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What VM's are you using in Azure?

MichaelTorbett

Hello all,

For those of you using ArcGIS Enterprise and ArcGIS Pro in Microsoft Azure, I'm curious which VM's you have chosen. Is it meeting your needs?

Thanks,

Michael

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QuantitativeFuturist

Our technical VM structure for Enterprise has a dev environment with lower specced machines and a more highly specced production environment. We run pro on Citrix machines with a large graphics card. Happy with the infrastructure in general, extremely unhappy with ArcGIS Enterprise we have nothing but problems with bugs and functionality. In fact we are looking at dropping Enterprise altogether, for the money it costs we expect a far more stable product. Esri have completely lost their way and the software somehow gets worse as software versions increment.

AbiDhakal

I'm also working on a new VM and would like to know what would be the right VM for ArcGIS Enterprise Standard. At the moment we have a VM with 1 socket, 8 virtual processors, and 28 GB of RAM. The Server mostly runs at full capacity. The Memory usage is between 86 and 95. The CPU usage is mostly below 30. We get Memory Pressure error and as such are thinking of getting ourselves a new VM. We are looking at a VM with 64 GB of RAM and 16 vCUPs. Do you all have any suggestions?

MMBR

Your analysis is correct, your VM needs more memory to cope with the workload. The VM size depends on your workload needs, if the VM cpu/memory is under high utilization, greater than 80% - 90% for a prolonged period then you need to consider power off the VM and change the machine type in Azure Console to add more cpu/memory.

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarquesThank you for your great response. We are looking at these two VMs for replacement.
Please see below.
We will appreciate your input and breakdown of the specs. What are the major takeaways? The differences. We understand you will not advocate one machine over the other and that is strictly on what the client prefers to have. Why would you choose one over the other?

Thank you again and we greatly appreciate you showing interest in helping us out.
Abi

VMs for an ArcGIS Enterprise Standard license.

B Series:
VM Size	Type	vCPUs	RAM (GiB)	Data disks	Max IOPS	Temp storage (GiB)	Premium disk
816ms	General purpose	16	64	32	4320	128	Supported

D Series:
VM Size	Type	vCPUs	RAM (GiB)	Data disks	Max IOPS	Temp storage (GiB)	Premium disk
D16_v3	General purpose	16	64	32	25600	128	Supported

MMBR

VM sizes - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

You will need to analyze your VM workload to decide which VM type is best for your case, and the cost associated with that particular VM type.

B-series burstable - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

read the part about credits, it might not be a good fit for you.

I usually go with the General Purpose D-series.

D3 is old you can consider using D4 or D5 but make a price comparison.

Dv3 and Dsv3-series - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

In your case CPU utilization is fine but Memory utilization is high.

Hence you can also consider the Memory Optimized Series.

Azure VM sizes - Memory - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

How to decide???

Create an excel spreadsheet, list the chosen types and calculate the price, then make a comparison, then decide based on cost and performance.

Pricing Calculator | Microsoft Azure

I hope this helps.

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques

We may already be having the Memory Optimized Series. I'm not sure as I do not have access to the VM at the moment. Is there a way I can know what kind of VM we have from the Server machine itself?

For our ArcGIS Enterprise Standard right now we are leaning towards the D16_v3 option, but you say that is an old version, right?

Thank you,
Abi

MMBR

Is there a way I can know what kind of VM we have from the Server machine itself?

Answer: Better if you reach out to your Azure Administrator.

For our ArcGIS Enterprise Standard right now we are leaning towards the D16_v3 option, but you say that is an old version, right?

Answer: Yes, chose the new ones if available in your Azure region.

Dv4 and Dsv4-series - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

Dv5 and Dsv5-series - Azure Virtual Machines | Microsoft Learn

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarquesThank you!

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques
I have another question.
You know I have been working on getting a new VM because my present VM is insufficient. What happens if I reserve the present VM's IP address and put it on the new VM. Will I still have to do ArcGIS Enterprise Migration? Or, will a snap shot of the present VM be enough to put ArcGIS Enterprise on the new VM?

