hosted a HTML5 Viewer.
development SQL • Production &
Server instance. development sites.
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• IIS. on multiple ports (not
• No SDE connections. GIS-specific). IIS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
server. Core/Essentials.
• Some FGDB on • Hosts multiple
network share. • CVRDSQL instances of Geocortex
• Also hosted a HTML5 Viewer.
development SQL • SQL Server. • Production &
Server instance. • ArcGIS concurrent development sites.
license server.
• IIS.
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• File server.
• IIS. on multiple ports (not
• File geodatabases
• No SDE connections. GIS-specific). IIS.
served by AGS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
• IIS.
server. Core/Essentials.
• Also hosted
• Some FGDB on • Hosts multiple
development
network share. • CVRDSQL instances of Geocortex
Geocortex instance.
• Also hosted a HTML5 Viewer.
development SQL • SQL Server. • Production &
Server instance. • ArcGIS concurrent development sites.
license server.
• IIS.
April 17, 2018Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• RANDOM DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• Automated/manual
• ArcGIS Server. processes (e.g. • Hosts multiple websites
• File server.
• IIS. publishing). on multiple ports (not
• File geodatabases
• No SDE connections. GIS-specific). IIS.
served by AGS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
• IIS.
server. Core/Essentials.
• Also hosted
• Some FGDB on • Hosts multiple
development
network share. • CVRDSQL instances of Geocortex
Geocortex instance.
• Also hosted a HTML5 Viewer.
development SQL • SQL Server. • Production &
Server instance. • ArcGIS concurrent development sites.
license server.
• IIS.
April 17, 2018Messy
mix!
Starting Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 6443) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 5050)
• RANDOM DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• Automated/manual
• ArcGIS Server. processes (e.g. • Hosts multiple websites
• File server.
• IIS. publishing). on multiple ports (not
• File geodatabases
• No SDE connections. GIS-specific). IIS.
served by AGS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
• IIS.
server. Core/Essentials.
• Also hosted
• Some FGDB on • Hosts multiple
development
network share. • CVRDSQL instances of Geocortex
Geocortex instance.
• Also hosted a HTML5 Viewer.
development SQL • SQL Server. • Production &
Server instance. • ArcGIS concurrent development sites.
license server.
• IIS.
April 17, 2018Problem #1: public web map PORTS!
• External access to public web maps…maps.cvrd.bc.ca
on 6443, geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca on 5050 (unencrypted, so
replacement for 80).
• Why 5050? Historical…lack of machines, 80 already
occupied by another non-GIS enterprise web app, lack of
support from ISP, lack of knowledge, random selection,
and so on…
April 17, 2018Problem #1 symptoms.
• Non-standard ports have to be entered in web browser
address bar as part of URLs.
• IT departments from external organizations would often
block CVRD maps site due to non-standard ports (5050
is actually a port used by an older messaging service).
April 17, 2018Solution #1: certificates and Web
Adaptor.
• CVRD obtained CA certificates for maps.cvrd.bc.ca and
geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca.
• Geocortex Essentials moved off 5050 to 443 (expected
web browser port).
• Web Adaptor installed on CVRDMAP as reverse proxy to
map services on 6443.
April 17, 2018Port/Encryption Changes
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• Added Web Adaptor on multiple ports (not
on 443. GIS-specific). IIS.
• IIS. • Hosts Geocortex
• No SDE connections. Core/Essentials.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts multiple
server. instances of Geocortex
• Some FGDB on HTML5 Viewer.
network share. • Production &
• Also hosted a development sites.
development SQL
Server instance.
April 17, 2018Problem #2: messy environments.
• Production machines for some software doubled as
development/test machines for other software.
• Often undocumented, and knowledge often resided with
people no longer available.
• Little to no automation of repeatable periodic processes.
April 17, 2018Problem #2 symptoms.
• Any process/installation/database found always had
same questions…Dev? Test? Prod? Used at all?
• Non-production processes running on production
machines adversely affect production processes.
• Scripts, toolboxes, other artifacts scattered all over.
Things getting missed…
• Long/inconsistent lag time from production data updates
to web map updates.
• People working outside of regular business hours.
April 17, 2018Solution #2: mass environment cleanup
& automation.
• ALL non-production software, data, and processes
removed from production machines.
• Identifying/creating appropriate dev/test environments.
Leveraging Hyper-V where possible.
• Prod machines tweaked for suitability to now-defined
roles.
April 17, 2018Solution #2: mass environment cleanup
& automation continued.
• File server was given 2nd role as automation server.
• Developed Python toolkit leveraging arcpy and existing
Model Builder toolkits for common tasks that can run
unattended.
• Web map publication; analyze; compress; index rebuilds;
audits; schema maintenance; backups; exports.
