Managing Spatial Server recycling expand/collapse all
Related Topics

Starting ArcIMS Administrator and Service Administrator

AppServer.properties reference

Overview of Spatial Servers, Virtual Servers, and ArcIMS services

expand/collapse item About Spatial Server recycling

Server recycling is the automated shutdown and restart of ArcIMS Spatial Server instances. When a Spatial Server is recycled, the resources that it no longer uses are reclaimed resulting in better performance.

Server recycling is controlled through the Virtual Server. By default, ArcMap Image Virtual Servers are set to be recyclable, and it is recommended that this default status be maintained. The other Virtual Server types - Image, Feature, Metadata, Extract, Geocode, and Query - can also be activated for recycling if desired. Note that if you choose to recycle, for example, Image Virtual Servers, all other Virtual Servers associated with each Spatial Server are also recycled. Thus, you only need to select one Virtual Server to recycle an entire Spatial Server.

Once recycling has been activated for a specific Virtual Server type, parameters for recycling frequency and start time become available through the Virtual Server Properties dialog for any servers of that type. All Spatial Server instances assigned to a recyclable Virtual Server are recycled. Based on the options set in the Virtual Server Properties dialog, any Spatial Servers associated with that Virtual Server are refreshed consecutively to avoid service disruption.

The total time required for recycling of a Spatial Server instance is equal to the time needed to stop and start a Spatial Server instance plus the time required for the Application Server to restore the necessary services. During this recycle time, the instance is unavailable for requests. Administrative requests, such as starting and refreshing services, cannot be made to any of the instances on the Spatial Server for that Virtual Server. Once recycling has completed for the first Spatial Server, the process is repeated for each of the servers associated with that particular Virtual Server.

It is recommended that you associate more than one Spatial Server to Virtual Servers that have recycling activated. This makes other Spatial Servers available to process client requests while one Spatial Server is being recycled, thereby limiting the possibility of service disruption. However, if your site uses only a single Spatial Server, configuring recycling to begin at the time of least usage will minimize the effects of service unavailability.

expand/collapse item How to manage Spatial Server recycling

expand/collapse item Changing Virtual Server recycling parameters using Administrator

  1. Click Servers in the left panel.
  2. Click a Virtual Server in the bottom right panel.
  3. Click the Properties button.

    The right panel displays a list of Spatial Servers available for use with this Virtual Server type. A checkmark in the box to the left of the server indicates that it is associated to this Virtual Server. If recycling is enabled for the Virtual Server type, fields for setting the frequency and start time for recycling are available.

  4. Select the frequency that recycling will occur from the dropdown menu.
  5. Enter the initial time that recycling is to begin. The field accepts times from 00:00 to 23:59.
  6. Click OK.

expand/collapse item Changing Virtual Server recycling parameters using Service Administrator

  1. Click Configure Site.
  2. Click Servers.
  3. Click the View by dropdown arrow and click Virtual Servers.
  4. Click the name of a Virtual Server.

    The Virtual Server settings page appears.

    The bottom of the panel displays a list of Spatial Servers available for use with this Virtual Server. A checkmark in the box to the left of the server indicates that it is associated to this Virtual Server.

    If recycling is enabled for the Virtual Server type, fields for setting the frequency and start time for recycling are available.

  5. Select the frequency that recycling will occur from the dropdown menu.
  6. Select the initial time that recycling is to begin from the dropdown menus.
  7. Click Update.

expand/collapse item Activating recycling for a Virtual Server type

ArcMap Image Server is the only Virtual Server type that has recycling on by default. If you want to turn on recycling for any other Virtual Server type, you must first activate it by manually editing a property in the Application Server's property file.

  1. In a text editor, open AppServer.properties.

    Windows: <ArcGIS Installation Directory>\ArcIMS\AppServer
    UNIX and Linux: $AIMSHOME/Middleware/Application_Server

  2. Find the startup.RecyclableServers property. This property is a comma-separated list of Virtual Server types that allow recycling. The different server types are identified as follows:
    • ArcMap Virtual Server - ImageServer:ArcMap
    • Image Virtual Server - ImageServer
    • Feature Virtual Server - FeatureServer
    • Query Virtual Server - QueryServer
    • Geocode Virtual Server - GeocodeServer
    • Extract Virtual Server - ExtractServer
    • Metadata Virtual Server - MetadataServer

    As an example, if you want to recycle all ArcMap and Image Virtual Servers, you would type:

    startup.recyclableServers=ImageServer:ArcMap,ImageServer
  3. Save and close the file.
  4. Restart ArcIMS Monitor and ArcIMS Application Server.
  5. In Administrator or Service Administrator, set recycling parameters for each Virtual Server of the recycling type.

expand/collapse item Setting a Virtual Server type to one instance per Spatial Server

ArcMap Image Server is the only Virtual Server type that has one instance set per Spatial Server. It is recommended that you do not alter this configuration for ArcMap Server. Due to its underlying infrastructure, ArcMap Server performs best and is most stable when using one instance per Spatial Server.

On rare occasions, you may want to set another Virtual Server to one instance per Spatial Server. Typically, this is done only for troubleshooting problems. By reducing the number of instances available, you are also reducing the capability of the Spatial Server to work at its full capacity.

  1. In a text editor, open AppServer.properties.

    Windows: <ArcGIS Installation Directory>\ArcIMS\AppServer
    UNIX and Linux: $AIMSHOME/Middleware/Application_Server

  2. Find the startup.singleThreadedServers property. This property is a comma-separated list of Virtual Server types:
    • ArcMap Virtual Server - ImageServer:ArcMap
    • Image Virtual Server - ImageServer
    • Feature Virtual Server - FeatureServer
    • Query Virtual Server - QueryServer
    • Geocode Virtual Server - GeocodeServer
    • Extract Virtual Server - ExtractServer
    • Metadata Virtual Server - MetadataServer

    As an example, if you want to set all ArcMap and Geocode Virtual Servers to allow only one instance, type:

    startup.recyclableServers=ImageServer:ArcMap,GeocodeServer
  3. Save and close the file.
  4. Restart ArcIMS Monitor and ArcIMS Application Server.


Search code: @stability_recycling