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FME Server deployment scenario with ArcGIS

g_karssenberg
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Hi all,

We would like to deploy FME Server and be able to read/write File Geodatabase and ArcSDE (ArcGIS Desktop 10.4) and Oracle spatial/non-spatial (Oracle 11). Both are currently 32 bit applications.

 

I am not sure about FME Server 32 or 64 bit and compatibility with the formats we want to use.

I did some research and came up with two deployment scenarios (single machine install):

Scenario 1 - mainly 64 bit

Scenario 2 - mainly 32 bit

With FME Desktop, I am used to only being able to use 32 bit FME Desktop if Oracle is also 32 bit. Is this not the case for FME Server? Documentation appears to be stating that both client types will work with 32 bit Oracle.

About ArcGIS, documentation is stating that an install of ArcGIS Enterprise is needed in the same machine to be able to use Esri formats. Is this really needed? It appears to be rather costly to have a complete ArcGIS Enterprise installation only to use the formats.

Does anyone have some ideas about this? Bottom line is that we want to be able to perform the actions mentioned on the top of the post. If another scenario is better suited, I would be glad to hear suggestions. Thanks!

15 replies

giosp
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  • giospContributor
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  • October 8, 2018

We have the same scenario as the number 2 because we use fileGDB and we have to use all the software at 32bit (oracle drivers, esri, safe).

mmccart
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  • mmccartContributor
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  • October 8, 2018

Warning: In Esri 10.6.1, FME Server was not able to check out an Esri license when we installed ArcServer 10.6.1 on the FME Server machine. In previous versions (i.e. 10.5.x and previous) that worked fine. A solution we found was to install ArcMap Desktop on the FME Server and set up a stand-alone license thru MyEsri (i.e. provisioning file downloaded and installed on FME Server). This solved our 10.6.1 Check-Out-License issue. We have unlimited Esri Desktop licenses so this isn't an issue for us. For smaller organizations, you may not be able to dedicate a license full-time to your FME Server.

Additionally, we're all 64-bit including Oracle, and FME Server. Since ArcDesktop is not 64-bit, we had to install Esri's 64-Bit Background Geoprocessing patch and that solved that issue. The same goes true for all of our FME Workbench installs. To keep everyone on 64-bit, we just installed the 64-bit Background Geoprocessing patch on each desktop that has FME Workbench. Problem solved.

david_r
Evangelist
  • david_rEvangelist
  • October 8, 2018

You have assembled a lot of very good links in your post, but I suspect you're missing the most important one:

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/1517/notes-on-fme-and-esri-versions-and-compatibility.html

Everything you need to know about dependencies between FME and ArcGIS should be described there, in particular what's needed for 64-bit compatibility.

For this page you can assume that "FME" refers to both FME Desktop and FME Server, unless otherwise noted.

g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 8, 2018
david_r wrote:

You have assembled a lot of very good links in your post, but I suspect you're missing the most important one:

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/1517/notes-on-fme-and-esri-versions-and-compatibility.html

Everything you need to know about dependencies between FME and ArcGIS should be described there, in particular what's needed for 64-bit compatibility.

For this page you can assume that "FME" refers to both FME Desktop and FME Server, unless otherwise noted.

Yes, this is indeed a very good post. I have been using this a lot with Desktop' installations. However, my assumption was that this is only applicable to FME Desktop.

 

On top of the article it says: 'Article created with FME Desktop'. Also under Requirements, it says: 'If you are using FME Server, please see Using FME Server with Esri Software.' This is confusing and suggests that the information is only applicable to FME Desktop.

 

Are you absolutely sure that this article also applies to Server?
g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 8, 2018
mmccart wrote:

Warning: In Esri 10.6.1, FME Server was not able to check out an Esri license when we installed ArcServer 10.6.1 on the FME Server machine. In previous versions (i.e. 10.5.x and previous) that worked fine. A solution we found was to install ArcMap Desktop on the FME Server and set up a stand-alone license thru MyEsri (i.e. provisioning file downloaded and installed on FME Server). This solved our 10.6.1 Check-Out-License issue. We have unlimited Esri Desktop licenses so this isn't an issue for us. For smaller organizations, you may not be able to dedicate a license full-time to your FME Server.

Additionally, we're all 64-bit including Oracle, and FME Server. Since ArcDesktop is not 64-bit, we had to install Esri's 64-Bit Background Geoprocessing patch and that solved that issue. The same goes true for all of our FME Workbench installs. To keep everyone on 64-bit, we just installed the 64-bit Background Geoprocessing patch on each desktop that has FME Workbench. Problem solved.

Thanks for the reply. I think going all the way with 64 bit, including background processing will cause problems because our whole ArcGIS landscape (application, database, etc.) is still 32 bit. Is this a valid assumption?

 

However, good to know that installing at least ArcGIS Desktop 32 bit should do the trick somehow.

 

 

david_r
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  • david_rEvangelist
  • October 8, 2018
g_karssenberg wrote:
Yes, this is indeed a very good post. I have been using this a lot with Desktop' installations. However, my assumption was that this is only applicable to FME Desktop.

 

On top of the article it says: 'Article created with FME Desktop'. Also under Requirements, it says: 'If you are using FME Server, please see Using FME Server with Esri Software.' This is confusing and suggests that the information is only applicable to FME Desktop.

