Service interceptors offer a robust way to customize request and response behavior across REST-based services in ArcGIS Enterprise. They enable organizations to enforce standards, enhance workflows, and integrate external systems, all without modifying underlying service definitions.
When to use service interceptoprs
The following are common scenarios where service interceptors are useful:
Auditing and logging—Service interceptors can be used to implement custom auditing mechanisms by logging key details about each service request, such as user identity, accessed service name, operation type, timestamp, and characteristics of the request payload. These logs can help organizations generate usage metrics, monitor access trends, and meet internal or regulatory audit standards.
Security and compliance—Service interceptors provide an effective layer for enforcing security policies before a request reaches a service backend. They can evaluate request headers, verify IP addresses against an allowlist, and block suspicious patterns. Additionally, service interceptors can log access to sensitive services, enabling organizations to comply with security standards and detect unauthorized behavior early.
Access control—Service interceptors allow administrators to implement dynamic access control by evaluating request context, user roles, and operation types. For instance, a service interceptor can deny access to deleteFeatures operations for specific users or filter requests based on spatial extents or SQL expressions. While this does not replace ArcGIS Server’s built-in security, it provides a flexible, programmable enforcement layer tailored to business-specific rules.
Data validation—Before a request reaches the backend server framework, a service interceptor can verify the payload for structural and semantic correctness. This process involves checking for required fields, validating attribute values, inspecting geometric shapes, and ensuring that submitted parameters meet expected formats. Data validation interceptors help prevent erroneous data from entering the system and reduce the risk of service-side errors.
Data enrichment—Service interceptors can modify the request or response content to include additional, context-aware information. For instance, they can inject metadata fields, such as default user info or timestamps, into incoming requests, reformat or redact fields in outgoing responses, or append attributes derived from the service context or third-party systems. This facilitates the enforcement of business standards and the delivery of enriched data to consuming applications.
Workflow automation—Service interceptors can serve as triggers for broader workflow automation. For instance, when new features are created, a service interceptor can log the event or notify an external workflow engine. It can also tag requests with workflow IDs, enforce conditional routing, or interact with other services to coordinate automated approval chains or processing pipelines.
Third-party integration—Service interceptors enable real-time connections between ArcGIS Enterprise services and external systems. Common integrations include querying customer data from third-party APIs, posting activity logs, monitoring platforms, and performing external identity checks. This is especially useful in enterprise environments where ArcGIS workflows rely on data or verification from external systems.
When not to use service interceptors
Avoid using service interceptors in the following scenarios:
Long-running or resource-intensive logic—Service interceptors run in line with the service request. Adding heavy computation, file I/O, or slow network calls can degrade service performance and increase response times.
Asynchronous or background processing—Service interceptors are designed for synchronous request/response interception. For long-running processes, such as email triggers and batch processing, consider using webhooks or post-processing pipelines instead.
Data layer manipulation or geodatabase transactions—Service interceptors do not have access to underlying data sources through native APIs. If transactional access to layers or datasets is a primary requirement, implement a Server Object Interceptor (SOI) or a custom Server Object Extension (SOE).