ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services allows you to deploy a web GIS or GIS server on Amazon Web Services (AWS). The ArcGIS software runs on Amazon's hardware and is administered through web services.
Advantages of deploying on AWS include the following:
No installation required—You don't have to install ArcGIS software yourself. Instead, you can use sample AWS CloudFormation templates to create a GIS server site or web GIS deployment on AWS. Once you create your site, you can immediately connect to it and begin publishing services from your local ArcMap installation or from within the Portal for ArcGIS web site.
Scalable on demand—You can configure your site so that additional GIS servers are added in response to certain triggers, such as CPU usage. New servers can be created in a matter of minutes, allowing your site to gracefully respond to abrupt spikes in traffic. When you no longer need the instances, you can destroy them and incur no further charges for them.
No hardware infrastructure to maintain—Deploying ArcGIS Server on Amazon Web Services requires no special hardware; you just need to connect to the Internet. After creating your site, you can gain fine-grained management of your server through the AWS Management Console, a web application provided by Amazon. You can log in to your server through Windows Remote Desktop Connection or SSL to fine-tune your data, services, and applications.
Deploying your server in a cloud environment allows you to use as many or as few computing resources as necessary without committing to a long-term purchase of hardware or other IT infrastructure.
About this help
The help section you are reading focuses on how to deploy a web GIS or GIS server on Amazon Web Services. It also includes special topics about maintaining and scaling your deployment on AWS.
If you need general information about ArcGIS Server, enterprise geodatabases, Portal for ArcGIS, or ArcGIS Data Store, visit those respective sections in the ArcGIS Server, Portal for ArcGIS, or ArcMap Help. The ArcGIS Server help describes how to publish services, configure security users and roles, and create web applications. The Portal for ArcGIS administration guide describes how to implement a portal, and the Portal for ArcGIS help describes how to use a portal. The ArcMap help describes how to build and manage geodatabases.
Links to other help are provided throughout this help system where appropriate.