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Common planning questions

This topic addresses common planning questions in ArcGIS Enterprise. These additional topics contain common questions for deployment and administration:

Planning questions

When connecting ArcGIS Pro to ArcGIS Enterprise, are there recommendations for compatibility across products?

Yes. When using ArcGIS Pro with ArcGIS Enterprise, it is recommended to use the equivalent version.

For recommendations on version compatibility across products, see ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Enterprise compatibility.

Is it supported to federate an ArcGIS Server site from a version prior to the version of the other components of my base deployment?

To ensure functional compatibility across components, it is recommended to maintain the base deployment and all its federated servers with the same software version.

If your organization has requirements to federate an ArcGIS Server site at a prior supported version than your base deployment, this is supported for GIS or Image Server sites. An ArcGIS Enterprise server from a prior version cannot be federated and configured as a hosting server, image hosting server, or raster analytics server site.

Consider that maintaining software components at the same, and optimally, at a recent software version, will facilitate maintainability. Maintenance at multiple versions can bring complexity in the form of security vulnerabilities, patching components at multiple versions, and other potential complications.

Can I publish services that contain data from geodatabases of an earlier version?

In most cases, the geodatabase version does not have to match the ArcGIS Enterprise version.

See Client and geodatabase compatibility for specific information on which geodatabase versions are supported.

Does the ArcGIS Web Adaptor version need to be the same as other components in my base deployment?

To configure ArcGIS Web Adaptor with an ArcGIS Enterprise component, the components must be of the same version.

When upgrading your base deployment, you must uninstall the ArcGIS Web Adaptor instance at the previous version, and install an instance at the new version. By specifying the same name as your previous Web Adaptor, you can guarantee your Web Adaptor URLs will remain identical after upgrading.

Can I install and host different versions of ArcGIS Web Adaptor on the same machine?

You can have ArcGIS Web Adaptor installed alongside earlier versions of Web Adaptor on the same machine and web server.

Can I configure the same ArcGIS Web Adaptor to work with multiple ArcGIS Enterprise components?

No. You cannot configure the same ArcGIS Web Adaptor installation to work with more than one component. If you need to configure ArcGIS Web Adaptor with multiple components, install and configure separate instances for each.

How do I configure Portal for ArcGIS to be highly available?

Portal for ArcGIS is configurable and supported in a highly available environment. For full instructions, see Configure a highly available portal.

Can I rename the machine where Portal for ArcGIS is installed?

Yes, you can rename the machine where Portal for ArcGIS is installed, as long as the portal is not highly available. Keep in mind that after renaming the machine, you must reregister the Web Adaptor or update your reverse proxy or load balancer to use the new hostname. It is also recommended that you validate all federated server sites and ensure that the privatePortalURL property for each federated server is correct and the portal's index is in sync.

How do I configure Portal for ArcGIS with my organization's reverse proxy server?

To configure Portal for ArcGIS with a reverse proxy server, you need to provide information about the proxy server. For full instructions, see Integrate your portal with a reverse proxy or load balancer.

Will ArcGIS Server work when disconnected from the network?

If you have multiple machines participating in your ArcGIS Server site, the site requires the network to function.

If you have a one-machine deployment—that is, one machine participating in an ArcGIS Server site—ArcGIS Server will operate correctly when disconnected from the network as long as all the data referenced by your GIS services are stored locally on that machine. Additionally, if the machine is part of a domain and you have disconnected the computer from the domain, you must specify a local account as the ArcGIS Server account.

Can I safely rename a GIS server machine in my ArcGIS Server site?

Yes. ArcGIS Server automatically detects a machine name change and reconfigures your site to use the new name. After you use your operating system's tools to rename the machine, you may see the following message in the server logs:

ArcGIS Server has detected that the server machine [old machine name] has been changed to [new machine name]. ArcGIS Server will be updated automatically to use the new host name.

Depending on your site deployment, you may need to perform some additional steps to ensure that your site is configured properly to use the new machine name:

  • If you enabled HTTPS for your site and your certificate was using the previous machine name, you must generate a new certificate and configure your site to use it. For full instructions, see Secure ArcGIS Server communication..

  • If you configured ArcGIS Web Adaptor to use your previous machine name, you must configure it with a new URL that uses the updated machine name. For full instructions, see Configure ArcGIS Web Adaptor with a server site.