{"id":3787,"date":"2014-11-24T07:34:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T15:34:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/?p=3787"},"modified":"2014-11-24T07:34:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T15:34:06","slug":"selecting-the-right-computing-architecture-for-your-gis","status":"publish","type":"insider","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/about\/newsroom\/insider\/selecting-the-right-computing-architecture-for-your-gis","title":{"rendered":"Selecting the Right Computing Architecture for Your GIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

From centralized to distributed operations, choosing the right architecture pattern for your GIS can improve user productivity and reduce operational costs.<\/em><\/strong>
\n[Note: This is latest post in our series about <\/em>Managing GIS<\/em><\/a>.] <\/em>
\nThere are benefits of centralized operations, and there are some reasons why distributed operations may be preferred by some organizations. We can find reasons why a distributed operation may work better than a centralized one. Distributed operations require more hardware, higher administration cost, higher implementation risk, more data access problems (to centralized data sources), and reduced security. Selecting the right architecture pattern to best meet your business needs can improve user productivity and reduce operational costs.
\n<\/strong>
\n
\nCentralized vs. Distributed GIS Operations<\/strong>
\nCentralized operations share a central geodatabase data source. Distributed architectures require replicated copies of business data at remote locations, establishing distributed processing nodes that must maintain consistency with the central database environment.
\n

\"\"
Many organizations are moving to centralized operations to reduce overall cost and simplify system administration. Distributed solution architecture is important as GIS expands to include a variety of federated operations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/em>A central database architecture provides one source for the production database environment, minimizing administrative management requirements and ensuring data integrity. GIS desktop applications on the central LAN have direct access to local GIS data sources. Remote user access to central data sources can be supported by central Terminal Server farms, providing low-bandwidth display and control of application environments maintained in the Data Center.
\nBenefits of a centralized architecture include reduced hardware cost, reduced administration cost, lower implementation risk, improved data access, improved security, and reduced wide-area network traffic .<\/p>\n

Best Practice: Centralized architecture generally supports the lowest-cost and lowest-risk operations. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Distributed architectures require replicated copies of business data at remote locations. Data consistency will require controlled procedures with appropriate commit logic to ensure that changes are replicated to the associated data servers. Distributed database environments will generally increase initial system cost (more hardware and database software requirements) and demand additional ongoing system administration and system maintenance requirements.
\nThe most common reasons for distributed architecture requirements are organizational precedence (regional system collaboration), management confidence (critical support requirements), physical security (protect confidential information), and infrastructure limitations (limited WAN connectivity).<\/p>\n

Best Practice: When designing a system, centralized operations architecture should be established as the baseline. Distributed operations will cost more to operate and manage, and a business case should be prepared and reviewed for each distributed organization to justify these additional costs.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n


\nEnterprise Architecture Deployment Strategies<\/strong>
\nGIS software and computer infrastructure technology continue to expand GIS deployment capabilities and introduce new business opportunities. New architecture patterns are emerging that reduce administration complexity, provide more adaptive deployment opportunities, and integrate user workflows throughout the organization and the user community. Distributed geodatabase replication technology integrates a variety of desktop, mobile, and server solutions into an adaptive geospatial communications environment connecting operations across the enterprise and throughout the community.
\nThe figure below shows a variety of architecture options available for enterprise GIS deployment.
\n

\"\"
A variety of system architecture strategies are used to manage enterprise GIS operations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nArcGIS Server mapping services can be deployed directly from the data center, or geodatabase replication services can be used to provide incremental updates to ArcGIS Server web services maintained within a private or public cloud hosting infrastructure. The Cloud computing infrastructure provides a new adaptive platform environment for managing high capacity map publishing services.
\nOrganizations are expanding operations<\/a> to incorporate mobile users as an integral part of their enterprise workflow. Improved availability and capacity of wireless technology support mobile communication connectivity for a growing number of GIS users.
\n<\/strong>
\n
\nFederated Architecture Deployment Strategies<\/strong>
\nDatabase and Web technology standards provide new opportunities to better manage and support user access to a rapidly growing volume of geospatial data resources. Web services and rich communication protocols support efficient data migration between distributed databases and storage locations. Web search engines and standard Web mapping services support integrated geospatial information products published from a common portal environment with data provided from a variety of distributed service locations. Federated architectures identified in the figure below provide better data management, integrating community and national GIS operations. Geodatabase replication services and managed extract, transform, and load (ETL) processes support loosely coupled distributed geodatabase environments.
\n
\"\"
Federated architecture patterns support community and global business requirements, providing layers of managed and published data sources at different levels of granularity.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMulti-layered data architecture patterns are becoming more common. Solutions include the standard desktop, server, and mobile patterns for each implementation level.<\/p>\n

Best Practice: Multiple database layers improve security and control level of data dissemination. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n


\nCommunity Deployment Strategies<\/strong>
\nArcGIS Online is building community relationships that change the way people work. ArcGIS provides a platform for collaboration, sharing, and community analysis that helps us better define and understand the world.
\n

\"\"
Cloud-based applications integrate and synthesize information from many sources, facilitating communication and collaboration, and are breaking down barriers between institutions, disciplines, and cultures.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTechnology is changing the way GIS is serving our communities in a number of different ways, including:<\/p>\n