About scaling ArcGIS Image Server

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ArcGIS 10 is the last release of the stand-alone ArcGIS Image Server product. The image service definition (.ISDef) has been replaced by an improved geodatabase data model—the mosaic dataset—which can be published as an image service using the ArcGIS Server Image extension.

When installing ArcGIS Image Server, you have the option to install all the components or just one or more of them. You do not need to install all the components on every machine.

Only the Service Editor needs to be installed on the machine where ArcGIS Desktop is installed and you will be creating your image services. The service provider should be installed on your fastest and most powerful machine, since this is the component that will be processing the image service requests. The Server and Image Server Manager components do not require powerful machines. The Server manages the connections between the clients and service providers, performs load balancing, and a few other things. The Image Server Manager is the administrator's tool to set up the image server and service providers and publish the image services.

The main component involved in scaling is the service provider. Typically, it is recommended that you have only two service provider configurations per machine. Ideally you would only have one; the second one is mainly for failover protection. To set up service providers on additional machines, you need to install the service provider component on each additional machine. This component also requires ArcGIS Engine, which must be installed prior to installing the service provider. Once installed, you can configure it using the Image Server Manager.

In the Image Server Manager, you need to alter the server configuration file by adding the machine names to the Service provider allow list where the additional service provider components are installed. You can then add an additional service provider configuration to the server that points to the machine where the additional service provider components are installed.

Learn about editing the image server configuration fileLearn about creating a new service provider

It is important that each service provider machine has adequate access to the compiled image service definition (.ISCDef) files and the data. Sometimes, you may be required to duplicate the .ISCDef files and data on these machines to ensure speedy access by clients to the image services.

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4/18/2011