What’s new in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Kubernetes

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Kubernetes has released! It follows the recent release of ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Windows and Linux. ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes is available to Esri customers through an annual subscription license. It runs in your environment and follows cloud-native software patterns to deliver high availability and scalability. At the same time, it reduces effort by helping you deploy and upgrade the system quickly and with fewer steps.

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Kubernetes includes a number of eagerly-awaited improvements, especially for administrators. Read on for highlights.

What is ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes?

ArcGIS Enterprise can be deployed on Windows, Linux and Kubernetes. ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes is foundational to a Geographic Information System (GIS) that can deliver high availability for mission-critical deployments. It remains performant despite volatile demand for services or failures in the underlying infrastructure. Administrators can monitor the system and keep the software updated with minimal effort. The system can scale at a moment’s notice and correct many failures autonomously.

In short, ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes helps you handle chaos with confidence! Watch the demonstration below, best viewed in full-screen format.

While a Kubernetes architecture is different from Windows or Linux, users have a familiar experience publishing and consuming services as they deliver maps and apps, analyze data, and collaborate with colleagues.

If you are wondering if the software can address challenges your team is facing, read ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes: Is it for me? and talk with your Esri representative. A great way to get familiar with the software is through our Esri Academy class Deploying ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes. You will receive two days of instructor-led training, working in a Kubernetes environment provided by Esri.

Highlights: What’s new

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Windows, Linux, and Kubernetes includes many improvements and new functionality. These are covered in What’s New in ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3. Below we will cover a few things unique to the Kubernetes deployment option. They are explained further in the product documentation. See What’s new in this release and Release notes. You can also check out architectural system patterns for ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes.

Server object interceptors

The 11.2 release added support for Java-based server object extensions (SOEs) for map services. New with 11.3, we also support server object interceptors (SOIs) for map services. SOIs let you run custom logic and alter the behavior of services in a seamless way that does not disrupt your users. For example, you might want to adding logging and notification for incoming requests, allow specific editing abilities for users, or filter information before it is returned. Read more about SOIs or watch this video from the 2024 Esri Developer Summit.

You can manage these extensions from within ArcGIS Enterprise Manager. You can also change the sequence by which custom logic is applied by SOIs.

Resizing persistent volume storage

System managed data stores can fill up quickly with your organization’s content or logs, and a large number of hosted feature services also requires plenty of storage. Until now, increasing system managed storage could have disrupted operations or even required a redeployment.

Good news! With the 11.3 release, you can quickly resize your object, relational, spatiotemporal, and index stores that are deployed on the cloud. ArcGIS Enterprise Manager makes resizing easier, and advanced configuration is available through the Administrator API. Set the new size that you have provisioned for storage, and then watch the system apply those changes for you. Easy!

Layer 7 Proxy Integration

Application (layer 7) load balancers act as a proxy to route traffic to applications such as those running on HTTP and HTTPS protocols. There are multiple reasons to use a proxy such as improving security and simplifying configuration. We have enhanced our deployment script and process to make it easier to integrate with cluster-level ingress controllers and use a proxy to route traffic to your ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes deployment. If you want to use a cluster-level ingress controller for incoming traffic, you can use one of the YAML templates provided by Esri to make it easier to configure this during deployment.

We’ve also added custom annotations that let you customize layer 4 load balancers when using the internal-cluster NGINX ingress controller service. New parameters in our deployment properties file help you do this as a ‘silent’ automated install.

Issues addressed

As always, each release also includes fixes and administrative improvements. See the release notes.

Upgrading to 11.3 on Kubernetes

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.2 on Kubernetes is now in mature support. 11.2 is still eligible for technical and online support, but it no longer receives updates or patches. ArcGIS Enterprise 11.1 and earlier on Kubernetes are retired, and no longer eligible for support. See the Esri Product Lifecycle Support Policy for more information.

Upgrading to 11.3 is available to customers with an active subscription for ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes. You decide when to upgrade, but we recommend moving to 11.3 as soon as possible to gain the latest improvements, and to stay current with updates and patches. Review the product lifecycle for details.

Kubernetes v1.29

Esri supports ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 running on Kubernetes v1.29, v1.28, and v1.27. Esri does not support ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 running on Kubernetes v1.26 and earlier.

If you are using ArcGIS Enterprise 11.2 on Kubernetes and you want to delay upgrading to 11.3, a patch is available that will add support for Kubernetes v1.29 to your deployment.

Steps to upgrade to 11.3

If you are running ArcGIS Enterprise 11.2 on Kubernetes, here’s how to upgrade to 11.3. The upgrade experience is simple and mostly automated, thanks to the nature of containerized software. However, some preparatory work is still required. Read Upgrade and update requirements, and then:

1. From My Esri, download the license file for the 11.3 release on Kubernetes.
2. Take a backup of your deployment.
3. From ArcGIS Enterprise Manager, apply the 11.3 upgrade. As part of the upgrade process, you will be asked for the 11.3 license file.

If you have any questions or issues, contact Esri Technical Support.

Capabilities available

Below is a summary of commonly used functionality that is supported with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 on Kubernetes. For more details, be sure to review the product documentation and the latest release’s product highlights.

Supported Kubernetes environments

ArcGIS Enterprise 11.3 supports Kubernetes v1.27 through v1.29. ArcGIS Enterprise 11.2 can be patched to support v1.29. Remember to check system requirements and to upgrade ArcGIS Enterprise first, before upgrading your Kubernetes cluster.

