topic Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments in ArcGIS Enterprise Questions

Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

RahulRaj2025 — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 05:30:29 GMT

Hello,

I had a question regarding a recent update for ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 on Azure. The "What's New" documentation states that new deployments will no longer use Azure Files for the configuration store and content directory, but existing deployments utilizing Azure Files will continue to function after an upgrade.
I'm trying to clarify if this change only applies to deployments made using ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure, or if it also applies to manual deployments where Cloud Builder is not used.

Link: What's new in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 on Microsoft Azure—ArcGIS Enterprise in the cloud | Documentation for ArcGIS Enterprise

Regards,
Rahul Raj

Re: Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

PatriceLabbé — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 18:06:40 GMT

We will move from Azure Files to Azure NetApp Files because there is an issue with Azure Files and I/O access with many small files. Our initial testings seem to indicate that Azure NetApp Files doesn't have the same kind of issue.

Re: Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

RahulRaj2025 — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:32:56 GMT

Thanks @PatriceLabbé.

For our existing manual highly available ArcGIS Enterprise deployments on Azure, where the configuration store and content directory are currently on Azure Files, and which we plan to upgrade to 11.5:

Should we plan to migrate these shared directories to Azure NetApp Files post-upgrade, given the performance considerations you've highlighted?

Additionally, for new manual highly available ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 deployments on Azure:

Should we focus on utilizing Azure NetApp Files over Azure Files for storing the common configuration store and content directories ?

Re: Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

PatriceLabbé — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 11:59:07 GMT

Hi @RahulRaj2025,

We are in the processes of migrating from 11.3 to 11.5. We were hoping to migrate to Azure NetApp Files sooner but we sadly couldn't. So we will migrate to 11.5 first and then we will migrate everything from Azure Files to Azure NetApp Files : config store, content directory, other shared files (e.g. FGDB for some Map Image Services, etc.), I mean everything that was on Azure Files will be moved to Azure NetApp Files.

It will be done manually but we will adjust IaC artefacts (e.g. powershell DSC) for this.

Re: Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

RahulRaj2025 — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 14:28:49 GMT

Hi @PatriceLabbé ,

Thanks for the clarification.

Regards,
Rahul