Recently we have got an weird issue reported by our content authors on production. They mentioned the content are not reflected on website after they been publish or even re-publish.
First I wanted to check does the Publishing service doing all right and publishing contents correctly. Checked and it was working absolutely fine. I did switch to web database and validated recently published content. After some initial trouble shoot, discovered on CDs, the cache is not been clearing upon successful publish.
This leads my thought to suspect event queue table may have been flooded with lots of entry and may need a clean.
Did a eventqueue table cleaning as mentioned here and things did not went to normal. Still published changes were not reflecting on the website.
Now, I need to dive into detail to understand what is happening in eventqueue table.
The Properties table holds the last event execution time stamp against all the CDs.
To get that last run timestamp follow below steps:
go to your web app and open the Kudu advance tool.
Navigate to Environment page from menu in header
Get the Machine Name from System Info section
Open SSMS and connect to Database
Open new query window for the database which is configured as your Event Queue database( in our case we have configured dedicated one. By default it is web)
Run below query to get the last run time stamp for that CD instance
SELECT * FROM Properties where Key LIKE '%WEB_EQSTAMP_<<MACHINENAME>>%' ORDER BY Value DESC
Replace<<MACHINENAME>> in above query with machine name from step 3 above
Depending on how may instances your selected CD is running, it will show you that may rows (by default there will be two rows for each CD. one is for Production instance and another for pre-prod instance). The value column holds the Time stamp value of last run.
Now, that we have the last run time stamp for the CD, we can get the list of all pending events for this CD instance by running below query.
SELECT * FROM EventQueue WHERE Stamp >= CONVERT(VARBINARY, <<TIMESTAMP>>) ORDER BY Created DESC
Replace the <<TIMESTAMP>> with the value from previous query.
By combining all queries together, the final query will look like below
SELECT * FROM EventQueue WHERE Stamp >=
(
SELECT CONVERT(VARBINARY, Value) from [Properties] where [Key] = 'WEB_EQSTAMP_<<MACHINENAME>>'
)
ORDER BY [Created] DESC
After all this investigation, it is clear that CD servers are not triggering remote events registered in dedicated event queue table.
Did little more investigation and found out wrong event queue configuration files has been deployed to CDs accidentally and that was causing this behavior. We placed the correct config files for dedicated event queue and the peace has been established on CD role again.
While you have a high functional developers team working on multiple Sitecore projects with same code base, it is very vital to keep the local development environment as stable and functional as possible and also keep PR short.
While achieving that stage, we came across one small issue which is intern made me to write a blog in my journal what you are reading now.
The Issue
While reviewing PRs, we observed, there is one Unicorn’s .yml file come as default to quite a few PRs. The change it has got was just few fields updated.
After quick initial investigation, found out that yml file is nothing but one of the Data Exchange Framework(DEF) batch processing item in Sitecore content tree under system node.
After bit more investigation, it turns out the sitecore’s schedule task is triggering that DEF batch process. But that raise another question, why that schduler task item is not coming as changed item list as it is also source controled using Unicorn.
The Resolution
Lets focus on the second question for now, as it has quite a quick and simple answer.
The \App_Config\Include\Unicorn\Unicorn.config has one section called <fieldFilter> which takes care of it. As few frequently value changing fields has already been excluded from being serialized (smart stuff Unicorn Developers).
That section is looking like below
<fieldFilter type="Rainbow.Filtering.ConfigurationFieldFilter, Rainbow" singleInstance="true">
<exclude fieldID="{B1E16562-F3F9-4DDD-84CA-6E099950ECC0}" note="'Last run' field on Schedule template (used to register tasks)" />
<exclude fieldID="{52807595-0F8F-4B20-8D2A-CB71D28C6103}" note="'__Owner' field on Standard Template" />
<exclude fieldID="{8CDC337E-A112-42FB-BBB4-4143751E123F}" note="'__Revision' field on Standard Template" />
<exclude fieldID="{D9CF14B1-FA16-4BA6-9288-E8A174D4D522}" note="'__Updated' field on Standard Template" />
<exclude fieldID="{BADD9CF9-53E0-4D0C-BCC0-2D784C282F6A}" note="'__Updated by' field on Standard Template" />
<exclude fieldID="{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}" note="'__Lock' field on Standard Template" />
</fieldFilter>
So now, for my initial issue to fix , I simply have to add a field I wanted to exclude form being serializedin to this fieldFilter section.
