Quick-start guide

To start running ArcGIS Server on Amazon EC2, you need to do the following things:

Launch an EC2 instance

You should have received access to an ArcGIS Server Amazon Machine Image (AMI) through Esri Customer Service. You will use this AMI to launch a virtual machine on Amazon EC2, which will run ArcGIS Server.

The easiest way to launch an EC2 instance is to use the Launch Instance button in the AWS Management Console. This wizard lets you pick the AMI you want to use, as well as the instance size and specs.

When you complete this wizard, it's important that you select a security group that will allow you to make a remote desktop connection to the instance. Chances are, you'll need to adjust a security group for this purpose.

Watch out for...

When you launch the instance, it takes a while to initialize, even when the AWS Management Console lists its status as started. Remote desktop connections to the instance may not be possible for a period of 10–20 minutes after you launch the instance.

Log in to the EC2 instance

You can use Windows Remote Desktop to log in to your EC2 instance. You'll notice that ArcGIS Server and ArcGIS Desktop are already installed. The first time you log in you should change the Administrator password on the machine and authorize ArcGIS Desktop.

Make the deployment yours

Once you log in to the EC2 instance and authorize ArcGIS Server, you'll notice some sample services running. You'll also see some server directories and sample data on drive D. Now you can copy your own data to the machine and make it yours by publishing services and applications.

Watch out for...

You should place your data on the attached Amazon Elastic Block Store (EBS) volume (D) instead of on the EC2 instance (C). If the 100 GB attached drive is too large or small, you can detach it and attach another one of a different size. However, this requires that you re-create the server directories and delete or reconfigure the sample data and services.

Learn more

If you need more details beyond this quick-start guide, start by reading The ArcGIS Server on Amazon EC2 workflow. Other resources are the Getting started book and the Simple configuration scenario.