Quick Start Guides

ArcGIS Enterprise quick start guide

Getting started

ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 is a full-featured mapping, analytics and data management platform that runs in the cloud, in virtual environments or on-premises. With ArcGIS Enterprise, you can visualize, interpret, and act upon your location-based data. ArcGIS Enterprise works alongside ArcGIS Online, ArcGIS Pro, and ArcGIS Desktop, and provides the foundation for applications like ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Collector, ArcGIS Insights, and many more.

An ArcGIS Enterprise base deployment is a foundational setup of ArcGIS Enterprise. It consists of four software components you will need to license, install and configure. Review the What's included section for a list of components. You can build off of the ArcGIS Enterprisebase deployment by adding capability-based server roles like ArcGIS GeoEvent Server.

Prerequisites:

  • Ensure your infrastructure meets the system requirements for each component. Review the ArcGIS Enterprise system requirements.
  • Administrative privileges are required for installation.
  • On Windows, Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 is required for installing the ArcGIS Server .NET Extension Support feature. ArcGIS Web Adaptor for IIS also requires Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2 or higher. The Microsoft .NET Framework can be downloaded from Microsoft. It is recommended to use the latest version of .NET Framework 4.x that is available for your operating system. At the time of release of ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1, this was .NET Framework 4.8.

To get started:

  • Visit My Esri with privileges to 'take licensing action'. Under My Organizations > Licensing > License Esri Products, select Start to begin the process of obtaining your licenses. Select ArcGIS Enterprise and the version of the software you wish to license and proceed through the steps to generate license files for ArcGIS Server and Portal for ArcGIS, including your server roles, user types and applications, as applicable. If you are licensing a GIS Professional user type, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Drone2Map, or other application that requires License Manager, you will also need ArcGIS License Manager 2020.0 to specify which members can use these applications. Review the Portal for ArcGIS Administrator Guide and the License Manager Guide for more information.
  • Download your license and the ArcGIS Enterprise software components: Portal for ArcGIS, ArcGIS Data Store, ArcGIS Web Adaptor and ArcGIS Server. You can download the components from My Esri. You can also use automation tools, like the ArcGIS Enterprise Builder, Chef, PowerShell and cloud tooling to make installation easier. For more information on automation tools, visit page 9 of the ArcGIS Enterprise Functionality Matrix.
  • If you're upgrading from a previous version of ArcGIS Enterprise, review Upgrading to ArcGIS 10.8.1. For help, review the corresponding installation guide.

Visit the ArcGIS Enterprise page for access to additional resources such as documentation and support.

What's included

ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1 includes the components described below.

  • ArcGIS Server—The core web services component for making maps and performing analysis. ArcGIS Server can be licensed in a variety of capability-based roles, depending on functionality you want to enable for your deployment, like real-time and big data. ArcGIS Server also has several extensions available for purchase.
  • Portal for ArcGIS—Allows you to share maps, applications, and other geographic information with other people in your organization.
  • Portal for ArcGIS Web Styles—Provides the complete set of 3D symbology for use in ArcGIS Enterprise portal’s Scene Viewer. It is to be applied on top of the Portal for ArcGIS setup.
  • ArcGIS Data Store—Provides data storage for hosted data in your deployment.
  • ArcGIS Web Adaptor—Allows you to integrate your ArcGIS Server and Portal for ArcGIS with your existing web server and your organization's security mechanisms.
  • ArcGIS License Manager 2020.0 (Windows and Linux)—The version required to run ArcGIS 10.8.1 with ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Drone2Map licenses. It also supports all other ArcGIS 10.x concurrent use releases.
  • Database Server (Workgroup)—Installation for SQL Server Express instance to store geodatabases. This component is only available with ArcGIS Enterprise Workgroup.

ArcGIS Server functionality is provided through server licensing roles. These server licensing roles provide the following capabilities to an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment:

  • ArcGIS GIS Server—Provides fundamental mapping, analytics, and data management capabilities to your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. You use ArcGIS GIS Server to publish services, to host layers, and to provide ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content to either connected or disconnected deployments. ArcGIS GIS Server supports OGC web services and custom geoprocessing models. It's also the licensing role needed to deploy a hosting server in your base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. (included as part of ArcGIS Enterprise).
  • ArcGIS Notebook Server—Hosts Python notebooks which provide a versatile web-based interface for powerful geospatial data analysis integrated with ArcGIS Enterprise. Notebooks can perform analysis, automate workflows, and immediately visualize results in a geographic context. (optional, licensed separately).
  • ArcGIS GeoEvent Server—Powers real-time, event-based data streams that you can use in your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. (optional, licensed separately).
  • ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server—Is for big data processing and analysis capability of ArcGIS Enterprise. It provides a distributed computing framework that powers a collection of analysis tools for analyzing large volumes of data. Through aggregation, regression, detection, clustering, and more, you can visualize, understand, and act upon your big data. ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server allows you to gain insights that may otherwise be hidden in your data, such as patterns, trends, and anomalies. (optional, licensed separately).
  • ArcGIS Image Server—Provides tools and resources to host, process, analyze, and explore massive collections of imagery, rasters, and remotely sensed data. (optional, licensed separately).
  • ArcGIS Mission Server—Facilitates communication between ArcGIS Mission Manager and ArcGIS Mission Responder, providing the processing and machine-language translation necessary for the components of ArcGIS Mission. (optional, licensed separately)
  • ArcGIS Workflow Manager Server—A scalable workflow management system that automates and simplifies many aspects of performing and managing GIS and non-GIS work in your organization. (optional, licensed separately)

