Build an ArcGIS Server site on Amazon Web Services
In this topic
ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services is a downloadable desktop application that helps you create an ArcGIS Server site on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The steps below explain how to create a site using Cloud Builder.
Configure ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services
You need the following to use ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services:
- An Amazon account
- The ArcGIS for Server Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) shared to your Amazon account
- The Access Key and Secret Access Key of a user who is an administrator for your Amazon account
- The ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services application
- An ArcGIS for Server license file
- Download, install, and launch
ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services.
You can access the Cloud Builder download when logged in to My Esri. It is listed with your other Esri software downloads. You need to have purchased ArcGIS for Server before you can see the download.
- Log in using the Access Key and Secret Access Key belonging to an administrator user of your Amazon account.
Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) services allow you to create users and groups and assign them various levels of privileges to your account. Each user has an associated Access Key and Secret Access Key. You need to create at least one administrator user and supply that user's Access Key and Secret Access Key when you log in to Cloud Builder.
If you don't have a user or keys defined, log in to the AWS Management Console and click Services > IAM. Follow the on-screen prompts to create a group, assign it administrative access, and create a user. Once you create a user, you can download the Access Key and Secret Access Key. You can only download these once, at the time you create the user.
Be aware that ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services will not allow you to log in if the ArcGIS for Server Amazon Machine Images (AMIs) have not been shared with your Amazon account. Contact Esri Customer Service (U.S. customers) or your local distributor to get the AMIs shared with your Amazon account.
Launch an AWS instance
The ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services will take you through the steps to create an AWS instance.
General settings
- Click the Sites tab and click Create Site.
- Type a name and description for your site.
The name will be applied to various resources that the app creates for you in AWS so you can easily identify them.
- Use the Software drop-down list to choose the AMI used to launch your instance. You can use the Windows or Ubuntu Linux AMIs Esri shared with our account, or you can use a site template that you've previously configured to contain your own software, data, and services.
- Browse to the Esri license file (with extension .prvc) that should be used to license your site. If you need help creating a .prvc file, see Frequently asked questions.
- Click Next to proceed to the next panel.
Amazon Web Services settings
Define AWS settings for your site.
- Choose the AWS region to be used for your site.
A region represents an Amazon data center complex in a certain area of the world. A site cannot be distributed across regions, although you can maintain a second site in an alternate region for redundancy.
- Choose to launch in a new or existing Amazon EPC-VPC (Virtual Private Cloud).
- You can use a VPC that you created in the Amazon Web Services Console. Cloud Builder detects the existing subnets for the existing VPC you specify.
- If you do not have an existing VPC you want to use, choose the option to create a new VPC. Cloud Builder creates a VPC and a subnet in every valid availability zone.
- Choose a key pair to use for this site. A key pair is required if you ever want to log in to one of the instances in your site. You can use an existing key pair or create a new one.
- To use an existing key pair, select one from the drop-down list. This list only contains key pairs from the region in which you are working.
- If you create a new key pair, a .pem file is placed in your Windows Documents folder under ArcGISCloudBuilder. For example, the path to your key pair file might look like C:\Users\username\Documents\ArcGISCloudBuilder\arcgis-TestSite.pem. You should move this file to a secure location and keep it available for future use.
- Click Next to proceed to the next panel.
ArcGIS Server instance settings
Specify settings for the instances that comprise your ArcGIS Server.
Caution:
The instance type, as well as the minimum and maximum number of instances you choose, can greatly affect the amount of money that you are charged by AWS. Before choosing these settings, carefully estimate your site usage and the server power you'll need to accommodate that usage.
- Choose the instance type to be used in your site.
The instances available to you will vary slightly depending on which region you are using. However, micro instances are not available in any region because they do not meet the minimum memory requirement for ArcGIS Server.
- Choose the size of the Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume to attach to each GIS server instance in your site. This EBS volume will be visible as a local disk drive to which you can upload your data. Your ArcGIS Server configuration store and server directories will also be placed on this drive on one of the instances.
- Choose whether the root drive and attached EBS volume should be deleted when the site is terminated.
Preserving the drives allows you to attach it to other sites in the future if you choose. However, you must remember to delete the drives manually when they are no longer needed. You will incur charges for the drives as long as they exist.
- Choose the number of AWS instances that will participate in your site.
The Number of instances property represents the minimum number of instances that will be launched when the site is created.
License:
You must not run ArcGIS Server on a greater number of CPU cores than you have licensed with Esri, regardless of whether the cores are in the cloud or on-premises. Also be aware that you are responsible for all Amazon Web Services charges you incur for AWS instances and other resources launched using Cloud Builder.
