What are the necessary procedures and common questions for complete ArcGIS Pro licensing using ArcGIS Enterprise portal?

Answer

There are multiple options to license ArcGIS Pro, and one of them is using ArcGIS Enterprise as described in the following documentation, Portal for ArcGIS: Configure ArcGIS Pro licenses. Setting up ArcGIS Enterprise licensing on ArcGIS Pro requires the following components:

• An ArcGIS License Manager version compatible to ArcGIS Pro. Refer to License Manager Guide: License manager installation and startup for installation, and License Manager Guide: Supported software products for compatibility check.
• A JSON license file with the required information.
• Firewall exceptions to allow communication for ArcGIS License Manager and the client machine. For more information, refer to License Manager Guide: Configure ArcGIS License Manager to work through a firewall.

Prepare and upload the JSON license to ArcGIS License Manager

1. Identify the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), port, and the media access control (MAC) address of ArcGIS License Manager from the Portal for ArcGIS machine. Refer to License Manager Guide: Creating a license file in My Esri for Enterprise portal 10.7 and later for instructions.
2. Create the JSON license file from My Esri. Refer to ArcGIS Enterprise: Obtain a portal license file for instructions.
3. Import the JSON license file to Portal for ArcGIS home page. Refer to Portal for ArcGIS: Import licenses for instructions.
4. Upload the JSON license file to ArcGIS License Manager. Refer to License Manager Guide: Authorizing the named user authorization file in the License Manager for use with Enterprise portal 10.7 and later for instructions.
5. Connect to the licensing portal in ArcGIS Pro. Refer to Portal for ArcGIS: Connect to the licensing portal in ArcGIS Pro for instructions.

Common questions involving ArcGIS Pro with portal licensing

Why is the site accessible on the client machine, but fails to connect when launching ArcGIS Pro using the same credentials?

Accessing Portal for ArcGIS site requires communication only with ArcGIS Web Adaptor, while logging in to ArcGIS Pro using portal credentials require communication from both ArcGIS Web Adaptor and ArcGIS License Manager described in Step 4 of the 'Prepare and upload the JSON license to ArcGIS License Manager' workflow above. ArcGIS License Manager is a major component for portal licensing to work in ArcGIS Pro.

What hostname must be used for portal license file creation?

Use the FQDN of the server machine with ArcGIS License Manager installed, as described in Step 1 of the 'Prepare and upload the JSON license to ArcGIS License Manager' workflow above.

Why is it necessary to install ArcGIS License Manager and authorize the JSON file on it when the same JSON file is imported on the Portal for ArcGIS site?

Portal for ArcGIS manages and provides Named User licenses through the Portal for ArcGIS home page. When launching ArcGIS Pro, it communicates with the site to obtain licensing information for members of the organization. Once the account is validated, ArcGIS Pro communicates with ArcGIS License Manager to pull the licenses. If there are no license assigned, the Your account is not licensed for ArcGIS Pro error is returned. In comparison to ArcGIS Online organization account licensing, the method works differently since ArcGIS Online organization licensing is managed by Esri, while Enterprise licensing is managed by the client’s environment through license agreement and installation of multiple components. For more information on the difference in licensing for Enterprise and ArcGIS Online organizations, refer to Named User licensing in ArcGIS Enterprise.

Is it necessary to recreate the license file when changing ArcGIS License Manager to a different machine, or is it sufficient to change the hostname on the Portal Administrator Directory?

The license file must be recreated or edited again. The machine ID is locked to the file used during the initial setup. Attempting to upload the same license file into the new server machine returns the following error:

Error:
The MAC address in the named user license file is not correct for this machine.

For steps to edit a license file, refer to How To: Edit License Files in My Esri for Portal for ArcGIS 10.7 and later versions.

Is it possible to set the VENDOR port?

Yes, it is possible to set the VENDOR port.

ArcGIS License Manager utilises two major TCP ports, the lmgrd daemon (SERVER) port and the ARCGIS daemon (VENDOR) port. The lmgrd daemon port is static and defaults to TCP 27000, and can be edited to be within the 27000 to 27009 range. The ARCGIS daemon port is dynamic, and can listen to any available TCP port on the machine.

Esri recommends having static ports set up in ArcGIS License Manager. To do so, lock the VENDOR port by editing the Service.txt file. By default, this file is located in the following location:

C:\Program Files\ArcGIS\License Manager\Bin

For more information on ArcGIS License Manager ports, refer to License Manager Guide: Configure ArcGIS License Manager to work through a firewall.

Why is the quantity of license different in ArcGIS License Manager (Total 400/1,200 and Available 1,200) compared to the Portal for ArcGIS Home page?

Each Named User license type (ArcGIS Pro or Drone2Map) is capable of simultaneous sessions of up to three machines. This is the advantage of using the Named User license type in online mode. Once taken offline, the session reverts to one. This includes both GIS Professional and ArcGIS Pro add-on licenses.

For example, if there are 200 GIS Professional Advanced user types and an additional 200 ArcGIS Pro Advanced Add-On licenses, the total available license quantity displayed in ArcGIS License Manager is 400 licenses with 1200 simultaneous sessions.

1 Named User (Total) = 3 Simultaneous Session (Available) as shown in the following image.