• Amazon AWS Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS)
• Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Google Cloud Kubernetes Engine (GKE)
• Rancher (RKE & RKE2)
• Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform (RHOS-CP)
• Red Hat OpenShift running as a managed service within AWS (ROSA) or Azure (ARO)

If you use ArcGIS Enterprise and you manage distributed applications on Kubernetes, but you don’t see your environment listed above, notify your Esri representative.

Deployment and upgrading

• Deploy an ArcGIS Enterprise organization in interactive or silent modes
• Configure an ArcGIS Enterprise organization using a setup wizard or script
• Use the ArcGIS Enterprise Manager application, unique to the Kubernetes deployment, to monitor, tune, manage, and upgrade or update the organization
• Support for fully disconnected environments
• Deploy ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes from your organization’s container registry
• Choose from several architecture profiles to optimize resources for high availability
• Support multiple deployments within the same Kubernetes cluster

Administration

• Configure node affinity to optimize for specialized hardware or increase resilience
• Create health check reports to help you manage the system
• Integrate with application load balancers and configure layer 7 routing services during deployment
• Add custom annotations to in-cluster ingress controller service to customize layer 4 load balancers on cloud platforms
• Monitor and search logs
• Monitor system and utility service pod status
• Scale service and system deployments using ArcGIS Enterprise Manager or Administrator API
• Create and administer organization webhooks, and subscribe to service webhooks for geoprocessing and feature services
• Obtain service usage statistics for integration into your metrics visualization tool, e.g. Grafana
• Backup and restore the ArcGIS Enterprise organization using ArcGIS Enterprise Manager or Administrator API
• Recover access to the organization when administrative credentials are no longer available

Security

• Configure SAML and OpenID Connect
• Configure LDAP and Windows Active Directory
• Configure enterprise groups and users
• Configure web-tier authentication including IWA and PKI with ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes Web Adaptor
• Enable 256-bit AES for passwords

Data management

• Check available storage, memory, and health of system-managed data stores
• Increase volume size of object stores, relational stores, and spatiotemporal & index stores
• Configure cloud-native services for system managed object stores such as Amazon S3, Azure Blob, or Google Cloud Store
• Support for Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, and Snowflake cloud data warehouses
• Register SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and SAP HANA as databases
• Register your own data sources including folders and enterprise geodatabases
• Add network file shares as folder data stores
• Support for bulk publishing with an enterprise geodatabase
• Support for distributed collaboration including two-way editing

Creating and sharing content (additional licensing may be required)

• Perform distributed raster analytics processing for deep learning
• Create and manage floor plan data, maps and services with ArcGIS Indoors
• Extend services with SOIs and SOEs developed with Java, for map services
• Publish map, feature, and geocode services
• Publish map, tile, and scene tile packages
• Publish hosted feature layers
• Conduct spatial analysis
• Publish and consume services from ArcGIS Pro
  • Not supported: importing & exporting map server cache workflows from Pro
• Configure and share routing services
• Publish location services and share location
• Use web tools to share analysis across the organization
• Publish image data sets as an imagery layer, running as a containerized service
• Support for ArcGIS Utility Network user type extension (through federation)
• Support for ArcGIS Parcel Fabric user type extension (through federation)
• Support for ArcGIS Trace Network user type extension

ArcGIS Parcel Fabric and ArcGIS Utility Network are available through an ArcGIS GIS Server hosted on Windows or Linux.

Not supported at 11.3:
– Support for ArcGIS Knowledge user type extension
– Publish scene services with associated feature layers
– Import and export map server cache workflows from ArcGIS Pro

Server federation capabilities

• Federate an ArcGIS Workflow Manager Server
• Federate a standalone ArcGIS GIS Server
• Federate a standalone ArcGIS Image Server
• ArcGIS Workflow Manager is available through an ArcGIS GIS Server hosted on Windows or Linux.

Server federation is not  supported at 11.3 for:

• Federate an ArcGIS Notebook Server (coming soon!)
• Federate an ArcGIS GeoAnalytics Server
• Federate an ArcGIS GeoEvent Server
• Federate an ArcGIS Knowledge Server

Applications and extensions

• ArcGIS AppStudio
• ArcGIS Collector
• ArcGIS Companion
• ArcGIS CityEngine
• ArcGIS Dashboards
• ArcGIS Drone2Map
• ArcGIS Earth
• ArcGIS Experience Builder
• ArcGIS Explorer
• ArcGIS Field Maps
• ArcGIS Indoors and Space Planner
• ArcGIS Instant Apps
• ArcGIS for Office and ArcGIS for SharePoint
• ArcGIS Maps for Power BI
• ArcGIS Navigator
• ArcGIS Pro
• ArcGIS QuickCapture
• ArcGIS Survey123
• ArcGIS Workforce
• Map Viewer
• Scene Viewer

Not supported at 11.3:
– ArcGIS Business Analyst Enterprise
– ArcGIS Data Interoperability Extension
– ArcGIS Excalibur
– ArcGIS Insights
– ArcGIS Mission
– ArcGIS Video Server

Take action

Now available is our highly-rated class Deploying ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes, giving you valuable experience with installing, configuring, and managing ArcGIS Enterprise on a Kubernetes environment.

If you have experience with ArcGIS Enterprise and with managing distributed applications on Kubernetes, talk with your Esri representative about the possibility of a software evaluation.

Customers tell us that ArcGIS Enterprise on Kubernetes eases and accelerates deployments, upgrades, tuning and scaling services, and does it all with built-in high availability. If you have a modern cloud strategy and you need the benefits of a cloud-native architecture, come talk to us! Thanks for reading.