What’s new in ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0

ArcGIS Monitor collects metrics about the health, performance, and usage of your enterprise GIS to optimize your GIS and IT investments. It is designed to help administrators ensure their ArcGIS Enterprise deployments are operating efficiently by reducing and preventing system downtime. Monitor supports the observability pillar of ArcGIS Architecture Center.

ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 includes many important improvements to help administrators better manage their enterprise GIS deployments. Highlights of what’s new:

• Updated deployment architecture
• New detection feature of the ArcGIS Monitor Agent
• New Dataviews functionality
• New examples of analysis views
• New command line interface (CLI) for ArcGIS Monitor after installation

Updated deployment architecture

In previous releases of ArcGIS Monitor 2023.x, using the lightweight ArcGIS Monitor Agent (AM Agent) was optional. AM Agents were only required when monitoring components that were in a different network domain or environment than ArcGIS Monitor Server (AM Server). For example, if some enterprise GIS resources were on-premises and others were in a cloud environment, you would install AM Server on-premises and an AM Agent in the cloud. Based on user feedback and to improve connectivity between AM Server and registered components, starting in 2024.0, AM Agents must be installed on the host machine of most component types. Specifically, AM Agents must be installed on the following machines: hosts, enterprise portals, ArcGIS Server machines, and ArcGIS GeoEvent Server machines.

Figure 1: Deployment architecture comparison between ArcGIS Monitor 2023 and ArcGIS Monitor 2024.

The deployment architecture pattern for ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 has been updated because maintaining remote monitoring of components (particularly hosts) was challenging in some environments due to varying system security and IT policies. This new pattern helps ensure that connections to the AM server are consistent and reliable. Organizations currently using Monitor 2023.x can upgrade to Monitor 2024.0, but will need to deploy AM agents on some components. Learn more about the migration workflow here.

To help you manage AM agents, you can view a list of registered agents in the Monitor web app. Select the surveillance Tab > Agents Subtab. This displays a list of AM agents registered with the AM server and indicates how many components each agent is actively collecting measurement data for.

Figure 2: List of registered AM agents in ArcGIS Monitor 2024.

Selecting an AM agent from the list displays its overview page, which shows open alerts and a summary of the collected metrics from its registered components.

Figure 3: Display field for the properties of an AM agent.

Another benefit of this new deployment architecture is improved resiliency when monitoring a multi-machine ArcGIS Server site. Each GIS Server machine participating in the multi-machine ArcGIS Server site has its own AM agent. The first AM agent registered with the AM server becomes the primary agent, and the other AM agents can serve as backups. If the primary AM agent is disabled, other AM agents are available to continue collecting data for the site, ensuring consistent data collection of the multi-machine ArcGIS Server site.

Figure 4: Conceptual diagram of AM agent deployment in a multi-machine ArcGIS Server site.

One of the main reasons for the deployment architecture change in ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 is to better support monitoring ArcGIS Enterprise deployed in highly available (HA) configurations. Specifically, enterprise portals participating in an HA environment. Each enterprise portal participating in the HA deployment will have its own AM agent installed, allowing ArcGIS Monitor to better track and collect data from the HA architecture. In Figure 5, ArcGIS Monitor collects data from the AM agent (AMA 1) installed on the primary enterprise portal. When the HA deployment is transitioned to the secondary enterprise portal, the AM agent (AMA 2) installed on the secondary enterprise portal will continue to collect data.

Figure 5: Conceptual diagram of AM agent deployment for an Enterprise Portal HA configuration.

New detection feature of the ArcGIS Monitor Agent

In ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0, AM agents have the ability to discover Components running on their respective host machines. For example, if AM Agent is installed on a registered host that also has ArcGIS Server installed, the agent will discover and identify the installed ArcGIS Server site. The agent will automatically populate AM Server with some information about that component. To start collecting metrics on the ArcGIS Server site, all you need are the login credentials. The “discovered component” will appear on the surveillance Tab > Components Subtab > Detected components Subsection:

Figure 6: List of components detected by registered AM agents.

AM agents can discover enterprise portals, ArcGIS Server sites, ArcGIS GeoEvent Servers, databases, and geodatabases on registered hosts. Once they are on the Detected components In the subsection, administrators have the option to explicitly register them with the AM server so that it can start collecting measurement data.

New Dataviews functionality

This new feature helps configure analysis views (that is, reports) in ArcGIS Monitor. A data view enables data expressions configured for an item in one analysis view to be shared and reused with other analysis views. For example, you can define a data expression for a series chart in analysis view A and save it as data view A1. Next, when you configure a separate analysis view B, you can select data view A1 and quickly replicate the same series chart or modify it as needed. This can speed up the process of creating analysis views, especially if you want to configure a similar data visualization of a metric in another report. Data views can be used in all analysis views in Monitor.

The introduction of data views in ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 has changed the workflow for configuring a new item. When creating an analysis view, after selecting the item type, a new Select data view is displayed:

Figure 7: New Dataviews dialog in ArcGIS Monitor 2024.

On the left side, you will see a list of available data views. When you select one, you can see an example of a query result on the right side. Some example data views are: Warnings, Collection x WarningsAnd Components. By selecting the Print (preview) Tab on the right side of the dialog displays the data expression syntax. Monitor 2024.0 includes a collection of data views that represent common data expressions that administrators may find useful when configuring reports. An administrator can select one and quickly configure a new item with it, or he can use the Create data view Button – which allows you to define your own custom data expressions. Learn more about data views here.

New examples of analysis views

To help new ArcGIS Monitor users get started, two sample analysis views are installed with the Monitor version 2024.0. Example analysis: ArcGIS The Analysis view is used to display Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for ArcGIS Server and Enterprise portal components. Example analysis: Infrastructure The Analysis View contains KPIs for host computers participating in an Enterprise GIS deployment. Both Analysis Views can be customized, or administrators can duplicate and modify the copy of the Analysis View to meet their organization’s reporting needs.

Figure 8: Example analysis: ArcGIS And Example analysis: Infrastructure Analysis views.

New command line interface (CLI) for ArcGIS Monitor after installation

To improve the installation workflow of the updated ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 deployment architecture, the installation process has been changed. The post-installation steps have a new command line interface (CLI) user interface that gives administrators more options and the ability to script/automate installations. This is especially beneficial for installing multi-component AM agents. Learn more about the CLI Monitor post-installation workflow here.

This release includes many other improvements, such as: support for registering Amazon Relational Database Service (RDS) as a host component, the ability to compare metrics of the same component types, and a redesigned layout of the Administration For a complete list of updates, see the ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0 release notes.

To learn more and connect with us about ArcGIS Monitor 2024.0, please visit:

Sincerely,

The ArcGIS Monitor Team