ArcGIS GeoEvent Server can be deployed in a virtualized environment such as VMware vSphere. GeoEvent Server virtualization and cloud environment support are the same as for ArcGIS Server. See the system requirements of ArcGIS Server for the most recent list of officially supported versions.
Virtualized hardware in your infrastructure is different from cloud infrastructure, which is managed by a cloud provider. When using a virtualized environment, you still own, operate, and maintain the hardware infrastructure on which the virtual machines run. You may choose to use virtualized hardware to increase resource efficiency, improve disaster-recovery capabilities, or test a new operating system, all while maintaining your own infrastructure on-premises. GeoEvent Server can also be deployed on cloud infrastructure, which transfers responsibility for powering and maintaining physical infrastructure to your cloud provider. To learn more about GeoEvent Server in the cloud and Esri cloud deployment tools, see ArcGIS Enterprise in the cloud.
Best practices for virtualized environments
Physical hardware is usually preferred over a virtual environment. However, GeoEvent Server can perform very well in a virtual environment if that environment offers full resource isolation. Virtual instances that are isolated at the hardware level provide the dedicated resources GeoEvent Server will benefit from. And the failover and scaling features that most virtual environments offer provide additional flexibility and resiliency. Issues with performance, reliability, and resiliency have all been observed in virtual environments that do not provide resource isolation and dedication.
In addition to resource isolation, selection of system resources is key. Optimized CPU, RAM, and local storage all make a difference on any machine (physical or virtual). For more information on resource selection, see Allocating machine resources. When setting up your GeoEvent Server in a virtualized hardware infrastructure, there are some best practices to follow to optimize stability and performance.
- Ensure that enough resources are available or directly assigned to the host hypervisor. This includes CPU and memory resources. If you need specific guidance on how many resources to leave available and how to assign those resources, consult the product documentation for the hypervisor provider.
- Because GeoEvent Server can be very disk-intensive, ensure that individual virtual machines do not run on the same single physical disk. If possible, use high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs).
- Install and run your GeoEvent Server side by side with other ArcGIS Enterprise components within a single virtual network to avoid disrupting communications.
- It is recommended that you use a minimum of 4 CPUs/16GB RAM and a maximum of 8 CPUs/42GB RAM per GeoEvent Server.
- Event feed partitioning with multiple machines is much more effective when scaling the system than adding additional resources to a single machine.
If you are configuring failover, high availability, or separate ArcGIS Server sites for separate purposes, follow the recommendations above to determine the size of machines in each site.
Deploy GeoEvent Server on VMWare
You can deploy GeoEvent Server on VMware in much the same way that you deploy GeoEvent Server on physical hardware. Both Windows and Linux are supported. The workflow is as follows.
Create a VMware template with ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server installed.
Launch a virtual machine (VM) from your template, rename the machine, and reboot it.
Create the ArcGIS Server site on your VM.
Optionally, launch additional VMs and join them to the site.
Configure services, applications, and optionally ArcGIS Web Adaptor (which integrates your site with your enterprise web server).
Below are some items to note when deploying GeoEvent Server on VMware.
Create a VMWare template with GeoEvent Server installed
You must first create a VMware template as a master copy of the GeoEvent Server virtual machine (VM). You can use this template to create and provision additional identical virtual machines. When building the template, keep in mind the following:
- You should install ArcGIS Server, create the single machine site, install GeoEvent Server and authorize it. Since GeoEvent Server is only deployed on a single machine ArcGIS Server site, you do not have to worry about joining a site later.
- Optionally, you can import a GeoEvent Server configuration into GeoEvent Server. Each virtual copy of the template will use the same GeoEvent Server configuration, saving time if a machine needs to be duplicated or recreated.
- On Windows, GeoEvent Server is configured to start automatically with a delay when the operating system starts. On Linux, you need to configure this manually.
GeoEvent Server is compatible with virtualized environments and does not need any special configuration to run on VMware or connect to an ArcGIS Enterprise running on VMware.
Launch a VM from a template and rename the machine
For information on utilizing your VMWare template with ArcGIS Server, see Deploy an ArcGIS Server site on VMWare.
Renaming the machine does not affect the GeoEvent Server configuration if one was loaded onto the template. If there are machine specific resources in your GeoEvent Server configuration, it may be best to create the configuration after the VM is launched or import one from an XML configuration file (which can be modified in a text editor).
At this time, you can add the machine to your network, if necessary, so it can reference your other enterprise GIS components.
Backup and recover a site
An advantage of a virtualized environments such as VMware is the ease of backing up your site and recovering it in case of a problem. You can use VMware templates to preserve your machine settings. The backup and restore utilities provided by ArcGIS Server are not applicable or available with GeoEvent Server.
GeoEvent Server will store backup copies of the configuration to the local disk. Consider copying and storing the backup files (GeoEventBackup-<date>.xml) on a machine separate from the site, on a physical server if possible.
For more information on backing up GeoEvent Server, see Automatic backup.