DCHC MPO Moves Data and Applications to Microsoft Azure

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CLIENT: Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO)
LOCATION: Durham, North Carolina

Durham Cloud Migration dashboard over a computer chip image.
“Moving our eTIP application and GIS database to a cloud environment with Microsoft Azure didn’t only give us a better server structure. It gave us increased security and a renewed confidence in our disaster recovery. We are now able to be more proactive, than reactive in our efforts to manage and protect our data.”
— Casey Chae, client manager at DCHC MPO

CHALLENGE

In February of 2020, the city of Durham suffered a cyber-attack. This cyber-attack caused them to lose access to all their servers. The new eTIP application created for Durham-Chapel Hill-Carrboro Metropolitan Planning Organization (DCHC MPO) was housed in the city's servers. It became clear to DCHC MPO that they could not allow this to happen again. They began discussions around moving the application and all their geographic information systems (GIS) data to a cloud environment.

SOLUTION

GeoDecisions was already working with DCHC MPO to develop its eTIP application. Because of its extensive experience with cloud migration, the GeoDecisions team was able to provide immediate guidance to the DCHCMPO on best practices and next steps.

The team jumped into action to move both DCHC MPO's GIS databases and their eTIP application to Microsoft Azure, a cloud computing service created by Microsoft. Our firm rebuilt the server infrastructure, provide ongoing support, and maintain the DCHC MPO's server in Azure. This move to Azure provides DCHCMPO with greater security over their data and their applications.

To move to Azure, the team needed to identify what data would move, how much RAM and bandwidth would be needed, and whether it should be a single or multi-server situation. During this assessment, one challenge was moving almost 400 feature services and keeping the RAM costs within budget. They decided to publish existing feature services using ArcGIS Pro, which can reduce RAM consumption by taking advantage of shared instances. Shared instances pool CPU resources for lightly used feature services minimizing RAM consumption and maintaining high availability of the service. By choosing ArcGIS Pro, the team was able to reduce the RAM consumption needs by at least 60%. When the GeoDecisions team republished all the feature services, it also put DCHC MPO's ArcGIS Online functionality back on track.

The Azure environment provides a portal view, allowing the owners to visualize the system health and costs. The configurable dashboards allow for more proactive monitoring of critical metrics and costs. Also, alarms are set to enable immediate notice of and response to issues.

KEY TECHNOLOGY

  • Microsoft Azure

  • Esri ArcGIS Server

  • Esri ArcGIS Pro

  • Esri ArcGIS Online

KEY RESULTS

  • The move of 400 feature services to Esri's ArcGIS Pro reduced the memory footprint and saved RAM consumption needs by at least 60%.

  • With GIS data and the eTIP application in Azure, DCHC MPO has greater security and flexibility with this information.