Is it possible to configure multiple Portal instances on the same machine?

[JonathanBailey]

For sandboxing purposes, I'd like to be able to test something on a clean instance of Portal, without taking down the portal instance that my team members are using. Is it possible to create another instance of Portal on the same machine, or am I going to have to spin up a new machine?

[JakeSkinner · Accepted solution]

Hi Jonathan,

No, this will not possible to have two portal instances on the same machine.  One thing I've done in the past is use the WebGISDR to export a backup of the primary portal instance, and restore this backup on a sandbox server.  However, to do this you will need to make some changes to the hosts file on the sandbox server before installing portal in order to import the WebGISDR backup.  Here are the steps:

On the sandbox server:

1. Open local hosts file. hosts files is located under C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
2. Add entry: sandbox_machine_IP            primary_machine _name.domain.com
3. Save file
4. Install ArcGIS Enterprise on sandbox server

[JonathanBailey]

OK. Thanks, Jake.