In Retrospect: Lessons & Tips from a Large Federal Implementation

1. Esri ArcGIS Enterprise
In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips from a Large Enterprise Implementation

2. Agenda
• Solution Summary
• Challenges Faced
• In Retrospect: Lessons & Tips
• Q&A
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3. Solution Summary
• ArcGIS Portal, ArcGIS Servers (federated, cluster), ArcGIS Server
(unfederated, stand-alone), ArcGIS DataStore, StreetMap Premium
(Implemented: On-premise geocoding – ¼ billion addresses; Routing in
a disconnected environment)
• ArcGIS Online
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API Query “Find all Providers X miles from Y”
Foreground Data
From Backend Database
Background Map
From ArcGIS –
Internal & External
Web Application
Map Sandwich

4. Challenges Faced
• Esri –
’Installing ArcGIS here is like pushing a square block up
a right-angle hill’
• Unique security responsibilities of the federal government
around high-value PII/PHI-based data assets and
Expedited Life Cycle (XLC) processes
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5. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Data
• No PII/PHI could leave to arcgis.com, so a hybrid solution, but multi-VPN & multi-NICs i.e. different
networks for different groups
 ArcGIS is not designed for such fractured environments (BUG logged for mixing backdoor
[privatePortalURL] with frontdoor [WebContextURL]).
 So, discourage hybrid design of ArcGIS within multi-NIC and multi-VPN environment –
Consider Esri Data Appliance.
 Setup VIEWER role in ArcGIS for users with least privileges.
• Not Public-facing
 Use aerial imagery from the National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) or
OpenAerialMap to test internal basemaps.
Budget
• Hours
 Allow hours to move across contract option years.
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6. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Process
• Architecture Review (AR)
• Preliminary Design Review (PDR)
• Detail Design Review (DDR)
• User Acceptance Test (UAT)
• Operational Readiness Review (ORR)
 Consolidate Gate Reviews to keep up the project pace.
 Prefer Agile over Waterfall (XLC).
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Not Started In Progress Testing Accepted
Task 1 Task 2 Task 4 Task 5
Task 3
Kanban

7. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Prototyping
• HTTPS requirement – Needed to decrypt
• 3-zone architecture – Needed to negotiate SSL handshakes and establish trust to
route token authentication between daisy-chained servers
• No Web Adapter – Needed to proxy without
 We replicated the 3-zones in Amazon Web Services (AWS).
[AWS 1]  [AWS 2]  [AWS 3]
 So, use Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) for rapid piloting &
prototyping. Provide test box (with admin privileges) for
tool installation and prototype development.
Note, Minimum Viable Product (MVP) doesn't have to be
pixel-perfect.
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8. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Development
• No custom development – Needed to use ArcGIS Web AppBuilder (WAB)
 Use WAB for development, but don't oversell its ease (Ended up scripting for
caching).
Note, WAB can't run in a truly disconnected environment out-of-the-box.
• Teams
 Coordinate, but decouple frontend and backend release schedules,
esp. with “horizontally-sliced” projects.
• Testing
 Test one app at a time in initial User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
 Write clear test cases, and use screenshots/videos during testing
to better capture bugs or vulnerabilities.
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Backend
Frontend
Infrastructur
e
Teams
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Vertically
Sliced
Team 1
Team 2
Team 3
Horizontally
Sliced

9. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
ETL/ELT
• Extract, Transform, Load
 Prefer native ETL/ELT processes for less overhead.
Communication
• Triage
 Setup regular touch-point calls to coordinate with various teams for
transparent communication and timely escalation across appropriate
management chains.
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10. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Support
• Vendors – Esri, Red Hat, Teradata
• E.g. Teradata’s ODBC 14.10 Driver Bug
 We found it was issuing multiple queries to get multiple geometries
(a.k.a. Offline Fetching), instead of using one query to get multiple
geometries (or Inline Fetching) – Implemented option of local Cache or
Cube.
 So, increase visibility of fixes to tools or widgets, and pursue out-of-cycle
patches with vendors.
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11. In Retrospect:
Lessons & Tips
Tools
• Administration
 Use great tools.
Wireshark, Nmap, Nagios
Fiddler, Postman, LDAP Browser
New Relic, PuTTY, WinSCP
Browser Dev Tools, Katalon, GlassWire
TeamViewer, Cygwin
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12. Commercial
Off-the-Shelf
(COTS)
Tool
Custom
Tool
Conformance to schedule
is not the same as success
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13. @gisblog
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