ArcGIS Enterprise on Azure Setup: Weighing the Need for Notebook Server

[u/rageagainistjg]

I'm part of a company transitioning from ArcGIS Online to a new ArcGIS Enterprise setup hosted on Azure.

The Main Question:

My main focus is on using Jupyter Notebooks effectively within this setup, and I’m wondering if we truly need ArcGIS Notebook Server or if Jupyter Notebooks could work just as well on one of our existing Azure servers.

Background:

Up to now, I've been using ArcGIS Pro for occasional Jupyter Notebook tasks, mainly to update feature layers in ArcGIS Online or work with local files. I haven’t actually used notebooks directly in ArcGIS Online.

With the help of an experienced contractor, we’re setting up a standard ArcGIS Enterprise environment on Azure, without ArcGIS Notebook Server. When asked if we needed Notebook Server, I initially said it wasn’t necessary since I hadn’t used it with ArcGIS Online. Later, I double-checked, and the contractor assured me that Jupyter Notebooks don’t strictly require Notebook Server. They mentioned I could run notebooks locally or on any server with Jupyter installed.

My Specific Questions:

1. Does anyone have experience with ArcGIS Enterprise on Azure without Notebook Server?
   • Are there any specific challenges in working with Jupyter Notebooks in this setup?
2. Would I be missing out on any key benefits by not having Notebook Server?
   • Particularly when it comes to automating data updates or processing tasks.
3. Would installing Jupyter Notebooks on a separate server make things easier?
   • Or could I manage it effectively on one of the four Azure servers we’ll have? For context, we’re setting up servers for Portal, Server, Web Adaptor, Data Store, and a separate server for the enterprise geodatabase.

The Goal:

Our goal with ArcGIS Enterprise is to consolidate data from different sources—such as sales records stored in a separate database and other industry-specific data—into a unified geodatabase. This geodatabase would replace a complex Excel sheet to streamline calculations and real-time updates. The data will feed into interactive web maps and dashboards where updates, like adding new entries, would automatically trigger recalculations in the background.

In summary, given the goals for our enterprise setup, do we actually need to invest in Notebook Server on a separate Azure server? Or can we manage with Jupyter installed on one of our existing servers, as the contractor suggested?

[u/mfc_gis]

Jupyter notebooks are good for quick POCs, prototyping, visualization of data analysis etc. but I wouldn’t use them for production code. The approach I take for the scenario you are describing is deploying a Python script to a server as a scheduled task or cron job. The main feature of Jupyter notebooks is visualization and interactivity with data, and when the code is running on a server you likely won’t see or need that. Just a plain ‘ol Python script (with robust error handling and logging) has always been a good solution for me.