Create a highly available ArcGIS Enterprise deployment using the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for AWS app

The ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app guides you through the creation of an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. You have the following options:

• Create a deployment that contains a minimum of one Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance containing the components of an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment and the hosting server's directories.
• Create a highly available deployment that contains a minimum of three EC2 instances: two that contain ArcGIS Enterprise components, and one for hosting server directories.

With both of these options, you can include additional EC2 instances for federated ArcGIS Server sites and additional EC2 instances for a spatiotemporal big data store. If you include a federated Knowledge Server in the deployment, two EC2 instances with a primary and standby graph store are added to the deployment.

At this time, you must include additional components as part of the deployment you create with the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app; you cannot use the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app to add components to an existing ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.

You can create ArcGIS Server sites and federate them in the ArcGIS Enterprise portal interface and add ArcGIS Data Store types using the Data Store Configuration wizard, but the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for AWS app will not recognize or display these as part of your deployment. Also, once you add components outside of Cloud Builder, you cannot use Cloud Builder to upgrade the deployment.

When you use the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app, an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket is created in the Amazon us-east-1 region to store resources for your deployment. Cloud Builder manages this deployment bucket. Do not delete, rename, or modify this S3 bucket or its contents, as doing so can result in your deployment being out of sync with Cloud Builder.

The following sections explain what ArcGIS components are created and take you through using the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for AWS app to create a highly available base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, plus optional instances for federated servers, a spatiotemporal big data store, and a graph store (which is created automatically if you include a federated Knowledge Server in the deployment.)

ArcGIS components in a highly available ArcGIS Enterprise deployment created with ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for AWS

When you create a highly available ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, a minimum of three Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances are created. The ArcGIS Enterprise components and federated servers are present on two of the instances. One EC2 instance is the primary ArcGIS Enterprise machine and the other is the secondary ArcGIS Enterprise machine. Both instances are part of the hosting server site and federated server sites. The third instance is used for ArcGIS Server directories and, optionally, the configuration store and portal content directory.

This base ArcGIS Enterprise configuration is shown in the following diagram:

For most federated servers, three additional EC2 instances are added to the deployment by default, but you can adjust the number of machines in the federated ArcGIS Server site.

The following diagram shows the default number of additional EC2 instances in the deployment if you include a federated GIS Server, ArcGIS Image Server, ArcGIS GeoEvent Server, ArcGIS Mission Server, ArcGIS Notebook Server, or ArcGIS Workflow Manager site.

If you include a federated ArcGIS Knowledge Server, six additional EC2 instances are included in the deployment—two (by default) for the Knowledge Server site, two for the required ArcGIS Data Store graph store, and two file servers. The following diagram shows the machines added for a federated Knowledge Server:

Prerequisites to create a highly available base deployment with Cloud Builder

You need the following before you can create an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment using ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services:

• Obtain an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. Ensure that you have the AWS account credentials, such as an Access Key ID and Secret Access Key, and that they have access to required AWS services.
• Download and extract ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services.
• Obtain a Portal for ArcGIS license file and an ArcGIS GIS Server license file for the portal's hosting server.
• Obtain ArcGIS Server license files for the federated server roles you require.
• Purchase SSL certificates from a certifying authority, and configure them for the domains you will use in your ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services deployment.

Create a deployment with Cloud Builder

After you complete the prerequisites, follow these steps to create a highly available ArcGIS Enterprise portal with (or without) additional components:

1. Open the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app from the Start menu on your computer.
2. Connect to your Amazon Web Services account by doing one of the following:
   • Provide the access key ID and secret access key for your account and click Sign In.
   • Choose the Amazon Web Services profile you defined on the machine where you're running Cloud Builder and click Sign In. See the AWS documentation for information about configuring a local profile.

   Once Cloud Builder connects to your AWS account, it proceeds to the Deployment page.

3. Click Add Deployment.

   The Choose a Deployment Type page appears.

4. On the Choose a Deployment Type page, choose ArcGIS Enterprise, and click Next to proceed to the Define the ArcGIS Enterprise Deployment page.
5. Select Highly Available to create two Amazon EC2 instances that each contain the base ArcGIS Enterprise components plus a file server instance.
6. To add federated servers to the ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, click the arrow next to Choose Additional Servers (Optional) and check the box next to each federated ArcGIS Server role you require.

   See ArcGIS Server licensing roles for more information.

   All federated server roles add EC2 machines to the ArcGIS Enterprise deployment.

   Tip:

   When you select ArcGIS Knowledge Server, a graph store is added to the deployment automatically. The graph store is created on separate EC2 machines.

7. To add a spatiotemporal big data store to your Enterprise deployment, click the arrow next to Add Spatiotemporal Big Data Store (Optional) and check the box next to Spatiotemporal Big Data Store.

   For information about when you need a spatiotemporal big data store, see Apps and functionality that require ArcGIS Data Store.

8. Click Next to proceed to the General Configuration Parameters Details page.
9. Choose the AWS Region option where you want your resources deployed.
10. Choose the operating system to be used on your Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances: either Ubuntu or Windows.

