Is it possible to install ArcGIS desktop in the cloud?

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11-16-2016 02:36 PM
AnnVanSlembrouck
Occasional Contributor

We plan to have a workstation for each staff person in the cloud.

Has anyone done this?

Are there licensing issues I need to be aware of?

Thank You for any insight.

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33 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

You check out the full line of products up at the top of your page under Products, but you might want to look at 

ArcGIS for Server | GIS Web Server Software | Web Map Server  amongst other options

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AnnVanSlembrouck
Occasional Contributor

Hi Dan. I am interested in experiences with the desktop software in the cloud, not the server software.

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

Your options and requirements and installation guide are here ArcGIS 10.4.x for Desktop system requirements—ArcGIS Help | ArcGIS for Desktop and there are links within to contact your esri rep should you have specific requirements or environments that you wish to use or configure.

curtvprice
MVP Esteemed Contributor

If it's in the cloud, it isn't really desktop software anymore. The whole point of desktop software is take advantage of local (unshared) resources and the performance that provides. Esri's software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform is ArcGIS Online or Portal. 

JoshuaBixby
MVP Esteemed Contributor

What you are asking about is called virtualization, and virtualizing ArcMap and ArcGIS Pro is very much an enterprise IT question.  Deploying ArcMap to a remote machine in the cloud is a very different beast than deploying it to a local machine on premises.  The latter can be done by the least experienced of GIS staff while the former requires input from enterprise IT staff to be successful.

I recommend taking a look at the GIS System Design Strategies, particularly the ArcGIS Virtualization section.

AnnVanSlembrouck
Occasional Contributor

Thanks Joshua, that is helpful!

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RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

We have users that are using ArcGIS 10.3.x using Citrix XenDesktop which is a virtual environment but I believe is still hosted within our network.  For those that connect and use it, it would appear to be in the cloud.  This is used for the offices that are not within the firewall, but still need access to our license manager.  A year or two back out IT took aware the port I had open to access outside the network, and this was the solution.   Users,using their local machine, log into the XenDesktop and ArcGIS is an app they can open. Each user does still take one of our concurrent seats when using the software.

I agree with Joshua that this most likely with require IT involvement. Our setup is not necessarily the cloud, but it can be used in a virtualized environment.  This setup was totally done by our IT/Network-services (which advice/testing from us/GIS) so I can't give much more advice on that, other than as Dan mentioned, check the version requirements for this too, if you go this route.  We had weird issues with 10.3.1 until our Citrix environment was upgraded (but 10.2.1 worked on the older Citrix version).

AnnVanSlembrouck
Occasional Contributor

Thanks Rebecca!

I ask the question because our IT department is planning to move everything from our server room to the cloud (eventually). I am told each staff person will have a 'workstation' in the cloud as their desktop and will remote desktop there to do their daily work. I am not aware of others doing this, and hope that performance will improve if our servers hosting the data are on the same server. We have not chosen which cloud service we will use yet, but I assume much testing will be needed before this is deployed agency-wide.

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RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

If this is truly going to be in the cloud, i.e. on a vendor's hardware, somewhere, keep in mind that the licensing might get a little tricky..technical-wise.  It's not that that is can't be done, but how you have users access the licenses for Desktop might matter.  I remember talking to esri staff at the UC 2016 about this. 

Do you manager the Desktop licenses now?  If so, you probably know a bit about the single-user licenses (being authorized to a machine) vs. concurrent-use license manager where the users have to have access to the licenses.  Both work well, unless something happens ....ie a "machine" has an issue and gets rebuilt before deauthorizing....or a slew of other things.  Sometimes the only way to recover is to get tech support and your customer rep involved.  They can help restore things, but not if it a regular issue.  With the cloud, where I think things like IP can change, could this be an issue?  I have not done any cloud testing, so really don't know.

So, this is just a heads-up to talk to esri or someone in the know about how to set up the licenses if you go this route.  Might not be a big thing, but better to know.

Of course, you could always go the ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS for Desktop    route......licensing can be handle thru ArcGIS Online....i.e., already in the cloud.  But keep in mind, not all functionality is there yet, and it is a completely different look/feel, etc.