Skip To Content

Add databases to an ArcGIS Server site on Microsoft Azure

To store service data, you can add one of the following types of databases to stand-alone or federated ArcGIS Server sites on Microsoft Azure using ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure:

The database can serve one of the following roles:

  • A managed database—Managed databases store feature service data. When you publish, the data from your data source is copied to the managed database and the feature service reads the data from it. When you delete the feature service, the data is deleted. Managed databases provide a way for you to copy data to Azure so that it is running in the same region as your ArcGIS GIS Server site. An ArcGIS GIS Server site can have only one managed database.
  • A registered database—You can register a database to store simple source data on Azure. You can connect to the database from an ArcGIS Pro client running in the same region on Azure to publish services that reference this data.
  • A registered database that contains a geodatabase—You can add an enterprise geodatabase to store source data on Azure. To create datasets in the geodatabase, connect to it from an ArcGIS Pro client running in the same region on Azure. Once the geodatabase contains data, you can connect to it from this client and publish services that reference this data.

To move data to a registered database or geodatabase, see the Microsoft Azure documentation for information on loading data to an Azure database as a service or database on a virtual machine.

License:

Registered databases that use geodatabase functionality and managed databases on Microsoft Azure are only supported with enterprise-level licenses. Managed databases can only be used with ArcGIS GIS Server sites, but registered databases can be used with ArcGIS GIS Server or ArcGIS Image Server sites.

Create and register a database

  1. Start ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure.
  2. Sign in to Microsoft Azure.

    If the ArcGIS Server site with which you want to register the database is in the Microsoft Azure Government cloud, check U.S. Government Cloud.

  3. Choose an Azure Active Directory tenant, click Next, choose the subscription that contains the ArcGIS Server site to which you will add a registered database, and click Next.
  4. Ensure V2 Sites is selected.
  5. In the Deployments list, click the Register a database with the site button Register a database with the site next to the ArcGIS Server site deployment.
  6. Choose the database service or database to use.
    • Microsoft Azure SQL Database
    • Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance Database
    • Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL
    • Microsoft SQL Server
  7. Choose what to register:
    • To register a managed database, check both the As a Managed Database and Enable As Geodatabase check boxes. Only one managed database is allowed per ArcGIS Server site.
    • To register an enterprise geodatabase to use as a data source, uncheck the As a Managed Database check box, and check the Enable As Geodatabase check box.
    • To register a database to use as a data source, uncheck both the As a Managed Database and Enable As Geodatabase check boxes.
  8. Click Next.
  9. If you chose Microsoft Azure SQL Database, provide the following information to create the database server and database:
    1. Click the Create button (+) next to Database Server.
    2. Type a name for the server.
    3. Type the username and password for the database server administrator.
    4. Click Create.
    5. Click the Create button (+) next to Database and type a name for the database.
    6. Click Check Availability to confirm the database name is unique.
    7. Choose a performance level from the Type drop-down menu.

      For information on performance levels available for Microsoft Azure SQL Database, see the Microsoft Azure documentation.

    8. Click Create.
  10. If you chose Microsoft Azure SQL Managed Instance Database, provide the following information:
    1. Click the Create button (+) next to Database Server.
    2. Type a name for the server.
    3. Choose or create a subnet for the instance.
    4. Choose an instance type for the database server.
    5. Specify a storage size for the database server.

      You can either type a number or use the up or down arrows to change the size from the default.

    6. Type the username and password for the database server administrator.
    7. Click Create.
    8. Click the Create button (+) next to Database and type a name for the database.
    9. Click Check Availability to confirm the database name is unique.
    10. Click Create.
  11. If you chose Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL, provide the following information to create the database server and database:
    1. Click the Create button (+) next to Database Server.
    2. Type a name for the server.
    3. Choose an instance type for the database server.
    4. Choose the version of Microsoft Azure Database for PostgreSQL to use.
    5. Specify a storage size for the database server.

      You can either type a number or use the up or down arrows to change the size from the default.

    6. Type the username and password for the database server administrator.
    7. Click Create.
    8. Click the Create button (+) next to Database and type a name for the database.
    9. Click Check Availability to confirm the database name is unique.
    10. Click Create.
  12. If you chose Microsoft SQL Server, provide the following information to create the database server and database:
    1. In the Database Server field, type a name for the virtual machine.
    2. Click Machine Options next to Database Server.
    3. Choose an instance type from the Image drop-down menu.
    4. To change specifications for the database server size, click the Configure Virtual Machine button Configure Virtual Machine.
    5. Choose to use a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD) for the operating system disk (OS Disk Type).
    6. From the Machine Type drop-down menu, choose the type of virtual machine to use.
    7. Choose the size, in gibibytes, of the operating system disk.
    8. To add another drive to the virtual machine to store data, check Add a data disk? and choose the disk type and size for the data drive.
    9. Click Apply to close the Configure Virtual Machine dialog box.
    10. Click Apply to close the Database Server Machine Options dialog box.
    11. Type a name for the database.
  13. In the Site Administrator section, type the username and password for the primary site administrator account for the ArcGIS Server site.
  14. In the Database Administrator section, type the username and password to be used for the database administrator.

    If you checked the Enable As Geodatabase option, this same password will be used for the geodatabase administrator (sde) account.

  15. In the Database User section, type the username and password to be used for a data owner.

    This is the account that services will use to authenticate with the database to access the data.

  16. Click Next to proceed to the Deployment Options settings.
  17. Choose or create a storage account for your deployment. To create a storage account, follow these steps:
    1. Type a name for the storage account.

      Names must be unique. Click Check Availability to confirm the storage account name is unique.

    2. Choose the Azure region where your storage will reside.
    3. Choose an existing resource group for the storage account or create one.
    4. Choose the type of redundancy for your storage account: Geo-Redundant, Locally Redundant, or Read-Access Geo-Redundant.

      See Azure Storage redundancy in the Microsoft Azure documentation for a description of each option.

    5. Specify the kind of Azure storage account to use: Storage (a legacy account type), StorageV2 (a basic account type), or BlobStorage (only supports Azure Blob storage).
    6. Once the storage account is created, click Close.
  18. Click Next to view a summary of your settings.
  19. Review the settings in the Summary pane. If anything needs to be changed, click Back to go to the page where you need to change the information.

    Tip:

    Click Save Summary to save your site configuration information to a text file so you can refer to it for information such as usernames or machine names.

  20. Click Generate Cost Estimate to calculate the approximate cost of the Azure infrastructure you will use in your deployment. When you finish generating the estimate, click Close.

    This estimate does not include data storage costs.

  21. Click Save Automation Artifacts to export an archive file (.zip file) containing information and files you can use in automation scripts to re-create this deployment.
    1. Browse to a location on the local disk where the archive file will be created and type a name for the file.
    2. Choose the type of automation format you will use.
    3. Click Generate to create the file.
  22. When all settings are correct and you have saved the files you need, click Finish to create the database (and geodatabase if applicable), and register the database with the ArcGIS Server site.

Use an existing database

If you have an existing database instance in the Azure portal that you want to register with an ArcGIS Server site that you created using Cloud Builder, provide the name of the existing Database Server, Database, and Database Administrator username and password when you register it using Cloud Builder.

To register an existing SQL Server instance on Azure, you must also do the following to allow communication with the instance:

  • Change the SQL Server instance's authentication method to SQL Authentication.
  • Create or enable a SQL Server-authenticated database administrator account.
  • Open port 1433 in the virtual machine's firewall.

See the Microsoft documentation for instructions.