Each WCS service exposes service-level metadata through its capabilities file. The capabilities file is the XML response that clients receive when they make a GetCapabilities request on the service. Configuring external capabilities files gives you the flexibility to do the following:

• Add metadata about the service.
• Add metadata about each layer.

To use external capabilities files with WCS services, you need to create the files, and configure the files for use with your WCS services. The sections below describe this process.

Create external capabilities files

To configure a WCS service to use external capabilities files, you must prepare at least one WCS capabilities file. You can create the file from scratch, but it's often easier to use a system-generated capabilities file as a template.

By default, system-generated capabilities files are created automatically every time you send a WCS GetCapabilities request to the service. To use a system-generated capabilities file as a template, you need to manually send the GetCapabilities request and save the response as XML. If you want your WCS service to support different versions of WCS protocol—for example, 1.0.0, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, and 2.0.1—you must have one capabilities file for each version of WCS you want to support.

Follow the steps below to create external capabilities files for your WCS service.

1. If you haven't done so already, publish an image service and enable the WCS capability. For more information, see WCS services.
2. In a web browser, enter the URL of your WCS service. The URL is formatted http://gisserver.domain.com:6080/arcgis/services/folder/service/ImageServer/WCSServer.
3. Append ?request=GetCapabilities&version=1.0.0 to the end of the service URL and press Enter. The XML displayed in the browser is WCS 1.0.0 capabilities for your service.
4. Save the results as an XML file. The file name must follow the format <prefix><WCS version>.xml. For example, when you save the result XML from a WCS 1.0.0 GetCapabilities request, the file must use a common prefix (such as Roads) followed by the three-digit WCS version number (100). The resulting file is Roads100.xml.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for each WCS version you want to support, for example, 1.1.0, 1.1.1, and 2.0.1.
6. Configure and customize metadata information for the WCS layers in each capabilities file.
7. Move all of the capabilities files into a common folder that is accessible through HTTP. Typically, this will be a virtual directory on your organization's web server.

Configure a WCS service to use external capabilities files

To configure your WCS service to use external capabilities files, update the WCS service to reference the URL of your capabilities files. You can do this in ArcGIS Server Manager or ArcMap.

Follow these steps to configure a WCS service with an external capabilities file using ArcGIS Server Manager.

1. Open ArcGIS Server Manager and log in. If you need help with this step, see Log in to Manager.
2. Click Services > Manage Services.
3. In the Manage Services module, locate your service and click Edit . If you don't see your service in the list, it may be located in a subfolder under the Site (root) folder.
4. In the Edit module, click Capabilities.
5. In the capabilities list, click WCS.
6. In the WCS Configuration list, choose Use external capabilities files.
7. In the Specify the location and prefix box, specify the URL of the folder where you placed your capabilities files plus the common prefix you used for the files. For example, if the URL to the folder that contains your files is https://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services and the common prefix you used is Roads, the URL you specify in the Specify the location and prefix box is https://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services/Roads.
8. Click Save and Restart.

Follow these steps to configure a WCS service with an external capabilities file using ArcMap or ArcCatalog:

1. In ArcCatalog or the Catalog window in ArcMap, expand the GIS Servers node and create an Administer GIS server connection type to the ArcGIS Server site. If you already have an Administer GIS server connection to this site, you can skip this step. For instructions, see Connect to ArcGIS Server from ArcGIS Desktop.
2. Within your ArcGIS Server connection, right-click the WCS service and choose Service Properties.
3. In the Service Editor, click the Capabilities tab.
4. Click the WCS tab and select Use external capabilities files.
5. In the Specify the location and prefix box, specify the URL of the folder where you placed your capabilities files plus the common prefix you used for the files. For example, if the URL to the folder that contains your files is https://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services and the common prefix you used is Roads, the URL you specify in the Specify the location and prefix box is https://webserver.domain.com/arcgis/WCS/services/Roads.
6. Click OK.