April 17, 2018Automation changes
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• RANDOM DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• Automated/manual
• ArcGIS Server. processes (e.g. • Hosts multiple websites
• Jenkins & ArcGIS
• Added Web Adaptor publishing). on multiple ports (not
Desktop…automation.
on 443. GIS-specific). IIS.
• File server.
• IIS. • Hosts Geocortex
• File geodatabases
• No SDE connections. Core/Essentials.
served by AGS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts multiple
• IIS.
server. instances of Geocortex
• Also hosted
• Some FGDB on HTML5 Viewer.
development
network share. • Production &
Geocortex instance.
• Also hosted a development sites.
development SQL
Server instance.
April 17, 2018Environment clean-up
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRD DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• ArcGIS Desktop.
• ArcGIS Server. • Web maps. • Hosts multiple websites
• Jenkins & ArcGIS
• Added Web Adaptor on multiple ports (not
Desktop…automation.
on 443. GIS-specific). IIS.
• File server.
• IIS. • Hosts Geocortex
• File geodatabases
• No SDE connections. Core/Essentials.
served by AGS.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts multiple
• IIS.
server. • CVRDSQL instances of Geocortex
• Also hosted
• Some FGDB on HTML5 Viewer.
development
network share. • SQL Server. • Production &
Geocortex instance.
• Also hosted a • ArcGIS concurrent development sites.
development SQL license server.
Server instance. • IIS.
April 17, 2018Problem #3: the BIG one.
• CVRD web maps had a problem with Geocortex
Workflows.
• The workflows would randomly start throwing errors.
April 17, 2018Problem #3 symptoms.
• The maps (i.e. map services) in the public web maps
continue working, yet…
• None of the Geocortex workflows work.
• Problem would occur seemingly randomly and would last
for varying lengths of time…5 minutes to 40 minutes.
• Despite assistance from both Esri and Latitude, the root
cause had not yet been discovered after 4 months of
this.
April 17, 2018Troubleshooting: where to begin?
• My starting point…new to CVRD environment; new to
Geocortex software; experienced with Esri software;
know enough IT to be dangerous.
• Initial observation…when error was occurring, it only
affected Geocortex workflows, not map services.
• First theory…workflows are configured incorrectly in
terms of map service URLs. Cleanup required?
April 17, 2018Map service clean-up
The world-at-large (the internet).
maps.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL) ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRD DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• CVRDFILE
• ArcGIS Desktop.
• ArcGIS Server. • Web maps. • Hosts multiple websites
• Jenkins & ArcGIS
• Added Web Adaptor on multiple ports (not
Desktop…automation.
on 443. GIS-specific). IIS.
• File server.
• Some FGDB copied to • Hosts Geocortex
server. Core/Essentials.
• Web Adaptor to
• CVRDSQL CVRDMAP on internal
name.
• SQL Server.
April 17, 2018Troubleshooting: next steps.
• The workflow errors were still periodically happening
after the map service clean-up.
• Since environment clean-up had eliminated the
configuration as the source of the error, next step was to
take a close look at Geocortex…time to learn.
• What is the difference between a map in a Geocortex
HTML Viewer versus a Workflow in a Geocortex HTML
viewer?
April 17, 2018Learning Geocortex • Starting point…experienced application developer (desktop/mobile/web/.NET). Lots of ESRI development experience. • Recognized that Geocortex has 2 main components… • Web client. HTML/CSS/Javascript, uses ArcGIS Javascript API. • IIS .NET server process. Uses ArcGIS .NET Runtime. • Implication…ArcGIS Server map services are accessed from 2 different paths in a Geocortex implementation. April 17, 2018
Geocortex Architecture: Basic
Geocortex
ArcGIS Server
web browser
client (HTML Geocortex .NET IIS application
Viewer). Static client content Active server content.
(HTML, CSS, Javascript)
April 17, 2018What Was Working
Client map service requests.
Geocortex
ArcGIS Server
web browser
client (HTML Geocortex .NET IIS application
Viewer). Static client content Active server content.
(HTML, CSS, Javascript)
April 17, 2018What Wasn’t Working (Sometimes)
Geocortex
ArcGIS Server
web browser
client (HTML Geocortex .NET IIS application
Viewer). Static client content Active server content.
(HTML, CSS, Javascript)
Geocortex
Workflows
April 17, 2018Learning Geocortex Workflows
• Next step…how to debug Geocortex Workflows?
• Reviewed workflows in question and Geocortex
Workflow Designer and realized…it is UX meant to
emulate .NET (C# or Visual Basic)
programming…without programming.
• However, many programming constructs are included as
workflow components, and one can even add C# code
snippets into workflow configuration.
April 17, 2018Debugging Geocortex Workflows
• Identified 1 workflow for debugging purposes, to keep
things simple.
• Added a try/catch workflow component around the part
we knew was failing, which was invocation of ArcGIS
Server REST endpoint.
• Added logging to explicitly lay out REST call, exception
message, and stack trace.