    If you included ArcGIS Notebook Server in your deployment, Ubuntu is selected by default and cannot be changed.

    If you use a custom Amazon Machine Image, the Ubuntu option indicates any supported Linux operating system on that image; you aren't forced to use Ubuntu.

11. Provide a name for your deployment.

    This name must be unique. When Cloud Builder verifies that the name is unique, a verified symbol appears.

12. Provide the ID of a custom Amazon Machine Image in the AMI Id field, or leave the field blank to use the default AMI for the operating system you chose for this deployment.

    Note:

    If you deploy on an EC2 instance running Ubuntu in Amazon Web Services GovCloud, you must specify an AMI ID; you cannot leave this field blank.

13. Specify an Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) to use for your deployment's virtual network.
    • If the VPC exists, choose it from the drop-down list.
    • To create a VPC, click the Create New VPC button . Provide a name for the VPC, use the default range of IP address or specify a range of IP addresses in a Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) block, and click Create. Each subnet ID will be created in different, randomly selected AWS zones. See the AWS documentation for more information about VPCs and CIDR blocks.
    • If you create a VPC outside of Cloud Builder, such as in AWS Management Console, while Cloud Builder is open, click the Refresh VPCs button to update the VPC ID list.
14. If you choose an existing VPC, ensure that there are two different subnets in the Subnet1 ID and Subnet2 ID drop-down lists.

    Subnet1 ID and Subnet2 ID values should be in different availability zones in the AWS region in which you are creating your deployment.

15. Specify an Amazon EC2 Key Pair to use for your deployment's virtual network.
    • If the key pair exists, choose it from the drop-down list.
    • To create a key pair, click the Create New Key Pair button , provide a name for the key pair, and click Create. See the AWS documentation for more information about Amazon EC2 Key Pairs.
    • If you create key pairs outside of Cloud Builder, such as in AWS Management Console, while Cloud Builder is open, click the Refresh Key Pairs button to update the Key Pair list.
16. Click Next to proceed to the Configure Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) page.
17. Configure an elastic load balancer for the ArcGIS Enterprise portal and each federated server (if any) included in your deployment. Repeat these substeps for the portal and each federated server. Remember that elastic load balancers and domain names must be unique per site and portal.
    1. Choose or upload the SSL certificate (.pfx) that is mapped to your domain.

       • If the SSL certificate exists in the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket in your account—for example, if you uploaded the certificate when you created another deployment—choose it from the SSL Certificate drop-down list.
       • If you need to upload your certificate, click the Upload New SSL Cert button , browse to the location on your local disk where the certificate file resides, type the password for the .pfx file, and click Create.

    2. If you chose the certificate from the SSL Certificate drop-down list, type the certificate's password in the SSL Certificate Password field.
    3. Choose a load balancer from the Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) list or create an elastic load balancer. If all the load balancers in the list are in use, click the Create New ELB button , type a name, and click Create.
    4. In the Site Domain field, type the name of the domain that is specified in your SSL certificate. Click Validate to ensure that you typed the correct domain.
18. Click Next to proceed to the ArcGIS Credentials page.
19. Type a username and password for the initial portal administrator account (which is also the administrator for all federated servers in your deployment). Type the password again in the Re-Enter Password field to ensure that you typed the password correctly.

    The username for the portal administrator must contain at least three ASCII alphanumeric characters, must start with a letter, and cannot contain any special characters other than an underscore (_).

    The password for the portal administrator must be at least eight alphanumeric characters. The password can also contain dots (.). The password cannot contain any other special characters or spaces.

If your deployment uses EC2 instances running Windows, proceed to the next step to set a password for the service account. If your deployment uses EC2 instances running Ubuntu, proceed to step 21. A password is not needed for Ubuntu instances because they use SSH authentication with a .pem file.
20. Type a password for the Windows account that will be used to run the service accounts for all ArcGIS components. Type the password again in the Re-Enter Password field to ensure that you typed the password correctly.

    The service account follows Microsoft Windows password enforcement policies.

    The account name is always arcgis.

21. Click Next to proceed to the ArcGIS Enterprise Configuration Details page.
22. Provide information for the Amazon EC2 instances to be used in your deployment.
    1. Choose an instance type from the Instance Type drop-down list.

       The list contains only those types that are supported for use with ArcGIS Enterprise. However, not all instance types are supported in all AWS regions. See the AWS calculator for information about specifications and pricing for each instance type. If no price is listed for an instance type in the selected region, that instance type is not available.

    2. In the Drive Size Root field, type the size you want, in GB, for the root drive on the ArcGIS Enterprise and instance.
    3. Choose the EC2 instance type you want to use for this file server machine.

       Every ArcGIS Server site, including the hosting server, uses a file server to store ArcGIS Server directories.

    4. In the File Server Drive Size Root field, type the size you want, in GB, for the root drive on the file server instances.
23. Choose or upload your Portal for ArcGIS and ArcGIS Server licenses.
    • If the license files already exist in the Cloud Builder S3 deployment bucket in your account—for example, if you uploaded the files when you created another deployment—choose the license files from the license drop-down lists.
    • If you need to upload any of the license files to the Cloud Builder S3 deployment bucket, click the Upload button , browse to the file on your local disk, and click Upload.

