ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0: Where is the data physically stored when enabling “data store”?

[JamalNUMAN]

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.0: Where is the data physically stored when enabling “data store”?

In other words, what is the difference between the “data store” and the “copy all data” option when publishing?

[DebendraBiswas1]

When you publish data from a registered "Data Store (folder)" or registered RDBMS like SQL Server or Orable, data remains in that folder on in the database and map only references the data from that folder or from the database. If you delete the referenced data from the folder, you loose the data on the map as well, where as when you use option "Copy all data", ArcGIS enterprise copies the all the data and dump it into the ArcGIS Datastore, which uses postgreSQL database under the hood. In this case, even if you delete the data from the folder the map data still remain as it is. 

But this option will be only available if you have a hosted arcgis server federated with your portal.

[JamalNUMAN]

Then what is the advantage of having “ArcGIS Data Store” configured?

If we still have the option either to reference or copy the data with or without the “ArcGIS Data Store”, then what’s the added value of it (ArcGIS Data Store)?

[ChristopherCounsell]

From this and the few other posts - I would strongly recommend reading the below two resources on user managed vs system managed data:

https://www.esri.com/content/dam/esrisites/en-us/media/whitepaper/data-in-arcgis-user-managed-and-ar...

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/latest/use/data-store-items.htm

There are likely some Esri Event videos you could search for detailing more.

To outline it simply, Esri created the ArcGIS Data Store allow for front-end data creation. Think easy, system-managed, non-spatial users, all through the UI. How ArcGIS Online works. Scalable. Here, you do NOT have access to the underlying database.

This is in contrast to user-managed data. i.e. Server referencing registered data locations (folders, file geodatabases, cloud connections, enterprise geodatabases). These allow users to access the data directly. And potentially more functionality, but also more administrative overhead.

It's a great scenario as we now have a range of options and can facilitate ease of access to GIS without having to educate or expose access to databases, servers etc. 

When you publish from Pro, it will depend on your selection + if the data location is registered with server, but one of three things will happen:

• The data will be published as a Hosted layer (copied to ArcGIS Data Store)
• The data will remain in its location as a registered, referenced service (registered with ArcGIS Server)
• The data will be copied to ArcGIS Server but NOT hosted (the second option, but the file location is not registered, so the data gets copied)

More on these here:

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/sharing/overview/introduction-to-sharing-web-layers.ht...

[JamalNUMAN]

I figured out to plot the flow chart in the screenshot below trying to learn the advantage of an option over the other.

Does this mean that the difference between the “ArcGIS Data Store” over the regular “Data Store” is just where the physical data is stored when publishing with “Copy” option?

[ChristopherCounsell]

Where the data is stored is the physical difference but it is not the way you compare them.

I would strongly recommend taking a step back and reviewing some of the available resources on ArcGIS Enterprise. Here are a couple that can help address the questions in this and your other posts:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULhrWCIH0SQ&list=PLaPDDLTCmy4btgVu7omfiaw6PhKUzyk0M&index=92

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_LFzszE6bKc&list=PLaPDDLTCmy4btgVu7omfiaw6PhKUzyk0M&index=93

This question on Data Store vs SDE has been discussed previously on the community. You may find some good discussion searching the forums e.g.

https://community.esri.com/t5/arcgis-enterprise-portal-questions/managed-database-sde-enterprise-dat...

https://community.esri.com/t5/geodatabase-questions/when-to-use-arcgis-data-store/td-p/741332

Or the documentation outlines why you need it:

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/latest/administer/linux/what-is-arcgis-data-store.htm

Hope these resources help.