Help a newbie decide how to set up Server

[AdrianWelsh]

I have never been on the back end of setting up a server for the first time and now I find myself working for a small company that is just getting its feet wet with GIS. The issue is, I am not sure where to start and not sure if I should consult the GeoNet or my local Esri rep.

There seems to be so many options out there and I want to make sure I get things setup right initially. We do not have a real dedicated server machine in our building so we are looking at options on this (like do we outsource and use something like Amazon web services, do we dedicate a local machine in-house, etc.). My company has a standard ArcGIS Server Workgroup license (with two cores, whatever that means). We will be wanting to host data on our ArcGIS Online site and will want to be able to update that data regularly. We will also want some secure services and things like that (and we are in the US).

We do not have a back-end relational database but I believe we are working towards getting one on PostgreSQL, from what I understand. Our website has a MySQL component that could work, I suppose, but then again, I am unfamiliar with configuring these types of relational databases (though, I would love to learn).

Ok GeoNet, the question is, where is the best place for me to start? How should I best approach this to get the most value and functionality? Are options like ArcGIS for Portal or an SDE likely possibilities for me?

Thanks!

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

Adrian, you may want to invest in an Esri Development Network (EDN) license so you can test some of these options out before you invest heavily in one direction.

Esri Developer Network | What You Get

Esri Developer Network | Pricing

It's an annual subscription, but full software so you can eventually roll/convert it to a full license once you know what you want.  It is a person subscription, so once you have a few that need to test/develop it is better to buy the full license (for us 5-6 is the magic number). This is a great way to test the waters, and we have it for a couple of us for development purposes and caching on a dev machine versus a production machine.

[AdrianWelsh]

Wow, the rabbit hole certainly gets deeper! I really appreciate the advice. I have a feeling that my company will have a hard time justifying these types of purchases but it's good to know what likely needs to be done.

Does everyone have an EDN license who manages ArcGIS for Server? I wonder if I should call my local esri person to get an idea on how to best manager what we currently have and what we 'should' have.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

It's less expensive for us than a staging license and gives us an opportunity to try out additional technologies to determine if we would want to buy (can't get a 60-day trial for everything, and many times would want more time anyway).  Again, for our agency (with no Enterprise License Agreement)  our EDN to Staging license purchase/maintenance cutoff is about 5 users...and license rules for the EDN must be followed.  I would talk to a customer service rep since mileage may vary.  That is just how I have been managing the licenses for us.

(as a side note, I will probably purchase for personal use, once I leave/lose access to my agency license.  This is the cheapest way I've found for still playing with all the gis toys...non-commercial use)

[AdrianWelsh]

thanks for the explanation. It's good to know what I need to be thinking about!

[SteveCole]

Yet more rabbit hole notes...

Since you mentioned ArcGIS Server for Workgroups, you should know of a "limitation" should you decide to pursue Portal. ESRI recommends that Portal and ArcGIS Server be installed on separate servers but- this isn't possible if you're using ArcGIS Server for Workgroups. Under that license level, they have to be on the same server. Don't recall why this is.

Thread about this issue.​

[AdrianWelsh]

Wow, that is really good to know. I appreciate the info.

[AdrianWelsh]

Aside from getting a server set up and such, are there any good recommendations on how to best handle the data in terms of databases?

I just read this blog (from Walter Simonazzi) on SDE vs Multiuser Geodatabases:

Is ArcSDE dead?

which has been helpful in defining certain things. But I am unsure on how to get this sort of thing started (and I don't think we have the infrastructure just yet unless I can use my company's website's MySQL database).

[KeithMann]

Adrian - could you provide a little more information. What version of ArcGIS for Server are you using? And, is it a Basic, Standard or Advanced edition? This information will help determine the capabilities of your Server. Also, I really like Brian's suggestion to start by using ArcGIS Online and get some quick wins while you figure out how you want to use your Server license. Lots of smaller organizations and departments use Server Workgroup but there are some limitations, as Steve mentioned. Take a look at the ArcGIS for Server Functionality Matrix (a buyer's guide of sorts) and look at the Capacity section. 

In the mean time, look at the ArcGIS for Server (Windows) installation guide and the Portal for ArcGIS (Windows) installation guide. You might want to just try installing Server on your machine first to play around with it before you try to put it into production mode. You can always install and configure Portal later. Focus on the Single Machine Deployment for your test environment. Since you'll use the Server to generate web services, you should talk to your SysAdmin about testing a GIS Server on your machine.

Definitely talk with Esri Support about what you want to do. You'll need to know your Esri customer number.

[AdrianWelsh]

Hi Keith,

I really appreciate the response. We currently have a Server Workgroup Standard license for 10.4. That likely is as far as we will go until the owners of the company see more value (which will take a long time).

To give a little more background, we're a small Utah-based engineering and surveying firm. We work a lot with local government projects but primarily with the State of Utah's DOT. We will be producing data for the State that we will want to host on our AGOL subscription. We will also want to be able to have this data easily updated, which seems to be something we could utilize with Server. We will also need some secure services due to some private info (that we do not want the public to see).

The first hurdle is that we do not have a dedicated server that I can deploy our Server license to. I was thinking of just testing stuff with my local PC but that seems like it may be a little wasteful and I'm afraid of publishing stuff and having it break due to the PC not always being on.

In any case, I think there are still more things we need to figure out and just storing stuff "in the cloud" through AGOL does not seem to be the best approach for us for now. We want to have Map Services instead of Feature Services (in order to utilize labels appropriately).

I like the links that you share, those will help us with our decisions.

Thanks again,

Adrian

[BrianOevermann]

Adrian,

Your statement: "I suppose my company does not know exactly what we need or where we think we are going..." is a huge red flag to me! It's great that you want to jump in and install AGS Workgroup to see what you can do with it, but that sounds like you are experimenting with a solution trying to find the problem(s) that it will fix for you. That's the wrong approach, particularly if it means spending money on a server (physical or AWS).

Here is a link to the ArcGIS Server functionality matrix document.  In the "How to use this document" section it states that "This document is a guide for helping you determine the edition and capacity level of ArcGIS for Server that best fits your organization." I wish it incorporated a "hosted data on AGOL" option into the comparison. I realize that after digesting this document you may realize that [once you know] the things you need AGS to do may require an Enterprise (i.e. more expensive) license and may thus be a 'non-starter' but sometimes the honest truth is ultimately the least painful. I honestly think that AGOL and hosted data may be a viable solution for you.

I haven't spent an appreciable amount of time on AGOL so I can't debate your comment regarding labeling. I do know that originally AGOL was horrible with labeling but I believe that has been improved with subsequent updates. I'm not sure what your AGOL subscription looks like with your licensing of AGS Workgroup and whether you have any credits available as part of it, but you may want to experiment with AGOL first and upload some sample data of yours to work with. I think it is something like 1 credit per Gb of data per month for Esri to host? Even if you don't have a pool of credits as part of your licensing, 1 credit equates to roughly 10 cents (according to our regional office folks at one of Esri's seminars), so a few months of hosted data probably wouldn't break the bank and likely would be cheaper than purchasing a server or AWS. Also, you control what "stuff" gets permissions to be viewed publicly so you CAN keep certain things private if you want.

Admittedly, we are all offering advice/suggestions based upon a very small subset of info regarding your actual needs. So our suggestions/advice may be questionable in certain contexts.