So, I created new patch configuration file (as best practice suggests) an try to patch my new exclude fields under the node <fieldFilter>. At first, I did add the config like following
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:role="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/role/" xmlns:environment="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/environment/">
<sitecore role:require="Standalone or ContentManagement">
<unicorn>
<defaults>
<!--
The field filter can be used to ignore fields when comparing or serializing (i.e. don't write them to disk).
Commonly, metadata fields such as Last Updated will be ignored to prevent SCM conflicts.
-->
<fieldFilter>
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{985BA535-0F3E-4DA8-A768-A469026DE9DB}" note="'RequestedAt' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{6A2B2CBB-4338-4814-A8A9-9FECBB90456A}" note="'LastRunFinished' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{2AA5C591-FF55-411D-96C0-978BB2C58B94}" note="'Log' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
</fieldFilter>
</defaults>
</unicorn>
</sitecore>
</configuration>
But this has weird patching when I see showconfig.appx. It actually replaces first three entries form the original xml…!!!???
I did ask God(google) and found that sitecore sometime does not patch correctly if proper attributes are not used. Someone suggest to use hint attribute to control the patching.
I did replace my patching config attribute note with the hint and eureka….!!!
This is the final configuration patch file looks like.
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:role="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/role/" xmlns:environment="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/environment/">
<sitecore role:require="Standalone or ContentManagement">
<unicorn>
<defaults>
<!--
The field filter can be used to ignore fields when comparing or serializing (i.e. don't write them to disk).
Commonly, metadata fields such as Last Updated will be ignored to prevent SCM conflicts.
-->
<fieldFilter>
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{985BA535-0F3E-4DA8-A768-A469026DE9DB}" hint="'RequestedAt' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{6A2B2CBB-4338-4814-A8A9-9FECBB90456A}" hint="'LastRunFinished' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
<exclude patch:after="exclude[@fieldID='{001DD393-96C5-490B-924A-B0F25CD9EFD8}']" fieldID="{2AA5C591-FF55-411D-96C0-978BB2C58B94}" hint="'Log' field of DEF's Pipeline Batch item" />
</fieldFilter>
</defaults>
</unicorn>
</sitecore>
</configuration>
After this, Unicorn re-serialized the DEF pipeline batch items and happy days….!!!!
Note:
There is new feature “fieldTransforms” available in Unicorn 4.1 and later version but I have not able to get that working on my project setup. But, something worth exploring for next time.
While working on the integrating Sitecore’s CM’s functionality with third party Digital Asset Management(DAM) system, I came across one interesting issue where I wanted my container applications to run on https.
The Issue
After integrating the third party DAM with Sitecore CMS, it found out that, while using local website on developer machine, the developer is not able to load the SSO login page. While loading that page below error messages logged in browser’s console.
Access to the WebCrypto API is restricted to secure origins. Compact View requires HTTPS when used outside localhost (for development).
As clearly stated I am not using localhost as host to access my cm and seems like CM needs to be securely severed over https where as we, for local development, use non secure protocol http.
The Fix
The solution is simple looking form 35,000 feet. Needs CM urls to be serving content over the secure HTTPS protocol. But when actually started digging in details, it is fun and very learning experience.
Performed following steps to achieve this on our local docker development environment.
Open the startup/createcert.ps1 for editing and change following parameter’s default value
$certificatepassword – from b to more secured passowrd string
$dnsNameList – by default the value is *.dev.local. Change this value to match your host pattern. You can specify individual host comma(,) separated.
Note
Alternatively, you can can pass those two as parameter while firing createcert.ps1 command.
3. Open docker-compose.yml file and navigate to cm service and perform following changes:
Add new environment parameter HOST_HEADER and set cm host value to it. If you have multiple host(this is what in my case), specify them semicolon(;) separated list. For example host1.dev.local;host2.dev.local
Under the volumes bind the new volume for folder startup to c:\startup path of container.
Under the port bind the https’s default secure port 443 with the next available container port
Note
The container host port needs to be new port which is not been use by any other services.
Lastly, change the entypoint to the path of startup.ps1 file under the startup folder bound under the volumes in above step for startup folder.
After all above changes to CM service of docker-compose.yml file will look something like below
4. Copy folder startup and it’s content to same folder where your docker-compose.yml file is.
5. Open the powershell in elevated mode and execute following command
PS> cd <<docker-compose.yml file's folder path>>
PS> ./startup/createcert.ps1
Above powershell script will generate three files cert.cer, cert.pfx and cert.password.text under the startup folder.
