Does ArcGIS Server deployment require an existing relational database (SQL Server) or could I deploy with only existing File GDBs?

deleted-user-sBBlTZilBs4n

Greetings,

I am an analyst and far being from a DBA tasked with looking into implementing an Enterprise set up for our office. I am trying to understand how an ArcGIS for Server deployment might work for us. We currently do not have an existing DBMS for our GIS data, so I am wondering whether building a DBMS is required for an ArcGIS for Server deployment or if there might be a workaround such as using Esri's File GDBs.

Thank you,

An Overwhelmed Analyst

JonathanQuinn

You won't need an enterprise geodatabase or database if you don't plan on using feature services.  You can publish map services from file geodatabase or shapefile data.  If you're looking into ArcGIS Enterprise, you can use the ArcGIS Data Store as your backend database.  That will allow you to publish hosted feature services without needing a DBA to manage the database.