topic Re: Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users

TI — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 00:55:54 GMT

Our IT team are planning to replace our shared remote desktop server (RDP host). The new server will ONLY be used for people to connect and run ArcGIS Pro 3.2.

The IT team would like some clarification around the specs of the new machine to make sure we get it right. We have been unable to find specific answers to their questions in the ESRI documentation for which the specifications are for a single-user PC (ArcGIS Pro 3.2 system requirements—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation). Additionally, ESRI (Australia) support tells me "hardware specification recommendations for ArcGIS Pro ... falls outside the support we can provide" and "we are unable to provide information regarding hardware setups". then they recommended posting here instead. So here 'tis...

This host will service up to 10 users simultaneously. So we need to figure out how much RAM, CPU, GPU, etc, is appropriate for this kind of use. Please see our IT’s questions below:

These are specs we are thinking of, but wanting to know what you either recommend or what other clients that you know are running in similar situations:

HPE DL360 Gen10 Plus
2x Xeon-S 4314 – 16 Cores @ 2.4Ghz per CPU (32 in total)
128GB DDR4 Ram
MR416i Controller
2x 960GB MU SATA SSD
SFP+ 10/25GbE NIC
Nvidia T4 16GB GPU

* We are looking at setting up Hyper-V up on this server and run the Arc GIS Pro client on a virtual machine, being assigned 95% of the server resources as it will be the only VM.

Additional questions:

Is 32 core sufficient or possible too much given we have the GPU?
- Is there much benefit or disadvantage in getting a faster CPU cores or consider a trade off for faster cores, but say less of them, eg. 16 Cores in total at 3.2Ghz per core.
128GB Ram, this will be perfectly fine for a few users, but will it be an issue for 6-10 users? – Or will the system mange what resources it has available?
Nvidia T4 GPU – This looks like a great card, any issues that you are aware of with this card for this purpose?

If we are storing [much] of our GIS share data on this server (around 2TB worth [in file geodatabases]), is there any reported benefits or disadvantages of using SATA SSD vs SAS SSD vs NVMe SSD?

Are there any ArcGIS Pro users here with similar needs who can comment on what is working well for them? Specifically for around 10 simultaneous users on the one machine.

Re: Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users

ChristopherCounsell — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 09:48:02 GMT

Additional resources that may be of help:

https://support.esri.com/en-us/knowledge-base/faq-is-arcgis-pro-supported-in-virtualized-environments-000012325

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/get-started/virtualization-overview.htm

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/3d-gis/3d-gis/virtualizing-arcgis-pro-nvidia-grid-vgpu-profiles/

https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/technical-papers/virtualization-of-arcgis-pro.pdf

ArcGIS Pro: Virtualization On-Premises and in the Cloud

This community leans more towards spatial users. It may be worthwhile posting from the opposite direction, in more IT-based forums, outlining the software requirements.

It also depends on what your users are doing. Workflows that hit the GPU - certain analysis tools and 3D work - will require more consideration even in a single user environment. The resources above draw a lot of parallels between ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro in terms of GPU usage.

Re: Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users

George_Thompson — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 12:31:53 GMT

Here is another data point in terms of hardware for up-to 25 users: https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/pdf/hardware-partners/dell/dellvirtualizationappliance.pdf

Not apples-to-apples, but gives some context.

Re: Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users

GrahamWood-HWC — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 03:39:36 GMT

Is this a bare metal deployment..(no virtualisation) you may be able to use a top end workstation GPU
I've previously shared a Quadro RTX5000 with 5 users.

Re: Recommended Specs for Shared (RDP) ArcGIS Pro host with up to 10 simultaneous users

Kiwipeet — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 23:54:05 GMT

Hi Graham.

I'd like to do something similar to what you're suggesting. ArcGIS Pro on Windows RDS direct on tin. (No hypervisor). Can you tell me if you where successful? Any gotchas or limitations that you can think of?

Pete