This command will also generate the self-signed wildcard certificate and install to your system’s local certificate store under personal.
To verify that run mmc and open local computer certificate store.
Self signed wildcard certificate for *.dev.local
6. Now, is the time to fire up the container for sitecore. To do so run following docker compose command
PS> docker-compose up -d
After successful execution the container services will be up and one can access the host binding with https. For example https://cm.dev.local in this case.
Advance trouble shooting
To check the certificate is exist after the createcert.ps1 script execution. This command can be run on both your local and against cm container as well.
The QA team, we are working with has raised a very interesting issue while testing newly created data report using Sitecore Poershell Extenstion(SPE).
The Issue
The data report was executing perfectly but while trying to export the data in any of pre-defined formats offered by SPE, it was not working.
The Sitecore Powershell is allowing export of report data in various industrial standard formats out of the box as listed below:
CSV
HTML
XML
Excel
JSON
These formats have option links in the ribbon above but when clicking, none of those producing any output.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The Investigation
First step is to try to reproduce the issue. We tried on all the available environments and it is happening on every environment except for the local environment.
I though the issue may have to do with some missing config or SPE. So, we quickly try to re-install the SPE module on CM with no over-write option for both files and content on Integration Environment. But that does not fix the issue. ☹
So, we started listing what are the major difference from modules and features point of view between local development and other environments on Azure. It turns out that all other environments have exactly the same piece of code, configurations and modules installed except for Federated Authentication using Sitecore Identity Server for CM.
The Fix
We did quick search over the internet and one of my colleague found out that there is one file which is disabled for SPE which needs to be enable if we are using sitecore 9.1 and higher(we are running 9.3) along with identity server.
The file needs to be enabled is Spe.IdentityServer.config file which is part of the SPE package.
Once package is installed, the file is located at path <<website Root>>\App_Config\Include\Spe\Spe.IdentityServer.config.disabled. The content of this disabled file is as below.
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/" xmlns:role="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/role/" xmlns:security="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/security/">
<sitecore role:require="Standalone or ContentManagement" security:require="Sitecore">
<pipelines>
<owin.cookieAuthentication.validateIdentity>
<processor type="Sitecore.Owin.Authentication.Pipelines.CookieAuthentication.ValidateIdentity.ValidateSiteNeutralPaths, Sitecore.Owin.Authentication">
<siteNeutralPaths hint="list">
<!-- This entry corrects the infinite loop of ExecuteCommand in the SPE Console -->
<path hint="spe">/sitecore%20modules/PowerShell</path>
</siteNeutralPaths>
</processor>
</owin.cookieAuthentication.validateIdentity>
</pipelines>
</sitecore>
</configuration>
Tip: The best way to get these config enable in Docker container world, is to leave the above mentioned .disabled file as is. Create new configuration file with above content in Visual Studio solution deploying to z folder under app_config\include on your binding volume path which will be taken care by Sitecore config patching.
While configuring Coveo search on my local development environment using Docker, something got my attention on Coveo’s diagnosis page(<<Sitecore CM Host>>/sitecore modules/Web/Coveo/Admin/CoveoDiagnosticPage.aspx).
This page has all the green ticks except for the one. This is Coveo Search REST Endpoint. See image below for more details.
Coveo Diagnostic Page REST API Error on Docker
As usually, I copied the API end point URL and hit in the Browser and it serve the request with no error. It is HTTP-200 response with valid JSON result.
The error in the log file also not giving any lead either.
Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications.BaseVerifier.VerifyComponent(:0) ERROR StateVerifier has encountered an error while verifying the component "Coveo Search REST Endpoint".<br>Exception: Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications.StateVerifierException<br>Message: Failed to obtain resource located at 'http://sicore930.dev.local/coveo/rest/'. See inner exception for details.<br>Source: Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications<br>at Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications.CommonStateVerifier.TryPingRestEndpoint(String p_Endpoint)<br>at Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications.CommonStateVerifier.<>c__DisplayClass11_0.b__0()<br>at Coveo.SearchProvider.Applications.BaseVerifier.VerifyComponent(Func`1 p_VerifyMethod, String p_ComponentName)
I opened docker powershell command for the cm container and tried to request the host from within container.
Now things are little clear to me. The Coveo diagnosis page is using current host to make REST API request from IIS server running on the container. The container does not have host file entry to reseolve the host url.
So now, I started searching how to make entry in container’s host file??? I was sure, I am not the first person who wanted this kind of stuff.
