Best ways to migrate Tile cache services from 10.9.1 to 11.5?

Question

We are upgrading the 10.9.1 to 11.5 (New Infrastructure).

We have multiple Tile cache services on ArcGIS Enterprise 10.9.1. and we want to migrate those to whole new ArcGIS enterprise 11.5.

1. Is it necessary to build that cache in new 11.5 machines? 
2. Can we copy paste 10.9.1 cache in new 11.5 machines and republish those again? and if we do copy paste, is there any chance to lose the data?
3. Does ArcGIS Assistant will be beneficiary in this migrations?
4. We have Dev, QA, Prod environment and on all of those machines we want to publish those tile cache services, so what is best way to minimize the efforts? like can we python scripts in this case?
5. As we are aware of 11.5 is the last version of ArcGIS Enterprise which supports tile cache data store. if we use object store for tile cache service how will it be different than tile cache data store or it will be same?
6. Even though in ArcGIS Enterprise 12 have to go with object store data store so what will be best suggestion for now?

Any help would highly appreciated! Thanks!

SarayRodriguez · Answer

1. Is it necessary to build that cache in new 11.5 machines?

If you would like to have a supported environment, I would recommend you restore your tilecache datastore using a backup to 11.5

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/11.5/administer/windows/data-store-recovery.htm#:~:text=all%20scene%20caches.-,Restore%20a%20data%20store%20after%20loss%20of%20all%20machines,-If%20you%20need

4. We have Dev, QA, Prod environment and on all of those machines we want to publish those tile cache services, so what is best way to minimize the efforts? like can we python scripts in this case?

I would recommend using the restore datastore utility
5. As we are aware of 11.5 is the last version of ArcGIS Enterprise which supports tile cache data store. if we use object store for tile cache service how will it be different than tile cache data store or it will be same?

This blog goes over a lot of useful information once you are ready to migrate the new object store:

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/arcgis-enterprise/administration/arcgis-enterprise-migrating-to-the-object-store
6. Even though in ArcGIS Enterprise 12 have to go with object store data store so what will be best suggestion for now?

I would recommend you use the restore datastore utility. You can find more info here as well:

https://enterprise.arcgis.com/en/portal/12.0/administer/linux/data-store-utility-reference.htm#ESRI_SECTION1_BAF681033AB248C2BF4718A917380C8D:~:text=relcacert%22%20%2D%2Doption%20relational-,restoredatastore,-This%20utility%20is

GlenterpriseUK · Answer

Hi @codethemap,

Please consider reading the following blog ArcGIS Enterprise: Migrate to the object store as it explains and outlines the process that you would need to follow after upgrading to 11.5.

Regards,

Glen

JonM32 · Answer

@codethemap

Please see my responses below. Hopefully this helps!

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1. Is it necessary to build that cache in new 11.5 machines?

No, you don't need to rebuild the caches. After you copy/paste the caches to the new machines, you can publish new services that will look for the existing cache. Note that the names need to match (this is from esri): To associate an existing cache with the map service, the name and server folder of your map service must match the name and server folder of the existing cache. (this is an older link from esri but it states this and is what I followed when doing my cache transfer) Configure a map service—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

2. Can we copy paste 10.9.1 cache in new 11.5 machines and republish those again? and if we do copy paste, is there any chance to lose the data?

Yes,  you can copy and paste the caches to the new servers. You likely won't lose data, I recommend copy/paste in small batches if you have a lot of cache folders. Say you have 24 cached services, I would copy/paste only half at a time. I usually break my file transfers up like this.

3. Does ArcGIS Assistant will be beneficiary in this migrations?

Not really. It's basically a copy/paste and then republish process.

4. We have Dev, QA, Prod environment and on all of those machines we want to publish those tile cache services, so what is best way to minimize the efforts? like can we python scripts in this case?

I'm sure there's a way to script this but honestly, I've just copy and pasted in the past through Windows File Explorer. It was simple that way and you can watch the progress. It will likely take a while to copy/paste if your caches are large in size.

5. As we are aware of 11.5 is the last version of ArcGIS Enterprise which supports tile cache data store. if we use object store for tile cache service how will it be different than object store or it will be same?

Not sure on this one.

6. Even though in ArcGIS Enterprise 12 have to go with object store data store so what will be best suggestion for now?

Sounds like it. I haven't read up on the requirements of 12 yet since I'm at 11.3 currently.