I have been trying to do my homework when planning to eventually implement ArcGIS Enterprise but I have found limited resources finding information related to adequate hardware, infrastructure, architecture for running Enterprise. I am trying to plan for success but I having a hard time answering questions how many cores should new servers have, how much ram, etc.. I am in organization with about 75 users, probably 20 of which would possibly edit. Its really hard to say how many viewers once portal is deployed with web maps (located at a Military Base). Does anyone have any suggestions or links that might offer some assistance.
Hi Spencer,
> I have been trying to do my homework when planning to eventually implement ArcGIS Enterprise but I have found limited resources finding information ...
Some good places to start:
> ... related to adequate hardware, infrastructure, architecture for running Enterprise.
This is a good resource,
ArcGIS Architecture Series: Tools of an Architect
Hope this helps,
Derek- Thanks for providing the links. I will take a look and if I have further/questions comments as it relates I will post on this thread.
Spencer
Hey Spencer Larson,
Some considerations and questions I ask before I do a deployment are:
Most of my builds use the following principles:
4 Cores, 8GB RAM is a minimum for all capabilities (Note: Minimum means it will start, users will not have a very good experience using the minimum!!)
Using the above advice if I was building a test deployment of Enterprise (ArcGIS Portal, Server (Hosting), and Datastore (relational)) on a single machine I would be looking at 4 core and 24GB of RAM. For a multiple machine deployment for the same ( 3 machines with Portal, Server and Datastore on their own machine) I would look at each machine being 4 core 8GB of RAM.
Again the above machines would not deal very well with more than 5 or so users and a handful or services. I would start off with 4 core and 12GB for each service in a multi machine deployment.
I'm sure I've missed obvious things above so I'm more than happy to discuss!
Thanks,
Ben
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Ben- Below are some responses. I am learning as I go so I appreciate any additional feedback you can provide. My current thought is to have a 2 server configuration with a SAN for increased storage each with 32 GB Ram and each having 4 cores. I am trying to plan for now and the future but these servers/SAN would be also hosting a repository of asbuilts and drawings associated with installation facilities as well having backups. With all that being said does ESRI have folks that can work to make recommendations. I am under a ELA but not sure if there is this type of support as part of the agreeement.
Thanks
Spencer
Some considerations and questions I ask before I do a deployment are:
Most of my builds use the following principles:
4 Cores, 8GB RAM is a minimum for all capabilities (Note: Minimum means it will start, users will not have a very good experience using the minimum!!) According to what I read I thought you had to have 16 GB Ram at a miniumum
Using the above advice if I was building a test deployment of Enterprise (ArcGIS Portal, Server (Hosting), and Datastore (relational)) on a single machine I would be looking at 4 core and 24GB of RAM. For a multiple machine deployment for the same ( 3 machines with Portal, Server and Datastore on their own machine) I would look at each machine being 4 core 8GB of RAM.
Again the above machines would not deal very well with more than 5 or so users and a handful or services. I would start off with 4 core and 12GB for each service in a multi machine deployment.
I'm sure I've missed obvious things above so I'm more than happy to discuss!
Thanks,
Ben
Hey Spencer Larson,
I would have a chat with your Esri contact as they will let you know if they can help out with this sort of work.
Depending on your level of database knowledge you may consider just using a relational data store which you will need to build when you do an enterprise build. When you publish hosted feature layers you can specify if people can edit the data which will allow people to edit the data using ArcGIS Pro or a variety of other products (Collecter, Survery123).
For your servers I would recommend you start out with one as you grow the capability in your agency and give it 32GB of RAM and 4 cores. You can always split the capabilities off on to separate machines at a later stage.
When we talk about high availability, active-active, active-passive we are talking about what happens if the server breaks. High availability generally means that you double up on everything so if one machine breaks the other one takes over. This is a more complex build and requires more administration so I would advise that you be aware of it and should you need to host mission critical data you look into it.
When we talk about balancing the load there are a few ways people interpret that. WE do multi site machines which is each machine has its own capability on it (seperate Portal, Server and Datastore onto their own machines). Multi machine generally aims to remove bottle necks and allows you to spec the machine as required for the capability. You can also balance load using two machines that are built identically and then you can share traffic between the two which helps to alleviate load.
A single machine installation will be the quickest and easiest to manage and will allow you to experience/test the capabilities that Enterprise has to offer. There are plenty of tools that you can use to monitor its usage and determine when you want to upgrade it to a more powerful machine, multi-site or load balanced. How long a single machine build will really depend on your agencies uptake of the Enterprise stack.
If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask!
Thanks,
Ben