Export Site | ArcGIS REST APIs

URL:: https://<root>/exportSite
Methods:: POST
Version Introduced:: 10.4

Access requirements

Required privileges

The Portal Administrator API requires privilege-based access. An administrator must be assigned a specific user privilege, or role, to access any given endpoint. Listed below are the user privileges or roles an administrator can be assigned that provides access to this endpoint. If multiple privileges are listed, only one needs to be assigned to gain access.

Default Administrator Role Only

Tokens

This API requires token-based authentication. A token is automatically generated for administrators who sign in to the Portal Administrator API directory's HTML interface. Tokens generated in this way are stored for the entirety of the session.

Those accessing the API directory outside of the HTML interface will need to acquire a session token from the generateToken operation in the Portal Directory API. For security reasons, all POST requests made to the Portal Administrator API must include a token in the request body.

Learn how to generate a token

Description

The exportSite operation exports the portal site configuration as a .portalsite file to a specified location. The exported file includes the following information:

Content directory: The content directory contains the data associated with every item in the portal.
Portal database: A snapshot of the portal database that stores users, groups, items, and other information about the portal.

Request parameters

Parameter Details

Parameter	Details
`location`	A folder path, accessible to the portal, where the exported site configuration will be written as a `.portalsite` file. Starting at ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0, if your deployment is configured to use cloud-based storage, the `location` parameter can instead be used to define the prefix for where the exported site configuration will be located. If the `location` parameter is not specified, the server writes the exported site configuration file to a directory owned by the server and returns a virtual path (HTTPS URL) to that directory. The URL returned from that response can be used to download the exported site configuration from the directory. File pathFile pathCloud-based storage prefix Use dark colors for code blocksCopy `1 location=//server/share/backup/full/20250517-010949-FULL/server/ssebngeyxa7wpjei/`
`locationConfig` (Optional)	Introduced at ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0. This parameter defines the location configuration for a file store or cloud-based storage systems. If your deployment is configured to use cloud-based storage, the JSON object must contain connection information, such as bucket, container, credential, and cloud region information. If this parameter is not defined, or if your deployment is not configured with cloud-based storage, the parameter will use the file store configuration. The following is sample input for file store configurations. Example Use dark colors for code blocksCopy `1 locationConfig={"type": "fileStore","provider": "FileSystem"}`
`backupObjectStore` (Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)	For ArcGIS Enterprise deployments that store their portal content directories in either an Amazon S3 bucket or Azure Blob container. Specifies the name of a backup bucket (AWS) or the URL for the backup container (Azure Blob) for the content directory. These should not be the same bucket or containers that store live portal content. Access keyAccess keyIAM role Use dark colors for code blocksCopy `1 backupObjectStore="sampleBucket"`
`backupObjectStoreRegion` (Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)	Applicable to just AWS S3. This parameter specifies the AWS region the backup bucket is in. Example Example Use dark colors for code blocksCopy `1 backupObjectStoreRegion="us-east-1"`
`backupObjectStoreConnectionStr` (Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)	Applicable to just Azure Blob. This parameter defines a string that stores the connection information for the backup Azure Blob container. The JSON object must include the `accountKey`, `accountName`, and `credentialType` properties. Account keyAccount keyService principalManaged identity Use dark colors for code blocksCopy `1 2 3 4 5 6 backupObjectStoreConnectionStr={ "accountName": "<accountName>", "accountEndpoint": "blob.core.windows.net", "accountKey": "<accountKey>", "credentialType": "accessKey" }`
`validate` (Optional)	Introduced at ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1. The This parameter validates the folder path specified in the `location` parameter, ensuring that it is accessible before performing the `exportSite` operation. If set to `true`, the path will be validated, and the operation will return either a success response or an error message. The default value is `false`. Values: `true` \| `false`
`f` (Optional)	The response format. The default response format is `html`. Values: `json` \| `html` \| `pjson`

location

A folder path, accessible to the portal, where the exported site configuration will be written as a .portalsite file. Starting at ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0, if your deployment is configured to use cloud-based storage, the location parameter can instead be used to define the prefix for where the exported site configuration will be located. If the location parameter is not specified, the server writes the exported site configuration file to a directory owned by the server and returns a virtual path (HTTPS URL) to that directory. The URL returned from that response can be used to download the exported site configuration from the directory.

