Launching an EC2 instance running ArcGIS for Server

If you build your site manually using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Management Console, you must follow the steps below to create an EC2 instance running ArcGIS Server. An EC2 instance is a virtual machine running on Amazon EC2. You use an Amazon Machine Image (AMI) to determine the software running on the EC2 instance.

TipTip:

If you use ArcGIS Server Cloud Builder on Amazon Web Services to build your site, you do not have to go through the process below and your site will be able to take full advantage of the peer-to-peer aspects of the ArcGIS 10.1 for Server architecture.

Steps:
  1. Open a web browser to the AWS Management Console.
  2. Click Sign in to the AWS Console and sign in with your Amazon user name and password. Your Amazon account must be enabled for EC2 access, which is a one-time step that can be performed on the AWS website. Contact your system administrator or Amazon if you are unsure about the account to use in this step.
  3. Once you are signed in, click the Amazon EC2 tab.
  4. From the Region drop-down list, choose the AWS region in which you want to work.

    Regions represent the AWS data centers available throughout the world. You can use regions to get your deployment closer to customers or to meet legal requirements. Pricing varies among the regions.

  5. Click the Elastic IPs link and click Allocate New Address. Note the IP that is created.
  6. Click the Instances link and click Launch Instance.
  7. If prompted to select the wizard type, choose Classic Wizard and click Continue.
  8. Click the My AMIs tab.
  9. Uncheck Owned by me and check Shared with me under Ownership.
  10. Search for ArcGIS.
  11. Find the Esri ArcGIS for Server 10.1 AMI of your choice and click its Select button.

    There is an AMI available for Linux and two AMIs available for Windows (one with SQL Server Express and another with SQL Server Standard). If you don't see the AMIs, you need to provide Esri Customer Service with your Amazon account number so they can share the AMIs with you.

  12. Choose values for Number of Instances, Availability Zone, and Instance Type. For a simple test deployment, you can leave the defaults for all these choices.
  13. Choose Launch Instances or Request Spot Instances and click Continue.

    Spot instances allow you to "name your own price" for an instance, although the instance may not always be available at the price you choose. Spot instances are useful for certain types of jobs that can run during off-hours and be easily stopped and resumed. In most deployments, you will not use spot instances.

  14. Choose your advanced instance options, such as values for Kernel ID, RAM Disk ID, and so on. To prevent accidental termination of your instance, you might want to enable Termination Protection, and/or change the Shutdown Behavior to Stop.

    When you finish selecting advanced options, click Continue.

  15. Evaluate the storage device configuration details, but don't change them at this time. Click Continue.

    If you want to change the size of the attached EBS volume, you can do so after launching your instance. See Replacing the provided attached drive with one of a different size on Windows and Replacing the provided attached drive with one of a different size on Linux. Although these topics give steps for Cloud Builder, their workflows can be adapted for use with the AWS Management Console.

  16. Optionally, configure tags for your instance that will help you quickly identify and categorize your instance. Each tag consists of a key/value pair. A Name tag is already partly configured for you, so if you want to assign a name to your instance, type it in the Value box to the right of the Name key.

    When you are done setting tags, click Continue. At this point you need to create a key pair, which you will later use to retrieve the administrator password of the EC2 instance.

  17. Click Create a new Key Pair, then do the following:
    1. Type a name for the key pair.
    2. Click Create & Download your Key Pair.
    3. Allow your browser to download the file, which has a .pem extension. Save it in a safe place. This file can be used later to retrieve the administrator password of the instance.
    4. Click Continue.

    Now you need to configure some security group rules defining what incoming traffic can access your instance.

  18. Choose Create a new security group and type a name (for example, ArcGISServer) and a description for this group (for example, Security group for ArcGIS EC2 instances).
  19. Define the following allowed connections for your security group, clicking Add Rule to add each rule to the table:

    Rule type

    Port

    Source network (IPv4 CIDR)

    RDP

    3389

    <IP address range of machines allowed to connect through remote desktop>

    Custom TCP rule

    6080

    0.0.0.0/0 (If not using Elastic Load Balancer)

    10.0.0.0/8 (If using Elastic Load Balancer)

    NoteNote:

    Your organization's IT staff may have different requirements or rules for opening ports on your EC2 instances that could affect what you enter above. Check with your system administrator if you're unsure of the ports that you're permitted to open or the IP addresses that you should use.

    The above are basic rules that allow you to log in to the instance and test that your services are running. See Common security group configurations for lists of security group rules that you can apply in different scenarios.

    When you've finished adding these rules, click Continue.

  20. Click Launch and click Close.

    It will take a few minutes to launch the instance. While the instance is launching, its status is shown as pending in the My Instances panel of the AWS Management Console. Once the instance has finished launching, its status is shown as started, and you have a running EC2 instance for which you will incur charges. You may need to click Refresh to determine if your instance has finished launching.

    For several minutes after you launch or start an EC2 instance, you may notice that you cannot log in even though the instance appears started in the AWS Management Console. It takes a few minutes for the instance and ArcGIS to be completely configured.

    To determine whether your instance is ready to accept a connection, right-click the instance in the AWS Management Console and click Get System Log. When you first launch or start the instance, you will see a blank log screen when you do this. On a healthy Windows EC2 instance, you should see a message that Windows is ready to use if you check the log a few minutes later. To allow time for ArcGIS to configure itself, you should not attempt to connect to your EC2 instance until at least 5 minutes after the system log reports the message Windows is ready to use, although this time can vary based on the health of Amazon EC2.

    See Administering your Amazon EC2 instance with Windows Remote Desktop Connection or Administering your Amazon EC2 instance with remote access to Ubuntu Linux for additional instructions about logging in to your instance and working with it.

TipTip:

Once your instances are no longer needed, stop or terminate them to avoid unnecessary charges. When you terminate an instance, all data and software on it is lost and cannot be recovered. However, you can stop and start an instance without losing data. You can right-click the status of an instance to see a menu that allows you to stop, start, or terminate the instance.

12/10/2013