Thank you,
Abi

MMBR

@AbiDhakal

There is no need to request a new VM. The cloud administrator can power off the existing machine and change the machine type to add more cpu and memory.

However, if your plan is to create an image backup of the existing machine and then spin a new machine with more resources and then remove the old machine, then be aware of the following.

- The public IP that is associated with the external URL can be used on the new VM. You can disassociate it from the old machine and then associate it with the new VM.

- If you have ArcGIS Enterprise with Portal, Server, Datastore on the same machine (silo deployment) then the Static IP address cannot change, this means you need to record the Static IP of the old VM then delete the old VM, and when you create the new VM using the image backup you need to specify the same Static IP of the old VM, otherwise Portal will be corrupted and it will not start, there is no fix or workaround for this, the machine needs to have the same Static IP.

- If you have only ArcGIS Server (No Portal and No Datastore) then it is ok to create the new VM from the image backup and let the new VM to have a new Static IP address.

I hope this helps.

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarquesWe would like to understand more of what you are saying, please.

Our present VM is: DS4_v2. This VM has run out of capacity. We cannot add more RAM to it. It has reached its limits. It has 28 GiB of RAM and we need 64 GiB.

In reference to your message: "There is no need to request a new VM. The cloud administrator can power off the existing machine and change the machine type to add more cpu and memory".

What is changing machine type? How can we add more memory or cpu without a new VM?

We are looking at E8bds_v5. This machine has 64 GiB of RAM. What should be our next step?

Thank you for your great insight. It has been very helpful.
Abi

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques

I forgot to mention this, Sir. For your information, we have ArcGIS Enterprise with Portal, Server, Datastore on the same machine. Can we just power off the VM change the machine type ( what does this mean?) from DS4_v2 to E8bds_v5, add more cpu and RAM and power it back on. Please tell me, no ArcGIS Enterprise Migration needed?

Thank you,
Abi

MMBR

@AbiDhakal - yes, the Azure Administrator can open the Azure Console and Power Off the VM, and then change the machine type to add more cpu and memory and then Power On the VM again. Therefore, there is no need to migrate ArcGIS Enterprise, nor create a new VM from a machine image backup.

Change the size of a virtual machine
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/virtual-machines/resize-vm?tabs=portal
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/devtest-labs/devtest-lab-resize-vm

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques
Changing the machine type means the ability to change it from DS4_v2 to E8dbs_v5. This will only require Powering Off the DS4_v2, and then changing the machine type to E8bds_v5 and then Powering On the VM.

What happens if the present machine type has Windows Server 2016 and we want Windows Server 2022? Is this going to be a whole different ball game unlike the cpu and RAM deal?

Thank you, Marcelo.
Abi

MMBR

What happens if the present machine type has Windows Server 2016 and we want Windows Server 2022?

You will need to take a machine image backup and then perform a Windows OS Upgrade. If something goes wrong with the OS upgrade then you can use the image backup to restore the machine.

Create a new Azure VM ArcGIS Enterprise Deployment and republish all your services.

or

Create a new Azure VM ArcGIS Enterprise and use the webgisdr utility to restore the Site.

Back up and restore best practices—Portal for ArcGIS | Documentation for ArcGIS Enterprise

or

Reach out to Esri Professional Services for assistance to migrate and upgrade your Azure ArcGIS Enterprise Deployment.

Note:

Question: Is it possible to change the name of the Portal & Server Webadaptors ???

Answer: From the technical support stance, it is unsupported, here's the doc that refer to:

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/latest/administer/windows/using-a-reverse-proxy-server-with-portal-for-arcgis.htm

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques Great information! Thank you for the knowledge. I will stay in touch.
Abi

AbiDhakal

@MarceloMarques
I got one more thing I need to ask, Marcelo.
Once the machine type is changed will we have to restore SQL Server Enterprise Data (sde) connection on the new machine type or will it automatically have all that in place?
Thank you,
Abi

MMBR

Azure Machine Type change to increase or decrease cpu and memory resources does not affect any software on the VM, everything remains the same.

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