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Welcome to the ArcGIS Notebook Server (Windows) installation guide

ArcGIS Notebook Server is an ArcGIS Server role that is licensed and configured for the purpose of hosting notebooks. The server role uses containers to host and run ArcGIS Notebooks and provides a separate and secure environment for the notebooks without interfering with the host operating system.

If your ArcGIS Notebook Server site has been set up, refer to the software user guide or administrator guide.

Multiple machines can be joined in an ArcGIS Notebook Server site, allowing you to expand your machine resources for hosting and running notebooks. To deploy a multiple-machine site, additional steps are required, as detailed in Join a machine to an ArcGIS Notebook Server site (Windows containers) and Join additional machines to an ArcGIS Notebook Server site (Linux containers) .

Use this guide to install and configure the software. The installation process for ArcGIS Notebook Server is different from that for other ArcGIS Server roles. Read the installation guide carefully, and complete the installation steps in the order they are presented.

ArcGIS Notebook Server and Windows Containers

ArcGIS Notebook Server supports Windows Containers and Mirantis Container Runtime on Windows.

Note:

ArcGIS Notebook Server on Windows Server 2022 will default to using Windows containers.

For more information, see Mirantis Container Runtime and ArcGIS Notebook Server (Windows containers).

Prerequisites and constraints for Windows systems

If you deploy ArcGIS Notebook Server on Windows machines, there are a number of prerequisites and constraints to consider. These do not apply when deploying ArcGIS Notebook Server on Linux machines.

  • ArcGIS Notebook Server uses the third-party components Mirantis Container Runtime (Windows containers) and Docker (Linux containers) to manage containers. When you deploy ArcGIS Notebook Server on Windows machines, you must either use Mirantis Container Runtime or the Docker Desktop edition of Docker, which does not include support or maintenance from Docker but is considered feature-complete.
  • It's recommended that you use Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2019 machines in a production environment of ArcGIS Notebook Server. Windows 10 machines are only supported for development environments.
    Note:

    Starting at 11.1, ArcGIS Notebook Server on Windows Server 2022 will default to using Windows containers. To use Linux containers on Windows Server 2022, you must set the useWindowsContainers system property to false in System > Properties and reset the factory runtimes in Notebooks > Runtimes from the Notebook Server administrative directory to false.

Prerequisites and constraints for Windows containers

Consider the following when using Windows containers:

  • ArcGIS Notebook Server on Windows containers uses Mirantis Container Runtime, which currently only supports Windows Server 2022.
  • When ArcGIS Notebook Server and Mirantis Container Runtime are deployed on multiple machines, you no longer need to configure replication (DFS) for your workspace directory. The workspace directory can be shared as a path mounted on a drive with Mirantis Container Runtime.

Prerequisites and constraints for Linux containers

Consider the following when using Linux containers:

  • If you deploy ArcGIS Notebook Server with Linux containers on Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2019, you can use Docker Desktop (version 4.4.4 or later). Note that the Docker documentation for the current version does not mention Windows Server 2022 or Windows Server 2019 in its system requirements.
    Note:

    To use Linux containers on Windows Server 2022, you must set the useWindowsContainers system property to false in System > Properties and reset the factory runtimes in Notebooks > Runtimes from the Notebook Server administrative directory to false.

  • ArcGIS Notebook Server with Linux containers uses a Linux emulator named MobyLinuxVM, which is contained within the Hyper-V environment, to manage its containers.
  • ArcGIS Notebook Server with Linux containers requires the Hyper-V role to already be installed on Windows Server and Windows 10.
  • Certain virtualization environments do not allow Hyper-V to be enabled and operated in Windows. As a result, ArcGIS Notebook Server cannot be installed and operated in such environments. ArcGIS Notebook Server supports virtualized environments hosted on VMware vSphere 6.7 or later that have hardware-assisted virtualization (nested virtualization) enabled for the guest OS. Before you install ArcGIS Notebook Server, ensure that Docker is installed on your machine and supports Linux containers.
  • ArcGIS Notebook Server supports multiple-machine sites. In Windows systems, Docker does not support mounting shared drives on containers, so the workspace directory must remain local on each machine. Because users can launch containers and open notebooks on each machine in a multiple-machine site, it's necessary that the content in the workspace directory be synchronized across machines. The steps to configure one method of replication are provided in Configure DFS replication for ArcGIS Notebook Server.

Software installation

An overview of the steps to install ArcGIS Notebook Server is below. Complete each step in order, and review all sections of the installation guide documentation as you go.