 

Are you absolutely sure that this article also applies to Server?
The article could probably use a revision on how the terms are used...

 

The most important thing to know is that FME Server and FME Desktop both share the exact same underlying "engine" technology, meaning that the actual software that executes the workspace is identical under both platforms. This is why the requirement for running a workspace under FME Desktop and FME Server is the same.
g_karssenberg
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  • October 8, 2018
giosp wrote:

We have the same scenario as the number 2 because we use fileGDB and we have to use all the software at 32bit (oracle drivers, esri, safe).

Okay, good to know. And are you also using ArcSDE? Or only FGDB?

 

 

g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 8, 2018

Very nice to have this many swift responses. Thanks all!

I think that I only still miss some definitive answers concerning using 64 bit FME Server en 64 bit Oracle client with a 32 bit Oracle database. Any ideas about this?

david_r
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  • david_rEvangelist
  • October 8, 2018
g_karssenberg wrote:
Thanks for the reply. I think going all the way with 64 bit, including background processing will cause problems because our whole ArcGIS landscape (application, database, etc.) is still 32 bit. Is this a valid assumption?

 

However, good to know that installing at least ArcGIS Desktop 32 bit should do the trick somehow.

 

 

You cannot easily mix 32-bit and 64-bit on a single machine, but once the data quits your machine and goes over the network it's usually never an issue if the server and client doesn't have the exact same "bit-ness".
david_r
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  • david_rEvangelist
  • October 8, 2018
g_karssenberg wrote:

Very nice to have this many swift responses. Thanks all!

I think that I only still miss some definitive answers concerning using 64 bit FME Server en 64 bit Oracle client with a 32 bit Oracle database. Any ideas about this?

That shouldn't be any issue at all.
g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 8, 2018
david_r wrote:

You have assembled a lot of very good links in your post, but I suspect you're missing the most important one:

https://knowledge.safe.com/articles/1517/notes-on-fme-and-esri-versions-and-compatibility.html

Everything you need to know about dependencies between FME and ArcGIS should be described there, in particular what's needed for 64-bit compatibility.

For this page you can assume that "FME" refers to both FME Desktop and FME Server, unless otherwise noted.

Okay, in that context this article would be very extensive for the ArcGIS prerequisites. Thanks for the help. For the ArcGIS part, I think I have enough information. Still needs some answers for the Oracle part. Any ideas about that?

 

 

g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 8, 2018
mmccart wrote:

Warning: In Esri 10.6.1, FME Server was not able to check out an Esri license when we installed ArcServer 10.6.1 on the FME Server machine. In previous versions (i.e. 10.5.x and previous) that worked fine. A solution we found was to install ArcMap Desktop on the FME Server and set up a stand-alone license thru MyEsri (i.e. provisioning file downloaded and installed on FME Server). This solved our 10.6.1 Check-Out-License issue. We have unlimited Esri Desktop licenses so this isn't an issue for us. For smaller organizations, you may not be able to dedicate a license full-time to your FME Server.

Additionally, we're all 64-bit including Oracle, and FME Server. Since ArcDesktop is not 64-bit, we had to install Esri's 64-Bit Background Geoprocessing patch and that solved that issue. The same goes true for all of our FME Workbench installs. To keep everyone on 64-bit, we just installed the 64-bit Background Geoprocessing patch on each desktop that has FME Workbench. Problem solved.

Only for being able to connect to Oracle 32 bit, you must have FME Desktop 32 bit and Oracle 32 bit client. Here the division in 'bit-ness' is not the case. So somehow in some cases it does matter. Probably has to do with the Oracle client compatibility to FME and database.

 

 

david_r
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  • david_rEvangelist
  • October 9, 2018
g_karssenberg wrote:
Only for being able to connect to Oracle 32 bit, you must have FME Desktop 32 bit and Oracle 32 bit client. Here the division in 'bit-ness' is not the case. So somehow in some cases it does matter. Probably has to do with the Oracle client compatibility to FME and database.

 

 

I'm not quite sure I follow, but there should be no problem connecting to a 32-bit Oracle database instance using the 64-bit Oracle client drivers (and 64-bit FME).

 

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8813248/can-we-connect-a-32-bit-oracle-server-from-a-64-bit-client-and-vice-a-versa
giosp
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  • giospContributor
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  • October 9, 2018
g_karssenberg wrote:
Okay, good to know. And are you also using ArcSDE? Or only FGDB?

 

 

We use arcsde on oracle and arcsde on postgis. We use fileGBD with api or with arcobjects. So we have to use 32bit as specified in documentations... or I'm wrong?

 

 

g_karssenberg
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  • g_karssenbergContributor
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  • October 26, 2018

The setup has been installed as below on a single VM:

  • OS 64 bit Windows
  • FME Server application 64 bit
  • FME Server Engine 64 bit
  • Oracle Client 64 bit
  • ArcGIS Pro with level 2 Named User assigned to FME system user (AD in ArcGIS Online)

We chose for ArcGIS Pro because it seemed that could work too. Setup works fine with Oracle and Esri data. For now we use a Named User license, but this could change in the future. Eventually the most cost effective option has to be implemented.

Thanks for all the help!

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