• Now we play the waiting game…
April 17, 2018Debugging
Geocortex
Workflows
April 17, 2018Results of Error Capture
• The next time the workflow errors were happening, we
reviewed our Geocortex logs for the workflow
information, and found this interesting statement:
The server at geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca is not accepting
connection requests.
April 17, 2018Let’s review our clues…
• We know map services continue working, so requests
from web clients to geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca are fine.
• Requests from the IIS application to
geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca are sometimes not working.
• Same endpoint name, so…how is this possible?
April 17, 2018Let’s review our architecture…
The world-at-large (the internet).
ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• Some FGDB copied to on multiple ports (not
server. GIS-specific). IIS.
• Hosts Geocortex
Core/Essentials.
• Web Adaptor to
CVRDMAP on internal
name.
April 17, 2018Keyed in on server name in error…
The world-at-large (the internet).
ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRDMAP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Server. • Hosts multiple websites
• Some FGDB copied to on multiple ports (not
server. GIS-specific). IIS.
• Hosts Geocortex
Core/Essentials.
• Web Adaptor to
CVRDMAP on internal
name.
April 17, 2018Let’s add our IT knowledge to the clues…
• Outside the CVRD intranet, geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca DNS
resolves to the ISP-hosted IP address.
• Inside the CVRD intranet, geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca SHOULD
resolve to the internal machine to which the ISP port-
forwards requests to geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca.
April 17, 2018Formulated a theory…
• Is it possible that when the error is occurring the IIS
application running the Geocortex Workflow, which is
hosted on an internal machine, is actually resolving
geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca to the external IP address instead
of the external one?
• This could create a request loop…
April 17, 2018Test the Theory
• Wrote a .NET console application that tested the ArcGIS
Server endpoint that was reporting as being
unreachable, but with multiple different host names…
• Internal IP address, in octets.
• Internal machine name.
• geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca name
• If correct, when running this on the server hosting the
Geocortex IIS process during period when error is
occurring, first 2 should work, last should not.
• Once again, we play the waiting game…
April 17, 2018Theory proving correct…
• The next time the error was occurring, ran the console
application on the machine hosting Geocortex Essentials
IIS application…and results were as predicted.
• DNS name resolution not always returning expected
internal IP address on IIS hosting machine.
April 17, 2018Expounding upon theory.
• Discovered that web host had multiple DNS servers
configured. First was our normal internal one, then
about 10 others, some external.
• Therefore, during these error periods, either our internal
DNS server stopped responding altogether, or was not
responding in a timely manner…so web host switched to
a non-internal DNS server that resolved to external IP
address, causing request loop. (MY) ROOT CAUSE
April 17, 2018Fixing the problem.
• Need to make geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca ALWAYS resolve to
internal IP address when resolved on Geocortex hosting
machine.
• DNS configuration problems handed off to IT, but in the
meantime, didn’t want to wait, so…
• %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
April 17, 2018Solution
• HOSTS file overrides all DNS configuration with simple
machine name / IP address lines.
• Added the internal address of geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca
during a period when the error was occurring.
• Result: error stopped happening immediately, and has
never occurred since.
April 17, 2018Current Environment
The world-at-large (the internet).
ISP geocortex.cvrd.bc.ca (port 443, SSL)
• CVRD DESKTOPS
• CVRDMAP • CVRDWEB
• ArcGIS Desktop.
• ArcGIS Server. • Web maps. • Hosts multiple websites
• Some FGDB copied to • CVRDFILE on multiple ports (not
server. GIS-specific). IIS.
• Jenkins & ArcGIS • Hosts Geocortex
Desktop…automation. Core/Essentials.
• File server. • Web Adaptor to
• CVRDSQL CVRDMAP on internal
name.
• SQL Server.
April 17, 2018Lessons Learned (Learning Outcomes,
Revisited)
• Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting.
April 17, 2018Lessons Learned (Learning Outcomes,
Revisited)
• Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting.
• Keep your environments organized and “clean”.
April 17, 2018Lessons Learned (Learning Outcomes,
Revisited)
• Be creative but methodical when troubleshooting.
• Keep your environments organized and “clean”.
• IT support and knowledge required…whether from co-
workers or yourselves.
April 17, 2018Future for CVRD GIS
• We’ve now got a stable base for expansion.
• Virtual machines; OS/DB upgrades.
• Full ArcGIS Enterprise build-out. Geocortex Analytics.
• Desktop web as much as possible.
• Enabling workflows for internal departments (e.g. parks;
utilities)…web and/or native apps, online & offline.
• ArcGIS Pro: geometric networks utility networks.
• Keep being creative…how can GIS be useful, ubiquitous,
and seamless organization-wide?
April 17, 2018Thank you for your time. • Questions? April 17, 2018
© 2018 Esri Canada Limited. All rights reserved. Trademarks provided under license from Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Errors and omissions excepted.
You can also read