    Be sure the licenses are for the same ArcGIS release as the release of Cloud Builder you are using and that the ArcGIS Server license file is for the correct role you need. For the hosting server, you must have an ArcGIS GIS Server license.

24. From the Configuration Store Type drop-down menu, choose where to store the portal content directory and ArcGIS Server configuration store, and click Next.
    • Cloud Store—Choose a cloud store if you want to use AWS storage services for the portal content directory and ArcGIS Server configuration store.
    • File System—Choose a file system if you want the content directory and configuration store on an EC2 instance.
25. Type a name for the ArcGIS Web Adaptor used with the portal in the Portal Web Adaptor Name field, and type a name for the ArcGIS Web Adaptor used with the hosting server in the Server Web Adaptor Name field.
If you included a spatiotemporal big data store in step 7, click Next and proceed to the next step.
If you did not include a spatiotemporal big data store, but you did include federated servers with your deployment, click Next and proceed to step 27.
If you did not include a spatiotemporal big data store or any federated servers with your deployment, click Next and proceed to step 33.
26. On the ArcGIS Spatiotemporal Big Data Store Configuration Details page, provide EC2 instance and backup information for the spatiotemporal big data store.
    1. Choose an EC2 instance type.

       The Instance Type list contains only those instance types supported for a spatiotemporal big data store. For information about specifications and pricing for each instance type, see the AWS documentation.

    2. Type a size for the root drive on each instance.
    3. Choose the number of EC2 instances for the data store.

       The data store must contain an odd number of instances.

    4. Choose where data store backups will be stored, either File System or Cloud Store.

       If you choose File System, specify the instance type and the size for the root drive.

    5. Click Next.
27. If you included federated servers in your deployment, specify configuration details for each federated server site.

    The information you provide varies depending on the type of federated server you configure. Provide the information necessary for each federated server in your deployment. There will be a separate page for each federated server type.

28. Provide information for the Amazon EC2 instances to be used in your site.
    1. Choose an instance type from the Instance Type drop-down list.

       The list contains only those types that are supported for use with an ArcGIS Server site, but you must have licensing appropriate for the number of cores present in the type you choose. Also, not all instance types are available in every AWS region. See the AWS documentation for information about specifications and pricing for each instance type and information about the instance types that are available in each region.

    2. In the Drive Size Root field, type the size you want, in GB, for the root drive on the ArcGIS Server instances.
    3. For all federated server types except an ArcGIS GeoEvent Server site, choose how many EC2 instances you need in the site from the Number of ArcGIS Server Instances drop-down list.

       ArcGIS GeoEvent Server sites on AWS are always a single instance at this time.

    4. Choose the EC2 instance type you want to use for this file server machine.

       Every ArcGIS Server site uses a file server to store ArcGIS Server directories.

    5. In the File Server Drive Size Root field, type the size you want, in GB, for the root drive on the file server instance.
29. Choose or upload the license file appropriate for the federated ArcGIS Server role and verify that the license file is for the same ArcGIS release as the release of Cloud Builder you are using.
    • If the license file already exists in the S3 deployment bucket in your account—for example, if you uploaded the file when you created another deployment—choose the license file from the license drop-down list.
    • If you need to upload the license file to the S3 deployment bucket, click the Upload New Server License button , browse to the file on your local disk, and click Upload.
30. For all federated ArcGIS GIS Server and ArcGIS Image Server sites, choose the location for the site's configuration store.
    • Cloud Store—Choose a cloud store to use Amazon DynamoDB and S3 to house the configuration store.
    • File System—Choose a file system to house the configuration store on an EC2 instance.

    ArcGIS GeoEvent Server, ArcGIS Mission Server, and ArcGIS Notebook Server sites always use a file system for their configuration stores.

31. In the Server Web Adaptor Name field, type a name for the ArcGIS Web Adaptor to be used with the ArcGIS Server site.
32. Click Next to proceed to the deployment summary.
33. Review the deployment summary.
    • If any information is incorrect, click Back until you reach the page that contains the information you need to correct; then continue deployment creation.
    • To automate the creation of future deployments like this one using the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services utility, click Download to create a JSON file containing the options for this deployment.
34. When the summary information is correct, click Create.

    Do not close the deployment page or Cloud Builder until creation completes.

    Once deployment completes, you can view the deployment logs by clicking the log links. Log files are stored in location\Logs\Log in the directory where you extracted Cloud Builder. Error log files are stored in location\Logs\ErrorLog. Click Close to open a list of all your deployments.

When the deployment is created successfully, the deployment status shows Completed, and you can open the portal by clicking the link for the deployment type. Sign in to the portal using the site administrator credentials you provided in step 19 and proceed with configuring your portal.

You can use the webgisdr utility installed with Portal for ArcGIS to create backups of the ArcGIS Enterprise components and federated servers.