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ArcGIS Enterprise tools for Amazon Web Services

Esri provides tools to help you deploy the components of ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services (AWS). ArcGIS Enterprise components run on Amazon hardware, and the deployments are administered through web services.

ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS deploy and upgrade the following:

  • A base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment

  • A base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment plus federated ArcGIS Servers such as ArcGIS GIS Server, ArcGIS GeoEvent Server, ArcGIS Image Server, a raster analysis server, image hosting servers, ArcGIS Notebook Server, ArcGIS Mission Server, and ArcGIS Workflow Manager.

  • Stand-alone ArcGIS Server sites (that can be federated with ArcGIS Enterprise if needed), which can include registered databases.

Advantages of deploying on AWS using ArcGIS Enterprise tools include the following:

  • No installation required—You don't have to install ArcGIS software yourself. Instead, use ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services or sample Amazon Web Services CloudFormation templates to create an ArcGIS Server site or ArcGIS Enterprise deployment on AWS. Once you create a deployment, you can immediately connect to it and begin publishing services from ArcGIS Pro in the cloud or ArcGIS Enterprise.

  • Scalable on demand—You can configure your deployment so that machines are added to certain components—such as ArcGIS Server sites or spatiotemporal big data stores—in response to specified triggers, such as CPU usage. New machines can be created in a matter of minutes, allowing ArcGIS Enterprise to gracefully respond to abrupt spikes in traffic. When you no longer need the instances, you can destroy them and incur no further charges for them.

  • No hardware infrastructure to configure—Deploying ArcGIS Enterprise on Amazon Web Services requires no special hardware on-premises; you just need to connect to the internet.

    Deploying in a cloud environment allows you to use as many or as few computing resources as necessary without committing to a long-term purchase of hardware or other information technology infrastructure.

The tools

The following tools are available:

AWS CloudFormation templates

Esri provides sample CloudFormation templates that you can alter and run to create and upgrade ArcGIS deployments on AWS.

You can use these templates in the AWS Management Console or use Python or Windows PowerShell tools to automate creation of these same architectures.

ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for AWS

ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services includes the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder Command Line Interface for Amazon Web Services and the ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app.

The command line interface uses JSON files containing parameters that you alter to meet your needs, is built on the Esri templates, and provides a way to automate deployment creation. The PREP command automates preparatory steps and the CREATE command deploys ArcGIS.

The ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services app provides a graphical user interface (GUI) that guides you through options to provision resources and create ArcGIS deployments. The app uses the same JSON files and Esri AWS CloudFormation templates as ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder CLI for AWS, but the app populates these files for you.

Security resources

The ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS configuring the following security resources for you:

Windows Firewall

Microsoft Windows Firewall is enabled and configured when you use ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS. All ports that are necessary for ArcGIS Enterprise components to run are open to inbound connections.

Outbound connections are allowed by default in the Windows Firewall on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances you create using ArcGIS Enterprise tools for Amazon Web Services.

Security groups

When you use ArcGIS Enterprise tools for Amazon Web Services, a security group is created for you, and HTTPS and HTTP access is granted. However, if you intend to work with your EC2 instances using a Remote Desktop Connection or SSH, you must add rules allowing those types of connections. See the AWS documentation for instructions to alter security groups.

IAM policies

For information about what IAM policies are set by the tools, see IAM policies created by ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS.

Supported operating systems

In some cases, the ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS support different operating systems than on-premises deployments. See Operating systems supported when using ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS for information.

Supported AWS regions

Each release of the ArcGIS Enterprise tools for AWS supports different AWS regions.

For a list of the AWS regions currently supported for each active ArcGIS release, see FAQ: What AWS regions are supported for every active ArcGIS release on the Esri Technical Support site.

About this help

The help section you are reading focuses on how to deploy ArcGIS Enterprise or ArcGIS Server sites on Amazon Web Services using the tools listed above.

If you need general information about ArcGIS Enterprise and its components, geodatabases, or ArcGIS Pro, see the following help locations:

Links to other help are also provided throughout this help system where appropriate.