When deploying an ArcGIS Server site, you must choose an optimal location to store your site's configuration store and server directories. When choosing a file storage device (NAS/SAN) for this purpose, immediate consistency and performance are essential characteristics to consider. Be sure to learn about server directories and the configuration store before you choose a file storage device.
Note:
The recommendations in this topic pertain to storage devices your organization will use for its ArcGIS Server configuration store and server directories. They aren't meant to apply to decisions regarding storage devices for other ArcGIS Enterprise components, such as databases and geodatabases.
Immediate consistency
Choose a storage device that enables files to be read immediately from any node in your site once an operation and corresponding write has completed. This disqualifies many types of distributed file systems, such as GFS and DFS.
NFS shares must be configured to ensure consistent reads and avoid using stale data caches.
Performance
Choose a storage device that performs well while incurring volumes of small, random input/output (I/O). Consider that read and write performance can greatly fluctuate depending on the characteristics of the I/O. This is an important distinction, as ArcGIS Enterprise operations (interactions with the configuration store, cached bundle tiles, and so on) follow this pattern.
Often this means that a device that has been optimized for large, sequential reads and writes (as often occurs with imagery and video) is unsuitable for use with ArcGIS Enterprise components.
If your implemented file storage mechanism does not handle small, random I/O well, you may experience significantly increased response times, or even failures, especially for administrative operations applied in your site.