Deployment and automation tools:

  • ArcGIS Enterprise Builder—Provides a simple installation and configuration experience for a base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment on a single machine.
  • ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Amazon Web Services—Helps deploy ArcGIS Enterprise and all its capabilities on Amazon Web Services. It provides both a graphical wizard-driven user interface, as well as a command-line user interface for scripting. Options include the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, as well as working with the GIS Server, Image Server, GeoEvent Server, GeoAnalytics Server, Notebook Server (Ubuntu only), and Mission Server features.
  • ArcGIS Enterprise Cloud Builder for Microsoft Azure—Helps deploy ArcGIS Enterprise and all its capabilities on Microsoft Azure. Options include the base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, as well as working with the GIS Server, Image Server, GeoEvent Server, GeoAnalytics Server, and Notebook Server features.
  • Chef—Software framework to automate installation and configuration of ArcGIS Enterprise. For more information, visit the Chef landing page.
  • PowerShell—Esri offers tools to automate your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment using PowerShell Desired State Configuration (DSC). You can use the PowerShell DSC for ArcGIS module to automate the installation, uninstallation, and upgrade of an ArcGIS Enterprise deployment, as well as incremental software additions to a deployment already installed using the module. PowerShell DSC for ArcGIS contains sample JSON files, to which you add your specific information and parameters before running in the PowerShell console. Learn more and get started at the PowerShell DSC for ArcGIS repository on GitHub.

Monitoring tools:

ArcGIS Monitor—Provides actionable insights into system usage, performance, and overall health of your ArcGIS implementation. ArcGIS Monitor 10.8.1 is compatible with the same release version of ArcGIS, as well as earlier versions that are still supported (optional, licensed separately).

Additional licensed extensions for ArcGIS Server are available as separate downloads:

  • ArcGIS Data Interoperability—Enables ArcGIS to read and process over 115 GIS and CAD formats supported by Safe Software's FME.
  • ArcGIS Data Reviewer—Provides tools to manage quality control and makes data quality a component of your overall data management strategy.
  • ArcGIS Workflow Manager (Classic) Server—Provides a framework to organize and publish web services of project workflows configured using ArcGIS Workflow Manager (Classic) Desktop.

For more information on extensions, visit ArcGIS GIS Server capabilities and extensions.

Developer tools:

  • ArcGIS Enterprise SDK—Libraries and documentation are available for Java and .NET developers to extend ArcGIS Server map services implementing Server Object Extensions (SOEs) and Server Object Interceptors (SOI) published from ArcGIS Pro.
  • ArcObjects SDK for the Microsoft .NET Framework—Documentation and sample code are provided for Microsoft .NET Framework developers to customize and extend ArcGIS Engine, ArcGIS Desktop, and ArcGIS Server.
  • ArcObjects SDK for Java—Documentation, tools, and sample code are provided for Java Platform developers to customize and extend ArcGIS Server.

Data and DBMS connectivity:

  • DBMS Support Files—Client libraries and databases to directly connect to geodatabases.
  • ArcGIS Coordinate Systems Data—Contains the data files required for the GEOCON transformation method and vertical transformation files for the United States (VERTCON and GEOID12B) and the world (EGM2008).
  • ArcGIS Raster Data—Contains a compressed global elevation model primarily required by users of Ortho Mapping workflows who work offline and don't have access to better elevation data required for orthorectification of satellite imagery or to initiate some photogrammetric workflows.

The following are also available with ArcGIS Enterprise and can be found under the Downloads > Products page:

  • ArcGIS Insights—Access this app through ArcGIS Enterprise to perform iterative and exploratory data analysis on ArcGIS web services, Excel spreadsheets, and data stored in databases. ArcGIS Insights requires additional licensing.
  • Esri Boundary Layers—Esri provides layers containing boundary and demographic information for different parts of the world. These layers—such as state, province, census area, and ZIP Code boundaries—contain related, local information that portal members can use in their maps, scenes, apps, feature analysis tools, and ArcGIS Insights. Consider publishing these layers in ArcGIS Enterprise if you have ArcGIS Insights installed or if your ArcGIS Enterprise deployment does not have access to ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World content from ArcGIS Online.

Language packs (coming soon)

The following ArcGIS components have localized setups. Language packs are not available separately.

  • ArcGIS Server
  • Portal for ArcGIS
  • ArcGIS Web Adaptor (IIS)
  • ArcGIS Web Adaptor (Java Platform)
  • ArcGIS Data Store
  • ArcGIS GeoEvent Server
  • ArcGIS Notebook Server
  • ArcGIS Mission Server
  • ArcGIS Data Reviewer
  • ArcGIS Workflow Manager (Classic) Server extension

Language packs for the Portal for ArcGIS help, Data Store help, Mission Server help, and Notebook Server help can be used to view documentation in additional languages.

Upgrading to ArcGIS 10.8.1

  • The ArcGIS 10.8.1 setup package is designed to detect and upgrade an existing installation of the same ArcGIS product. The settings for the installation location are retained in the upgrade. Review the installation guide for more information on installation upgrades and new installations.
  • Existing ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8 authorization numbers will work with ArcGIS Enterprise 10.8.1.
  • If you are upgrading Portal for ArcGIS to 10.8.1, you may need to reauthorize your software for 10.8.1. If you are upgrading from a version within the same release series-for example, from 10.8 to 10.8.1-you do not need to obtain a new license file. If you are upgrading from a version from an earlier release series, you must obtain a new portal license file from My Esri.