ArcGIS Server CentOS Install Script

With the release of ArcGIS 10.3, now CentOS is officially supported as an operating system for ArcGIS for Server. This week I managed to successfully install and create a script for automating much of the process. Although admittedly a somewhat limited audience, if this sounds useful to you I uploaded the script along with instructions for use to a GitHub repository for you to be able to take advatage of.

This script is not outrageously complex. Mostly, it automates the steps outlined on the the help documentation for Installing ArcGIS Server Silently.

The real reason for creating this script is streamlining the process of setting up demonstration servers quickly. Hence, I made a few assumptions along the way. First, I create a user named ags with the password esri. When installing, the user files are installed in the default location, so they will be located in /home/ags/arcgis/. Also, since I do not have a domain controller, a requirement for ArcGIS Server, I use a little hack, adding the machine name to the hosts file referencing back to 127.0.0.1.

The only step I did not do is opening the required ports in the firewall. If you know how to add this to the script, please fork the script, add the lines and send me a pull request. I would love the help.

Hopefully this little utility is beneficial for a few of you out there. Like many things I do like this, although I rarely see the perfect application immediately, I am surprised how it becomes useful or relevant down the road.