FME Version
Introduction
The Azure Marketplace offers certified apps and services that users can quickly deploy to Azure. FME Server is available on the Azure Marketplace with two different offerings.
The FME Platform offers an express install of FME Server alongside FME Desktop of the same build.
The FME Server (Distributed Deployment) installs FME Server based on a Windows distributed FME Server install but with enhancements for Azure.
Marketplace offerings are Bring Your Own License (BYOL).
For an overview of the deployment, check out this blog post.
This article will walk through the deployment of FME Server (Distributed Deployment):
Deploying FME Server
Accessing FME Server
Licensing FME Server
Confirm your Deployment
Scaling FME Server
Deploying FME Server
To quickly deploy a distributed FME Server, perform the following steps.
Note: The Microsoft Azure Marketplace and Portal interface may change at any point. Although we make every effort to provide accurate instructions, they are subject to change.
Access the FME Server (Distributed Deployment) in the Azure Marketplace. Click on the ‘Get It Now’ button below the FME logo.
This will redirect you to the Azure Portal. Click ‘Create’.
You will now be presented with different configuration options for your deployment. Many of these options you will need to choose for yourself.
Options of note:
Number of Core/Engine machines
This will be the number of virtual machines within a scale set that you will launch. As the FME Server Core and Engines are Virtual Machine Scale Sets, you can scale these up or down post-deployment. For more information on scaling, see this blog article [link to blog].
Username/Password
This is the username and password to gain access to the Virtual Machines, not FME Server.
Core Virtual Machine size
The FME Server Core will not be processing jobs so this virtual machine can be sized smaller than an FME Server Engine virtual machine. For example, a B2s or B2ms should be sufficient. Depending on how busy your FME Server is (in terms of schedules and automations) you can review this. Virtual machines can be resized post-deployment.
Engine Virtual Machine size
This will entirely depend on the type of jobs that FME Server will be processing. We recommend 1 core per engine running on each system. Memory. For lightweight processing 4gb RAM would be a minimum recommendation. For most workflows 8gb+ would be suitable. Virtual machines can be resized post-deployment.
Storage Account
If you don’t accept the default Storage Account this should be set to Premium.
Once all of the parameters are set, your deployment will be validated. If it passes, you will be able to create your Distributed FME Server Deployment.
Before creating you have the option to save the deployment as an Azure Quickstart Template. This may be useful if you need to adapt the distributed deployment to use your own VM image in the template.
Accessing FME Server
You can access you FME Server deployment by navigating to the resource group your deployment is in and find the fmeserver-loadBalancer (not fmeserver-engineRegistration).
Copy the Public IP Address into a web browser and it should redirect you to http://<publicIP>/fmserver. Log in with the default username and password (admin/admin). You will be prompted to change the password immediately.
Licensing FME Server
If your FME Server is not yet licensed, on first log in you will immediately be prompted to activate FME Server. Select Yes, then ‘Request New License’.
Enter in your information. Leave the serial number blank to request an FME Server trial. If you already have a serial number be sure to enter it.
Leave automatic licensing selected and press ok.
Your FME Server should now be licensed.
Confirm your deployment
In the FME Server Web UI, under Licensing & Engines you can select Deployment Status. This will show the components available based on your deployment options.
Core hosts contain the Engine Manager and Job Router. Engine hosts contain either Standard or Dynamic Engines.
Ensure that the number of hosts matches what was configured during the deployment walkthrough/wizard.
A Distributed Deployment with 2 Core Virtual Machines and 2 Engine Virtual Machines
To confirm that FME Server is running correctly, run one of the Sample jobs provided.
Click Run Workspace. On the Run a Workspace page, specify:
Repository: Samples
Workspace: austinApartments.fmw
Service: Job Submitter
Click Run Workspace.
If you see a success message, your install was a success and you’re ready to use FME Server.
Scaling FME Server
As the Distributed Deployment makes use of Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets you may want to scale FME Server manually or set up rules to scale on a schedule or based on other conditions.
For more information on scaling see our blog on Safe.com or this article (coming soon).
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