Following command has does the trick. but for that we need to first fire up the command prompt of the cm container.
While setting my local environment for development on Sitecore 9.3 using docker, I came across below issue.
Docker SQL Connection Issue
[Win32Exception (0x80004005): The network path was not found]
[SqlException (0x80131904): A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)]
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, UInt32 waitForMultipleObjectsTimeout, Boolean allowCreate, Boolean onlyOneCheckConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +1341
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionPool.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningObject, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +159
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal oldConnection, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +382
System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionInternal.TryOpenConnectionInternal(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +307
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpenInner(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry) +198
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry) +422
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +199
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.DataProviderCommand..ctor(IDbCommand command, DataProviderTransaction transaction, Boolean openConnection) +113
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.<>c__DisplayClass26_0.<CreateCommand>b__0() +48
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.NullRetryer.Execute(Func`1 action, Action recover) +293
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.<>c__DisplayClass29_0.<CreateReader>b__0() +30
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.NullRetryer.Execute(Func`1 action, Action recover) +293
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataApi.CreateReader(String sql, Object[] parameters) +281
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataProvider.GetContentLanguages() +169
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataProvider.LoadLanguages() +133
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataProvider.GetLanguages() +49
Sitecore.Data.SqlServer.SqlServerDataProvider.ExecutePreLoadItemDefinitionSql(String sql, Object[] parameters, SafeDictionary`2 prefetchData) +52
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Retryer.ExecuteNoResult(Action action, Action recover) +539
Sitecore.Data.SqlServer.SqlServerDataProvider.LoadInitialItemDefinitions(String condition, Object[] parameters, SafeDictionary`2 prefetchData) +237
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataProvider.EnsureInitialPrefetch() +333
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.Sql.SqlDataProvider.GetPrefetchData(ID itemId) +62
Unicorn.Data.DataProvider.UnicornSqlServerDataProvider.GetItemDefinition(ID itemId, CallContext context) +242
Sitecore.Data.DataProviders.DataProvider.GetItemDefinition(ID itemID, CallContext context, DataProviderCollection providers) +156
Sitecore.Data.DataSource.GetItemInformation(ID itemID) +88
Sitecore.Data.DataSource.GetItemData(ID itemID, Language language, Version version) +32
Sitecore.Data.Engines.TemplateEngine.GetdefaultSectionOrder() +118
Sitecore.Data.Engines.TemplateEngine.InternalGetTemplates() +486
Sitecore.Data.Engines.TemplateEngine.GetTemplate(ID templateId) +184
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.SitecoreExtensions.Extensions.DatabaseExtensions.GetContentItemsOfTemplate(Database database, ID templateId) +126
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.SiteResolvers.EnvironmentSitesResolver.ResolveAllSites(Database database) +63
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.Providers.SxaSiteProvider.GetSiteList() +162
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.Providers.SxaSiteProvider.InitializeSites() +105
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.Providers.SxaSiteProvider.GetSites() +18
System.Linq.<SelectManyIterator>d__17`2.MoveNext() +265
Sitecore.Sites.SiteCollection.AddRange(IEnumerable`1 sites) +221
Sitecore.Sites.SitecoreSiteProvider.GetSites() +258
Sitecore.Sites.DefaultSiteContextFactory.GetSites() +253
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.SiteInfoResolver.get_Sites() +60
Sitecore.XA.Foundation.Multisite.Pipelines.Initialize.InitSiteManager.Process(PipelineArgs args) +85
(Object , Object ) +9
Sitecore.Pipelines.CorePipeline.Run(PipelineArgs args) +490
Sitecore.Pipelines.DefaultCorePipelineManager.Run(String pipelineName, PipelineArgs args, String pipelineDomain, Boolean failIfNotExists) +236
Sitecore.Pipelines.DefaultCorePipelineManager.Run(String pipelineName, PipelineArgs args, String pipelineDomain) +22
Sitecore.Nexus.Web.HttpModule.Application_Start() +220
Sitecore.Nexus.Web.HttpModule.Init(HttpApplication app) +1165
System.Web.HttpApplication.RegisterEventSubscriptionsWithIIS(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context, MethodInfo[] handlers) +584
System.Web.HttpApplication.InitSpecial(HttpApplicationState state, MethodInfo[] handlers, IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +168
System.Web.HttpApplicationFactory.GetSpecialApplicationInstance(IntPtr appContext, HttpContext context) +277
System.Web.Hosting.PipelineRuntime.InitializeApplication(IntPtr appContext) +369
[HttpException (0x80004005): A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server)]
System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +532
System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +111
System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +724
The error speaks itself, that the CM and/or CD was not able to connect to underlying SQL server. SO, I immediately opens the SSMS and try to connect to my SQL server running as container on my local and I am successfully able to connect both using IP address as well as using alias(in my case it’s sql).
