Introduction to ArcGIS Enterprise on Windows and Linux

ArcGIS Enterprise is the foundational software system for GIS. It is designed to connect users with data, powering mapping and visualization, analytics, and data management. It is the backbone for running the Esri suite of applications and custom applications. ArcGIS Enterprise is integrated with ArcGIS Pro for mapping and authoring and connects with ArcGIS Online to share content between systems.

Collaboration and flexibility are central to ArcGIS Enterprise, allowing you to organize and share your work on any device, anywhere, at any time.

ArcGIS Enterprise allows you to control your deployment. It can be run on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes, and it supports small single-machine deployments as well as large multimachine deployments in the following:

Public cloud infrastructure
Private cloud infrastructure
On-premises infrastructure using physical or virtualized hardware

This flexibility unlocks advanced capabilities to support your organization's needs, such as tracking real-time data, performing big data analysis, raster analytics, hosting image services, and data science workflows. Your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment can also be connected or disconnected from the open internet and can be configured to prevent data loss and downtime in the event of disaster.

Software components

The components of ArcGIS Enterprise work together to provide comprehensive functionality for web mapping, image exploitation, real-time data handling, large-volume batch analysis, and spatial data science:

ArcGIS Server powers mapping and analysis in your GIS, including several specialized server roles, and scales dynamically to support traffic.
Portal for ArcGIS has a central role in organization and sharing information in your organization.
ArcGIS Data Store provides data storage for the hosting server used with your deployment.
ArcGIS Web Adaptor integrates ArcGIS Server and Portal for ArcGIS with your existing web servers and your organization's security infrastructure.

The above components are commonly combined as a base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. See Base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment for more information.

After the base deployment is installed, you can begin using ArcGIS Enterprise, or configure additional capabilities.

Servers and extensions

ArcGIS Enterprise can be licensed for a variety of servers, depending on the capabilities you want to enable for your deployment. ArcGIS Enterprise server licensing defines the capabilities of each ArcGIS Enterprise server machine or site.

ArcGIS Server-based servers

The following servers can be created through an ArcGIS Server installation. When licensed and federated with your base deployment, these servers can extend the capabilities of your organization.

ArcGIS Server extensions

Server extensions can also be added to ArcGIS Server to broaden or deepen the capabilities of your deployment. Extensions are dependent on the licensing edition you purchased.

Additional capability-based servers

These additional capability-based servers can also extend the capabilities of your organization through federation. They are created through their own installation and configuration experience.

For a full description of these options, see ArcGIS Enterprise servers.

Apps

ArcGIS Enterprise is designed to expand the use of maps and GIS apps within organizations. See Get started with apps for details.

Licensing

ArcGIS Enterprise is licensed per user and by system capacity. Users are licensed based on user types, providing secure access to information and content creation capabilities. See User types, roles, and privileges for detailed information on user types and capabilities.