Workgroup geodatabases on Amazon EC2

The ArcGIS Server Amazon Machine Image (AMI) can be used with an ArcGIS Server Workgroup license. To use this, you authorize your ArcGIS Server instance with your workgroup license, then you can use the SQL Server Express instance that is included with the ArcGIS Server AMI. This instance is preauthorized to store workgroup geodatabases and use with ArcGIS Server Workgroup.

The following is a generic workflow for using ArcGIS Server Workgroup in the cloud:

1. Launch an EC2 instance of ArcGIS Server and authorize with a workgroup license.
2. Authorize the ArcGIS Desktop installation on the ArcGIS Server EC2 instance.
3. Make a remote desktop connection to the ArcGIS Server instance and start ArcCatalog.
4. Add a database server connection.
   1. Expand the Database Servers node and double-click Add Database Server.
   2. Type localhost\ec2sqlexpress in the Database Server text box and click OK.
5. Add the ArcGIS SOC account to the database server.
6. Create a geodatabase on the database server. Be sure to place the database (.mdf) file on the data volume of your instance. By default, this is the D drive.
7. Grant the ArcGIS SOC account read/write permission in the new geodatabase.
   1. Right-click the geodatabase to open the Permissions dialog box: Administration > Permissions.
   2. Choose the ArcGISSOC account from the list and click the Read/Write button.
   3. Click OK to close the dialog box.
8. Transfer data to the cloud and load it into your geodatabase.
9. Create an .sde connection file by saving a connection to your geodatabase. Make sure the .sde file is in a location that the SOC account can access, such as GISData.

At this point, you can use your data to publish services. See What types of services can you publish? for a description of the types of services you can create.

If you will be publishing a map service, be sure the ArcGISSoc user has access to the folder where the .mxd or .msd file resides on your EC2 instance.

Considerations when using ArcGIS Server Workgroup geodatabases

• The database server connection must use the word localhost in place of the server name. The SQL Server Express instance in the AMI uses the default instance name, ec2sqlexpress. Therefore, the database server name is localhost\ec2sqlexpress.

  In the cloud, you are not locked into one specific server; therefore, you cannot specify a server name in the SQL Server Express instance name. Using localhost ensures ArcGIS can find the SQL Server Express instance.

• You must create a spatial database connection to the workgroup geodatabase and place the spatial database connection file in a location that the ArcGIS SOC user can access to publish an ArcGIS Service using the data in it.

  You cannot publish an ArcGIS service from the Database Servers node in the Catalog tree. If the service you are publishing is going to contain data from a workgroup geodatabase, the service must point to an .sde file, not a .gdb file. The .sde file must also be accessible to the ArcGIS SOC user.

• Workgroup geodatabases are limited to a size of 4 GB.
• Workgroup geodatabases use Windows authentication exclusively. This means the following are true:
  • You must add the local ArcGIS SOC account to the database server and grant it permissions to the geodatabase to be able to publish services from it.
  • To add more users to the database server, you must add users to the EC2 instance, then add the new users to the database server and grant permissions. Local users must be placed in the Windows Remote Desktop Users group to be able to log in to the EC2 instance.
• If you create a new ArcGIS Server Workgroup EC2 instance and want to move your existing geodatabases to it, you must first detach the geodatabases from the database server in your existing instance, move the mdf file to the new ArcGIS Server instance, and attach the geodatabase to the new database server.

See the topics in the Setting up and using database servers section of the ArcGIS Server Help for more information on using these types of geodatabases.