With ArcGIS Pro, you can save service definitions for geodata services to be shared to a portal at a later time. A service definition file (.sd) contains information about the geodata service's type, properties, and capabilities. See Introduction to saving service definitions to learn more about how service definitions can be used in your organization's sharing workflows.
You can save a service definition for a geodata service with a specific connection or without a connection when offline or disconnected from the server.
Save a connected service definition for a geodata service
A connected service definition is configured for a specific server connection. The option to save a service definition is available in the Share Geodata Service pane when you are connected to ArcGIS Enterprise.
Tip:
In the Share Geodata Service pane, click the Publish drop-down arrow and click Save As SD to save a service definition file.
The workflow to save a service definition for a geodata service is similar to sharing a geodata service and is not described in detail here. To learn about saving a service definition for a geodata service, see Share a geodata service.
Save an offline service definition for a geodata service
An offline service definition is connection neutral; it is not configured for a specific server connection. You can save an offline service definition if you are offline or not connected to the server.
To save a service definition for a geodata service in a disconnected environment, complete the following steps:
- On the Share tab, in the Share As group, click the Geodata Service drop-down arrow and click Save As Offline Service Definition
.The Select the File Geodatabase or Enterprise Geodatabase to Share dialog box appears.
- Browse to and select the geodatabase to share and click OK.
The Save As Offline Service Definition pane appears.
- Fill in the information on the General tab of the Save As Offline Service Definition pane.
- Keep or change the name of the geodata service in the Name text box, which is automatically populated.
- Provide information in the Summary and Tags text boxes.
You can enter a maximum of 128 tags.
- Optionally, under Location, for Portal Folder, provide a name of an existing portal or a new folder.
By default, the geodata service is stored at the root level of the portal content.
- Optionally, for Server Folder, provide a name of an existing server folder or a new folder.
By default, the geodata service is stored in the root folder of the server.
- Optionally, modify the service properties on the Configuration tab of the Save As Offline Service Definition pane.
- Under Finish Staging, click Analyze
to review for problems. Errors and warnings are listed on the Messages tab. Right-click a message to open its help topic or take corrective action in the software. Errors
must be resolved before you can save the service definition. Resolving warnings 
is recommended but not required. - After you have resolved errors, and optionally resolved warnings, click Save.
The Save As Service Definition File dialog box appears.
- On the dialog box, specify the location and name of the service definition file, and click Save.
- Optionally, click Jobs
to monitor the job status. - Once the service definition has been successfully staged, click the Manage the service definition link at the bottom of the pane to open the location of the service definition file.
To publish a geodata service to an ArcGIS Enterprise portal, see Publish a service definition.