Is the object store required for ArcGIS Enterprise?

Yes. Beginning with ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4 (on Windows and Linux), the object store is a required component of a base ArcGIS Enterprise deployment. It can be configured using the ArcGIS Data Store or, for cloud deployments in the AWS or Azure cloud, through Amazon S3 or Azure Blob Storage.

The object store plays a critical role in supporting hosted web layers and other system functions by storing associated data such as hosted scene layer caches, hosted 3D tile layers, and cached query responses for hosted feature layers, and more. Without it, organizations cannot take full advantage of the capabilities ArcGIS Enterprise is designed to deliver, leading to functional limitations, unexpected behavior, and the potential for a diminished user experience.

For this reason, organization administrators must configure an object store with their hosting server after upgrading to ArcGIS Enterprise 11.4 or later.