Question about Azure Files and ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 Deployments

[RahulRaj2025]

Hello,

I had a question regarding a recent update for ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 on Azure. The "What's New" documentation states that new deployments will no longer use Azure Files for the configuration store and content directory, but existing deployments utilizing Azure Files will continue to function after an upgrade.
I'm trying to clarify if this change only applies to deployments made using ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure, or if it also applies to manual deployments where Cloud Builder is not used.

Link: What's new in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 on Microsoft Azure—ArcGIS Enterprise in the cloud | Documentati...

Regards,
Rahul Raj

[PatriceLabbé]

We will move from Azure Files to Azure NetApp Files because there is an issue with Azure Files and I/O access with many small files. Our initial testings seem to indicate that Azure NetApp Files doesn't have the same kind of issue.

[RahulRaj2025]

Thanks @PatriceLabbé.

For our existing manual highly available ArcGIS Enterprise deployments on Azure, where the configuration store and content directory are currently on Azure Files, and which we plan to upgrade to 11.5:

• Should we plan to migrate these shared directories to Azure NetApp Files post-upgrade, given the performance considerations you've highlighted?

Additionally, for new manual highly available ArcGIS Enterprise 11.5 deployments on Azure:

• Should we focus on utilizing Azure NetApp Files over Azure Files for storing the common configuration store and content directories ?

[PatriceLabbé]

Hi @RahulRaj2025,

We are in the processes of migrating from 11.3 to 11.5. We were hoping to migrate to Azure NetApp Files sooner but we sadly couldn't. So we will migrate to 11.5 first and then we will migrate everything from Azure Files to Azure NetApp Files : config store, content directory, other shared files (e.g. FGDB for some Map Image Services, etc.), I mean everything that was on Azure Files will be moved to Azure NetApp Files.

It will be done manually but we will adjust IaC artefacts (e.g. powershell DSC) for this.

[RahulRaj2025]

Hi @PatriceLabbé ,

Thanks for the clarification.

Regards,
Rahul