Skip To Content

Deployment patterns for ArcGIS Enterprise

You can extend the functionality and capacity of the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment with additional servers. Adding more server machines, be they on-premises or in the cloud, to your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment will help you make the most of the ArcGIS Server licensing roles.

In the sections below, the following icons will be used:

IconDescription
User icon

The ArcGIS Enterprise user.

base

A base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, which can be configured with a single machine or with multiple machines as described in the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment help topic.

icon

An additional ArcGIS Server site, licensed with a specific server role.

ArcGIS Data Store icon

An instance of ArcGIS Data Store registered with the deployment.

ArcGIS Web Adaptor icon

An instance of ArcGIS Web Adaptor configured with the deployment.

ArcGIS GIS Server

In the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, ArcGIS GIS Server acts in two distinct capacities:

  • The hosting server that supports the overall Web GIS infrastructure.
  • A general purpose GIS Server, where services can be published from ArcGIS Desktop that reference your own data sources, such as geodatabases.

Many organizations separate these functions into two distinct ArcGIS Server sites to improve the performance of their deployment.

In this configuration, an additional ArcGIS GIS Server site is federated with your ArcGIS Enterprise portal. This additional site provides dedicated mapping and visualization capabilities to your users. The number of machines in each site will be dictated by your specific needs for capacity and high availability.

Dedicated mapping and visualization site diagram

Each machine in the ArcGIS GIS Server site requires a minimum of 8 GB of memory, with more potentially required depending on the number of services published and their usage patterns.

ArcGIS Image Server

Image Server provides two primary capabilities: dynamic image services from mosaic datasets and raster analysis using distributed processing.

If you will only be using dynamic image services, the recommended deployment pattern is to add a dedicated ArcGIS Image Server site to the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.

Minimum

You can also federate additional ArcGIS Image Server sites to this deployment pattern as needed.

For deployments where raster analysis will regularly be performed on large datasets, to ensure that dynamic image services are not negatively impacted, you should use separate sites for raster analysis and dynamic image services.

with raster analysis site diagram

In such a deployment pattern, you should have a minimum of 8 GB of RAM per machine.

Note:
You can only have one ArcGIS Image Server site dedicated to raster analytics in yourArcGIS Enterprise deployment. You can scale the site by adding more RAM or additional machines.

ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server

To federate an ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server site to your base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, you must first add an ArcGIS Data Store configured as a spatiotemporal big data store on its own machine:

minimum site architecture

This deployment is appropriate for development and testing, as well as production use when there are no requirements for high availability. For each of the data store and ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server machines, a minimum of 16 GB of RAM is required.

You may need to add additional machines to your spatiotemporal big data store may be required for large volumes of data, and additional ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server machines may be required for faster processing of large amounts of data. The diagrams below illustrate these deployment patterns.

Note:
You can only have one ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server site for yourArcGIS Enterprise deployment. You can scale the site by adding more RAM or additional machines.

The following diagram includes multiple machines for the spatiotemporal big data store registered with your hosting server:

recommended site architecture

You must also ensure good I/O throughput from the input data sources configured with ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server. This includes ensuring good throughput from remote file shares.

ArcGIS GeoEvent Server

ArcGIS GeoEvent Server enables real-time event-based data streams from sensor networks, whether stationary, mobile, or an Internet of Things (IoT), to be integrated as data sources in your enterprise GIS.

The ideal number and configuration of ArcGIS GeoEvent Server instances for your deployment depends wholly on your data stream or streams — their event velocity and the data size of each event. A single instance of ArcGIS GeoEvent Server can process a stream with a volume of up to 6,000 events per second if the event data size only includes a few data fields and a point. The same hardware and software configuration may only be able to process 2,000 events per second if each event includes several dozen data fields and a many-sided polygon.

Learn more about system requirements for ArcGIS GeoEvent Server

A minimal setup adds a single-machine site with the ArcGIS GeoEvent Server licensing role to the existing base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.

site architecture
Note:

The configuration above illustrates a three-node spatiotemporal big data store registered with your hosting server. Incorporating a three-node spatiotemporal big data store enables high-velocity and large-volume archiving of event data processed by ArcGIS GeoEvent Server. The relational data store type in ArcGIS Data Store can handle data streams with an event volume below 200 events per second.

If your real-time sensor network includes multiple data streams, each with a moderate event volume and velocity, you should configure multiple single-machine ArcGIS GeoEvent Server sites, each dedicated to specific real-time data streams. The diagram below depicts such a configuration, with three independent ArcGIS GeoEvent Server instances, each in their own ArcGIS Server site.

example site with multiple

At ArcGIS Enterprise 10.6 and later, ArcGIS GeoEvent Server instances can be configured in a multiple-machine site, with the ArcGIS GeoEvent Gateway enabling distribution of resources across the machines. Setting up a multiple-machine site is typically done for one of two reasons:

  • A real-time event stream is providing a higher event volume and/or event velocity than a single instance of ArcGIS GeoEvent Server can handle. Configuring a multiple-machine site distributes the event processing across the machines in the site for a highly scalable system.
  • System resiliency is desired for ArcGIS GeoEvent Server. Configuring a multiple-machine site enables the ArcGIS GeoEvent Gateway to redistribute event processing if one of the machines in the site is unavailable.

ArcGIS GeoEvent Server multiple-machine sites, regardless of motivation, should be planned and implemented in collaboration with Esri Services given the complexity of the architecture.

Learn more about multiple-machine sites in ArcGIS GeoEvent Server

A minimal setup (not illustrated) in which you deploy and license ArcGIS GeoEvent Server on an existing base ArcGIS Enterprise machine is supported. However, system architects should understand the implications of system resource sharing between ArcGIS GIS Server and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server before such a solution is moved into production.