Before you begin working with ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services, familiarize yourself with some related terms and concepts.
Amazon DynamoDB
Amazon DynamoDB is a NoSQL database service managed by AWS that distributes data and traffic for a table over multiple servers to meet requests.
You can use DynamoDB for the configuration store and directories of highly available ArcGIS Server sites on AWS.
Amazon Elastic Block Store volume
Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes are virtual disk drives that you can attach to your EC2 instance to add more storage.
You can create your own EBS volume, format the drive, and attach it to your EC2 instance (for example, you can configure it as drive E: on Windows). You can configure the drive to contain as much or as little space as you need.
EBS volumes allow you to manage your data in the cloud independently from your software. For example, you can detach an EBS volume from one instance and attach it to another. When you terminate an instance, any previously attached EBS volumes are left behind, allowing you to attach them to other instances, if desired.
You can create snapshots of your EBS volumes, which allow you to quickly generate identical volumes. Snapshots are useful if you need to share data across Amazon availability zones, or to make the same data available to several Amazon accounts. Finally, snapshots provide a means of data backup. If a volume fails for some reason, you can deploy a new volume from the original snapshot without much loss.
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance
An Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance is a virtual machine that you create on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud. In the context of ArcGIS, you create the instance using an Amazon Machine Image that is preconfigured with an operating system and ArcGIS software installed.
You can stop and start EC2 instances in much the same way you can shut down and start a computer. Instances can also be terminated when they are no longer needed. Once you terminate an instance, all information about it is lost. For this reason, it's recommended that you store your data on Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volumes attached to your instance and back up your data to Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3).
Amazon Machine Image (AMI)
An Amazon Machine Image is a preconfigured template that allows you to create virtual machines on Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2).
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3)
Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) is an AWS service designed specifically for data storage in the cloud. This storage option supports several data migration workflows to help you move data in and out of the cloud. Data in S3 is stored in buckets that you configure to define the region in which they reside and who has access to them.
You can use S3 in the following capacities with your ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services deployments:
- To store data backups
- As a middle ground for data transfer between your on-premises deployment and your EBS volumes
- Register as a data source for ArcGIS Server map and image service caches
- To store snapshots you create of your EBS volumes
- As a highly available option for your ArcGIS Server configuration store
- As a highly available option for your portal's content directory
- To store software and licenses when upgrading or creating deployments using ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services deployment tools
ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services
ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services is a command line utility that allows you to automate ArcGIS Enterprise deployments on AWS using Esri Amazon Web Services CloudFormation templates. The utility has options to prepare deployment resources, create deployments, and delete deployments and associated resources.
ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services
ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services includes an app to create ArcGIS Enterprise deployments and stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites, as well as ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services.
The ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app populates JSON configuration files with the parameters and parameter values necessary to create deployments so you don't have to edit these files directly. Because these are the same files and parameters used by the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services utility, you can download the summary files for deployments you create using the app and use these files to automate the creation of additional deployments using ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder CLI for AWS.
ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services deployment tools
Esri provides the following tools to help you deploy ArcGIS Enterprise on AWS:
- AWS CloudFormation templates—Esri provides sample CloudFormation templates that you can alter and run to create and upgrade ArcGIS Enterprise deployments and stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites on AWS.
- ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services—Includes the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services and the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app. The command line interface uses JSON files containing parameters that you alter to meet your needs, is built on the Esri templates, and provides a way to automate deployment creation. The app provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that guides you through creating an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment or stand-alone ArcGIS Server site. The app uses the same JSON files and Esri AWS CloudFormation templates as ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder CLI for AWS, but the app populates these files for you.
AWS CloudFormation
AWS CloudFormation is an Amazon service option to automate the creation and configuration of resources in AWS.
Esri provides sample CloudFormation templates to help you create and configure ArcGIS Enterprise deployments and stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites.
You can copy and modify the Esri sample templates to fit your needs, or create your own templates to implement different deployment patterns.
AWS Management Console
The Amazon Web Services Management Console is the Amazon web-based interface for managing your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances. The AWS Management Console allows you to manage your ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Server deployments on AWS, such as allowing you to add storage volumes or adjust security groups.
The AWS Management Console requires you to log in with an account that you've set up with Amazon to use its cloud. The AWS Management Console allows you to view your account information and accumulated charges.
AWS GovCloud
AWS GovCloud (US) is a United States (U.S.) government-community cloud that meets regulatory requirements of U.S. government agencies. It is also used by nongovernmental agencies that need to adhere to the same types of requirements.
Elastic Load Balancer
Amazon Elastic Load Balancing is a way to distribute work across multiple EC2 instances. All requests to your site go through the load balancer, which evenly distributes the requests to the available EC2 instances. You can add or remove participating EC2 instances from the load balancer at any time.
Regions and Availability Zones
Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud consists of multiple data centers around the world that are designed to address enterprise architecture challenges.
- Amazon Regions represent data center facilities in dispersed geographic locations such as the United States, Europe, and Asia.
- Amazon Availability Zones are distinct locations within a region that are engineered to be isolated from failures in other Availability Zones. Configuring your application in multiple zones provides an extra layer of availability in case one of the zones should fail.
See Amazon documentation for more information.
Relational Database Service
Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) is a database-as-a-service offering that provides you access to relational database functionality. Amazon patches the database software for you and creates backups of your databases, which are retained for one day by default. When you build an ArcGIS Server site using ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services deployment tools, you have an option to include an enterprise geodatabase in an Amazon RDS instance.
If you use the AWS Management Console to build your site and want to use a supported Amazon RDS instance, you must create the Amazon Relational Database Service instance and register it with your ArcGIS Server site on AWS. If you want geodatabase functionality in the Amazon RDS instance, you must create a user named sde and a schema named sde in the database instance, connect as the sde user to the Amazon RDS instance from an ArcGIS Desktop client in the same AWS region, and run the Enable Enterprise Geodatabase geoprocessing tool.