Portal for ArcGIS Extension vs ESRI Geoportal Server

RafaelGuerra

Can somebody answer me the following question: If my organization decides to implement Portal for GIS.
¿What is the difference between Portal for ArcGIS Extension and ESRI Geoportal Server?


Rafael E. Guerra C.
GIS Analyst - Panamá

WilliamCraft

Can somebody answer me the following question: If my organization decides to implement Portal for GIS.
¿What is the difference between Portal for ArcGIS Extension and ESRI Geoportal Server?


Rafael E. Guerra C.
GIS Analyst - Panamá

I've wondered the same thing in the past.  Here are the high-level descriptions of both according to Esri:

Geoportal Server
Esri Geoportal Server is a free, open source product that enables discovery and use of geospatial resources including datasets, rasters, and Web services. It helps organizations manage and publish metadata for their geospatial resources to let users discover and connect to those resources.

Portal for ArcGIS
An ArcGIS for Server extension provides a map-centric collaborative content management system that organizations can deploy in their own infrastructure (on premises or in the cloud). The ArcGIS portal is a central component of the ArcGIS platform, providing the means to easily create, organize, secure, and manage geographic assets within your organization. It connects end-users with useful online GIS applications, maps and geographic data, extending the reach of your geographic information products and ArcGIS beyond GIS experts.

So beyond the marketing "fluff", here are my interpretations of the difference between them:

• Geoportal Server is free; Portal for ArcGIS is not free but is licensed differently than ArcGIS for Server. 
• Geoportal Server is a much older product; Portal for ArcGIS is the "new kid on the block".
• Geoportal Server is open source; Portal for ArcGIS is not.  This may imply something about the level of support that Esri currently provides or will provide as time passes.  Most enhancements made to ArcGIS Online find their way to Portal within 3 months or so.  I've called Esri support for help with Portal, but not for Geoportal. 
• Geoportal Server is not necessarily straightforward to set up and configure.  It requires a Java servlet and that can be tricky to set up, not to mention there's a lot of manual XML configuration to do.  Then again, Portal isn't fun either if you have a complex environment.  I think the installation for Portal is slightly easier, and there seems to be more documentation. 
• Geoportal Server actually leverages Active Domain groups; Portal does not.  I've tried to find a way to use AD groups as a means to control my security and then grant Portal 'Groups' (of content) to each AD group in my security store.  Won't work.  Portal's security architecture is too flat at the moment, although in 10.3 there are plans to change this. 
• Portal is intended to be more of a collaborative tool; Geoportal is not necessarily intended for this.  Geoportal is more of a catalog or index of what content you actually have.  Portal provides more functionality because it allows people to upload, store, and share data with others in their organization or with the public. 

These are just a few of my thoughts on the differences between the two products.  I think you would want to consider these points in conjunction with your requirements.  I'd caution the use of both, though.  Geoportal is older and could eventually be phased out especially with the introduction of Portal.  On the other hand, Portal is still not mature enough for enterprise environments especially with its security model.  Both products don't really have out-of-the-box solutions for high availability and disaster recovery, though.  Hopefully this is helpful.