File path

Cloud-based storage prefix

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
location=//server/share/backup/full/20250517-010949-FULL/server/ssebngeyxa7wpjei/

locationConfig

(Optional)

Introduced at ArcGIS Enterprise 12.0. This parameter defines the location configuration for a file store or cloud-based storage systems. If your deployment is configured to use cloud-based storage, the JSON object must contain connection information, such as bucket, container, credential, and cloud region information. If this parameter is not defined, or if your deployment is not configured with cloud-based storage, the parameter will use the file store configuration.

The following is sample input for file store configurations.

Example
Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
locationConfig={"type": "fileStore","provider": "FileSystem"}

The following are sample inputs for AWS S3 cloud storage configurations:

Access key

IAM role

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
locationConfig={
  "type": "cloudStore",
  "provider": "Amazon",
  "connectionString": {
    "accessKeyId": "<accessKey>",
    "secretAccessKey": "<secretKey>",
    "region": "us-west-1",
    "endpoint": "s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.com",
    "credentialType": "accessKey"
  },
  "objectStore": "<bucket>"
}

The following are sample inputs for Azure Blob cloud storage configurations:

Account key

Service principal

Managed identity

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
locationConfig={
	"type": "cloudStore",
	"provider": "Azure",
	"connectionString": {
		"accountName": "<accountName>",
		"accountEndpoint": "blob.core.windows.net",
		"accountKey": "<accountKey>",
		"credentialType": "accessKey"
	},
	"objectStore": "<container>"
}

backupObjectStore

(Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)

For ArcGIS Enterprise deployments that store their portal content directories in either an Amazon S3 bucket or Azure Blob container. Specifies the name of a backup bucket (AWS) or the URL for the backup container (Azure Blob) for the content directory. These should not be the same bucket or containers that store live portal content.

Access key

IAM role

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
backupObjectStore="sampleBucket"

backupObjectStoreRegion

(Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)

Applicable to just AWS S3. This parameter specifies the AWS region the backup bucket is in.

Example

Example
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backupObjectStoreRegion="us-east-1"

backupObjectStoreConnectionStr

(Required for deployments with cloud-based storage)

Applicable to just Azure Blob. This parameter defines a string that stores the connection information for the backup Azure Blob container. The JSON object must include the accountKey, accountName, and credentialType properties.

Account key

Service principal

Managed identity

Use dark colors for code blocksCopy
backupObjectStoreConnectionStr={
	"accountName": "<accountName>",
	"accountEndpoint": "blob.core.windows.net",
	"accountKey": "<accountKey>",
	"credentialType": "accessKey"
}

validate

(Optional)

Introduced at ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1. The This parameter validates the folder path specified in the location parameter, ensuring that it is accessible before performing the exportSite operation. If set to true, the path will be validated, and the operation will return either a success response or an error message. The default value is false.

Values: true | false

f

(Optional)

The response format. The default response format is html.

Values: json | html | pjson

Example usages

The following are sample POST requests for the exportSite operation, each defining a different storage location for the exported site configuration:

File store

AWS S3

Azure Blob

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POST /<context>/portaladmin/exportSite HTTP/1.1
Host: organization.example.com
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded
Content-Length: []

location=\\server\share\backup&locationConfig={"type": "fileStore","provider": "FileSystem"}&validate=true&f=json

JSON Response examples

The following demonstrates the differences in success responses that can be returned by this operation.

Folder store success, without validate

General success message, with validate

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{
  "status": "success",
  "location": "\\server\share\backup\Aug-06-2025_10-20-55.portalsite"
}

The following response is returned if items are missing from the content directory but exist in the portal's internal database. The response message outlines the reason for the warnings:

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{
  "status": "success with warning",
  "location": "\\server\share\backup\Aug-06-2022_10-20-55.portalsite",
  "messages": ["During the export operation, some items could not be exported because they appear to be missing from the content directory. Check the logs and review the  section in the Common Problems and Solutions documentation for more information."]
}

The following demonstrates a failure response for a request that had the validate parameter set to true. For this error, the path was not accessible to the portal.

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{
  "error": {
    "code": 500,
    "message": "Unable to write to \\server\share\backup. Verify the location is accessible and the service account running Portal for ArcGIS can write to it.",
    "details": null
  }
}