ArcGIS License Manager on AWS

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12-13-2017 08:56 AM
JohnDye
Occasional Contributor III

Are there any chef scripts, amis or recommendations for running ArcGIS License Manager in AWS? We have a requirement to move everything to AWS but also need to support ArcGIS Desktop licensing from License Manager. ArcGIS Pro can be licensed from Portal, but no such luck for ArcGIS Desktop (ArcMap, ArcCatalog, etc). 

It's such a tiny footprint that I'd hate to have to run even a t2 instance just for License Manager. It'd be great if it were possible to license ArcGIS Desktop via a lamba function or just do it from Portal.

Any ideas?

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8 Replies
LISWaukesha_Co
New Contributor III

I have been running a license manager on a t2.micro (for over 3 years) and now ported it to a t2.nano for my organization. It is a extremely small footprint and only a few bucks running the nano a month. I then add the dns entry to make it a user friendly name, add the port exceptions and modify the security group to allow internal on-prem floors and remote workers access. It has been rock solid for years. Esri should document this as option or a cloud formation script deployment. I haven't looked at it in chef as I haven't had to touch it since it was created...Message me if you are still interested.

DanCamboia
New Contributor

I'm looking to do the same thing. Having trouble getting access through our corporate firewall for remote users. Any help greatly appreciated.

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Totran
by
New Contributor

I've installed License Manager 2018 on AWS also and authorized ArcGIS Desktop Concurrent successfully. The port is open the default range, but I can't connect to the new License Manager through ArcGIS Administrator.  William Cozzens‌ Any help or documentation would be appreciated. Thanks.

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Matt_Trebesch
New Contributor III

William,

A am trying to get at License Manager running in my AWS EC2 instance..  I happen to have my full Enterprise stack deployed there..  sort of wanted to just keep my LM there too -  but I was really interested in the steps you took to deploy you LM instance....  This has been the weak part of my deployment for years.   Would you mind sharing what you did to deploy your LM instance?  Thanks.
-Matt

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Totran
by
New Contributor

Hey Matt, 

I tried to deploy License Manager 2018 to an AWS instance earlier this year and ran into many issues. Esri tech support said that type of deployment is not supported.  The best option for license manager deployment is to be hosted on a machine in your organization.

"Installing license manager on cloud is not supported.
ENH-000096985 : We do not support License Manager running in any cloud environment due to changes in the cloud infrastructure
BUG-000099420 : Documentation does not state that installing License Manager on an Amazon Cloud Server is not supported"

Best,

Totran

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Matt_Trebesch
New Contributor III

Totran,

Yeah, I think I'm going to end up hosting this locally.   When you opened ports up, what port numbers did you chose?  Is there any reason why I couldn't go with 27000 for the Server and 27001 for the Vendor? 

My hope is the forward these, but only to the machine in the cloud that  would use this....  (clamped down, not to the greater internet)

This is what I'm going by....

Configure ArcGIS License Manager to work through a firewall—License Manager Guide | ArcGIS Desktop 

Also, this is what convinced me that Cloud LM deployments are a bad idea...

http://downloads.esri.com/support/downloads/other_/arcgis_desktop_licensing_in_cloud_environments.pd... 

DavidStafford
New Contributor II

Did you get the manager to work locally?  I am trying to use some virtual desktops on the web and would like to use the local license server to share the concurrent licenses.  But so far we are not getting a response from the license server software.  The port is set, the firewall configured, service.txt has been altered a few times..... Yet still no response.  Any missing pieces that I should try.  Are there additional services that are needed as well?

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AmnoyAm
Esri Regular Contributor

Note when using license manager from the Cloud:

If your license manager is running on an EC2 instance, ArcGIS Desktop will no longer be licensed if the license manager instance is restarted, as restarting the instance changes its name. The best option for licensing ArcGIS Desktop in a cloud environment like Amazon EC2 is to use a license manager that is hosted on a physical machine in your organization. Alternatively, the license manager can be hosted on a virtual machine or on a small dedicated EC2 instance that is continuously running (such as a micro size Linux instance).

Additional information can be found in the link below:

Administer your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop Connection—ArcGIS Enterprise on AWS ... 

If you have the license manager installed, refer to the following documentation on how configure it to work through a firewall:

Configure ArcGIS License Manager to work through a firewall—License Manager Guide | ArcGIS Desktop 

The license manager uses two daemons, lmgrd.exe which uses port 27000 by default and arcgis.exe which uses a random open port.  You must manually define a static port for the arcgis.exe daemon.  Then open both ports through the firewall.  The link above will provide details and steps to do so.