Operating system requirements

The following 64-bit operating systems satisfy the minimum operating system requirements. Support is not provided for 32-bit operating systems; the setup will only proceed if the operating system is 64 bit.

Machines with an underscore (_) in their names are not supported. Several widely used Internet host name specifications have designated the underscore character as nonstandard. Although Windows allows you to use the underscore in a machine name, it can still cause problems when you interact with other servers and platforms. For this reason, ArcGIS for Server will not proceed with installation on servers that have an underscore in the host name.

ArcGIS for Server is not supported on domain controllers. Installing ArcGIS for Server on a domain controller may adversely affect functionality.

* Windows 10 support begins at ArcGIS 10.3.1.

Hardware requirements

The minimum RAM requirement is 4 GB. If you are using the software with ArcGIS GeoEvent Extension for Server, the minimum RAM requirement is 8 GB.

These requirements are based on a typical development server with the following environment:

• Two cached map services
• One dynamic map service
• One locator service
• One geoprocessing service
• Geometry service
• PrintingTools service
• SQL Server Express
• ArcGIS Web Adaptor (IIS)

For a production environment, minimum hardware requirements are not listed because the user and business needs of the software may vary. These requirements must be considered in determining hardware needs to meet performance and scalability expectations. For assistance designing an ArcGIS infrastructure that will meet your specific requirements, see System Design Strategies.

Disk space requirements

ArcGIS for Server requires a minimum of 2 GB of available disk space, in which 350 MB of this total space must be available on the system drive.

Firewall settings

ArcGIS for Server communicates on ports 1098, 4000-4004, 6006, 6080, 6099, and 6443. You'll need to open these ports on your firewall before installing the software. For more information, see Ports used by ArcGIS for Server.

Domain name service (DNS) and fully qualified domain name (FQDN) recommendations

If you'll be federating your site with Portal for ArcGIS, it's recommended you configure your organization's domain name service (DNS) to include fully qualified domain name (FQDN) entries for each site you intend to federate with the portal. Portal for ArcGIS will request the FQDN of each site when you federate.

SSL certificates

ArcGIS Server comes preconfigured with a self-signed SSL certificate, which allows the server to be initially tested and to help you quickly verify that your installation was successful. However, in almost all cases, an organization should request an SSL certificate from a trusted certificate authority (CA) and configure the server to use it. This could be a domain certificate issued by your organization or a CA-signed certificate.

Like ArcGIS Server, Portal for ArcGIS also comes with a preconfigured self-signed certificate. If you'll be federating your site with Portal for ArcGIS, you should request an SSL certificate from a trusted CA and configure the portal to use it.

For more information, see Best practices for configuring a secure environment.

Microsoft .NET Framework requirement for .NET Extension Support feature

The .NET Extension Support feature requires Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 (SP1). If Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 is not found, the .NET Extension Support feature will not be available for installation. Follow the instructions below to install Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1:

Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6

ArcGIS for Server requires Microsoft Core XML Services (MSXML) 6. The ArcGIS for Server installation will not proceed if MSXML 6 is not found on the machine. If the ArcGIS for Server installation is performed through the GUI, the installation process automatically installs it for you. If you're installing ArcGIS for Server silently or in certain deployment environments, MSXML 6 must be installed separately. The MSXML 6 setup is available at <ArcGIS for Server Installation folder>\Support\MSXML6\64-bit\msxml6_x64.msi.

Geoprocessing requirements

Python 2.7.8, Numerical Python 1.7.1, and Matplotlib 1.3.0 are required to support certain core geoprocessing tools. If these are not detected, the setup will install them automatically (recommended).

Supported web browsers

ArcGIS Server Manager requires one of the following web browsers to be installed:

• Google Chrome (version 10 or later)
• Mozilla Firefox (version 10 or later)
• Microsoft Internet Explorer (version 8, 9, 10, or 11)
• Microsoft Edge

Interaction between ArcGIS for Server and ArcGIS products prior to version 10.3.1

If you are installing ArcGIS Server for the first time and you have an earlier version of an ArcGIS product on your machine, the product of an earlier version must be uninstalled before proceeding with the setup. The setup displays a dialog box if conflicting versions of these products exist on your machine. If conflicting versions of products exist on your machine, you must uninstall these products and run the setup again to proceed with your installation.

Conflicting products (if installed and are not version 10.3.1) will include:

• ArcGIS Desktop
• ArcInfo Workstation
• ArcReader stand-alone
• ArcIMS
• ArcIMS Web ADF for the Java Platform
• ArcIMS Web ADF for .NET Framework
• ArcGIS Server for the Java Platform
• ArcGIS Server for .NET Framework
• ArcGIS Server Web ADF Runtime for .NET Framework
• ArcGIS Engine Runtime
• ArcGIS Engine Developer Kits
• ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kits
• ArcGIS Image Server (including all clients)

These products can exist together on the same machine if they are all version 10.3.1.

ArcGIS Server on cloud platforms

You can deploy ArcGIS for Server in the cloud. Many organizations do this to increase performance and capacity without having to buy and configure new hardware. Cloud platforms let you add more capabilities to your ArcGIS for Server deployment, including resizing compute capacity, automatically scaling capacity up and down according to conditions you define, automatically distributing application traffic across multiple instances for better performance, and much more.

Esri provides ArcGIS for Server virtual machine images on two popular cloud platforms, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

Supported virtualization environments

All components of ArcGIS for Server are fully supported on virtual environments as long as they run on supported platforms. When running third-party applications with ArcGIS for Server, such as relational databases, the application must also be supported in a virtual environment. Check the third-party vendor for its virtualization support.

The following virtualization environments are known to perform well with ArcGIS for Server:

• VMware vSphere 5 including 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5
• VMware vSphere 6
• Microsoft Hyper-V

For additional information, see Virtualization and ArcGIS Server.