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What's new in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4 on Microsoft Azure

New features and changes to ArcGIS Enterprise on Microsoft Azure at this release are described in the following sections.

New or altered options in ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure

The following has changed in ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure at this release:

  • Deployment type options have been simplified. When you create a deployment, you don't have to choose the number of machines at the start. Instead, use the new Machine Specifications window in Cloud Builder to specify how many machines are in each tier (for ArcGIS Enterprise deployments) or in the site (for stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites or federated ArcGIS Server roles.)
  • For new deployments, define the method used for outbound communication—either through a load balancer that Cloud Builder creates or a Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway that you create prior to running Cloud Builder. See the Microsoft Azure documentation for information about these connectivity types.
  • Also for new deployments, you can enable Azure Monitor Log Analytics and enable trusted launch for the virtual machines.
  • A new option is available to remove unused setups from the virtual machines when you create a deployment. For example, if you create a stand-alone ArcGIS Server site, you do not need Portal for ArcGIS or ArcGIS Data Store on the machines in the site, and you can opt to have them removed.
  • By default, new ArcGIS Enterprise deployments include an Azure Blob Storage container that is configured as the deployment's object store.
  • A new option is available to register an object store in Azure Blob Storage with an existing, upgraded ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.
  • As ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server is no longer supported, this option is not available when federating ArcGIS Server sites with an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.
  • The option to choose the locations of the portal content directory and ArcGIS Server configuration store has moved to a separate window in Cloud Builder when creating an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment or stand-alone ArcGIS Server site. When you use Azure cloud storage for these directories, they are always stored in Azure Blob Storage; Azure Files are no longer supported.
  • When you use a file server for directories in your deployment, a single virtual machine is used for all components' directories. You specify whether that is a separate virtual machine, one of the machines running ArcGIS, or an existing virtual machine.
  • You can provide Docker Engine binaries when you use Cloud Builder to federate an ArcGIS Notebook Server site, and Cloud Builder will install and configure Docker so you do not have to complete post federation configuration steps.

Upgrades

Be aware of the following before you use ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure to upgrade an ArcGIS deployment:

  • Although new deployments will not use Azure Files for the configuration store and content directory, existing deployments that use Azure Files will still use them, and they will continue to function after you upgrade.
  • If the deployment includes an ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server site, you must remove it before you upgrade.
  • If the deployment included the ArcGIS Data Store object store, it will be removed when you upgrade. You must add an object store after you upgrade.

    Prior to 11.4, the ArcGIS Data Store object store included with deployments created with Cloud Builder only stored ephemeral data (feature query caches). The next time the feature services are queried after the deployment is upgraded, caches will be built in the new object store.

  • The ArcGIS Data Store tile cache data store is deprecated at 11.4. It will be upgraded with the rest of your deployment, and existing hosted scene layers will continue to function. To allow users to publish hosted scene layers to the upgraded deployment, though, you must register an object store. You are also encouraged to migrate hosted scene layer caches from the tile cache data store to the object store after you upgrade.

General changes

At each release, new versions of ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure and the Esri images on Microsoft Azure Marketplace are available.

For information on bug fixes, see the 11.4 Issues Addressed List.