- Optionally check Enable auto-scaling to launch or terminate new AWS instances automatically based on usage triggers that you specify.
Autoscaling monitors site usage and adds or removes instances based on the CPU usage and duration. When more people and applications access your site, more instances are added to it. When demand decreases, instances are removed. Instances will never be fewer than the number you specify for Number of instances and will never exceed the number you specify for Maximum number of instances.
Amazon CloudWatch is the service that provides CPU monitoring on your instances and makes the autoscaling triggers possible. You will see an extra fee applied for the CloudWatch service if you choose to enable autoscaling.
- Set the Maximum number of instances that can be launched.
- Specify the percent CPU usage and duration that will cause an instance to be removed from your site.
- Specify the percent CPU usage and duration that will cause an instance to be added to your site.
For example, if you keep the default settings, when your site experiences over 80 percent CPU usage for five consecutive minutes, a new GIS server instance will be added to the site unless you have reached the maximum number of instances you specified. When your CPU usage goes below 20 percent for five consecutive minutes, a GIS server instance will be removed from your site and terminated unless your site has been reduced to the original number of instances you specified.
- Click Next to proceed to the next panel.
The next two steps apply to ArcGIS for Server enterprise licensed sites only.
Geodatabase settings
You can choose to include geodatabases in your site by checking Include enterprise geodatabase. Relational database management system options vary depending on which AMI and ArcGIS Server license you are using to launch your site.
- If you are using an ArcGIS for Server Workgroup license, you can create a site that includes Microsoft SQL Server Express on an ArcGIS Server EC2 instance.
- If you are using an ArcGIS for Server Enterprise license and ArcGIS for Server (Ubuntu Linux) AMI, you can create a site that includes one of the following:
- PostgreSQL on an ArcGIS Server EC2 instance
- PostgreSQL on its own dedicated EC2 instance
- Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
- If you are using an ArcGIS for Server Enterprise license and ArcGIS for Server (Windows) AMI, you can create a site that includes one of the following:
- Microsoft SQL Server Express on an ArcGIS Server EC2 instance
- Microsoft SQL Server Standard on an ArcGIS Server EC2 instance
- Microsoft SQL Server Standard on its own dedicated EC2 instance
- Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server
- Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL
Relational database management systems running on their own dedicated EC2 instance require that you specify the instance type, EBS volume size, and whether the volume should be deleted at the time the site is terminated. Be aware that all these settings affect the amount charged to your Amazon account.
Amazon RDS for Microsoft SQL Server and Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL always run on their own dedicated instances, for which you must specify the instance class and allocated storage size. You must additionally choose the subnet group.
Click Next to proceed to the next panel once you have made your selections
Security settings
You must create a primary site administrator for ArcGIS Server. You can also specify an SSL certificate for encrypted communication.
- Type the user name and password to use for the ArcGIS Server primary site administrator account.
The primary site administrator is not an operating system account; it is an account built into ArcGIS Server that you create at this time. You'll use this account for logging in to Server Manager and making connections to your server until you are able to further configure security on your site.
The password must be 8 to 16 characters in length and cannot contain a forward slash (/) or at sign (@).
If you choose to include an enterprise geodatabase in Amazon RDS for SQL Server in your site, the password you use for the primary site administrator will also be used for the database users that the geodatabase requires.
- Choose whether to install an SSL certificate when the site is created. This allows encrypted communication with your site. See Set up SSL using Cloud Builder to learn more about this option.
- Click Next to proceed to the summary panel.
Review settings and create the site
Review the settings for the site. Click Back to make changes on a previous panel; otherwise, click Finish to create the site.
It can take a while for the site to be created. A series of messages will appear explaining what the application is doing while it is creating the site.
Caution:
You must remain logged in to Cloud Builder until site creation is complete.
The site with the resources you specified are created on EC2. These include one or more instances with Amazon CloudWatch enabled, EBS volumes, and an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB). You immediately begin incurring charges for these. To learn more about the costs of these resources, see http://aws.amazon.com/pricing/ec2.
The next steps
You'll need to connect to the server to load and publish data. See Use your site for more information.
Remote access to your instances is not enabled by default. See the following topics for help if you want to log in to one of your EC2 instances:
- Open an Amazon EC2 security group for ArcGIS Server
- Administer your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop
- Administer your Amazon EC2 Ubuntu Linux instance with remote access from Windows
- Administer your Amazon EC2 Ubuntu Linux instance with remote access from Linux
Sites that include geodatabases in PostgreSQL also require that you change passwords for security reasons. You can also change the password of the administrator login on Windows instances.