So what’s the issue??? When I am able to connect to SQL server running in container using outside of the Docker created network than why my CM and/or CD instance is not able to connect to it within the same network???
I check inward and outward binding ports setting in docker-compose.yml file for SQL service. Double check connection strings for server name, user name and password and that all looks correct.
Thanks to one of my colleague, who points out my docker-compose file was missing hostname for SQL server service.
I have added them to my docker-compose.yml for SQL, SOLR and XCONNECT and happy days.
This is going to be a short blog for fixing issue I came across while working on custom pipeline creation and execution for Sitecore’s Data Exchange Framework(DEF or DxF).
The issue
While the Pipeline Batch item is selected, buttons on DATA EXCHANGE toolbar at top does not behave how they should.
Immediately after selecting pipeline item, I noticed all buttons in ribbon is visible and clickable. Secondly, clicking on Run Pipeline Batch Button does not works. I was neither starting execution of pipeline nor displaying any visible error messages. See below image for more details:
The fix
I started investigation and collecting events what could have done the damage. Found that before last deployment it was behaving the way it should be. Huuummm… that’s good hint, isn’t it? The last release just deployed files to CMS server. This is soothing to my ears as investment scope is drastically reduced to files. The content automatically gone out of equation.
To fix this, I tried install DEF SDK package first with just deploying file artifacts and skipping any content installation.
Unfortunately, that does not work ….!!! 😦
Next best bet is obvious and try to re-install the DEF framework package with deploying files only.
And that does the trick ….!!!! (Dance)
Update:
The file \App_Config\Sitecore\DataExchange\Sitecore.DataExchange.Local.config was missing. Placing this file from Package has actually fixed the issue.
Happy Data Sync and import using Sitecore Data Exchange Framework. 🙂
While using Razl syncing couple of large content sub-trees under Sitecore this morning, it has prompted for below error after progressing for while.
Error 'The HTTP request to 'http://xxx.xxx/_CMP/RazlService.asmx' has exceeded the allotted timeout of 00:04:59.9990000. The time allotted to this operation may have been a portion of a longer timeout.' getting Sitecore items.
The fix for above issue is to increase timeout period for the http request to classic web service. After applying following fix, it has started working as expected.
Navigate to the root folder of the website mentioned in above error message
navigate to _CMP folder and open web.config file for editing
Add following line to the web.config file under <system.web> node
So far in Part – 1 and Part – 2 of this series, the Sitecore Publishing Service up & running in Azure PaaS and the Sitecore Publishing module is installed & configured.
This last part will trying to address few additional scenarios with publishing service. Scenarios like, the Sitecore databases are hosted in Azure SQL and Sitecore implementation have multiple publishing targets.
Sitecore database in Azure(Azure SQL)
If publishing service hosted on Azure web app and the databases are also in Azure SQL Database, there are few additional configurations needed for the service to work seamlessly with bigger publishing payload.
Follow below steps to configure publishing service for Azure Environment
Navigate to \configurations\system.webServer\aspNetCore node in wwwRoot\web.config file of publishing service in app service.
replace the arguments attribute with the following
arguments=" --environment azure"
Save the web.config
Stop and start app service
By default Sitecore publishing service is running under the “production” environment and that patches the configurations for production. After above change, service will start with Azure environment and it will patch azure environment specific configurations.
Navigate to wwwroot/config/azure
rename file sc.publishing.sqlazure.connections.xml.example to sc.publishing.sqlazure.connections.xml. Remove .example extension and make sure it has .xml extension.
New publishing target…!!!???
If other than default Internet publishing target is being used in CMS, there are few additional configurations needs to be made. So lets have a look at those.
I am assuming the additional publishing target also linked to additional database other than default web database. If so, the new connection string also needs to be added to publishing service.
New connection string
In this scenario, will take example of new web database in Azure SQL US region and need to add new target to publish content to web database to this US region.
Add new connection string to Publishing service. lets name it web_us
Sitecore.Framework.Publishing.Host configuration setconnectionstring web_us "<US web database connection string>"
/config/sitecore/publishing/sc.publishing.xml
Open above file and follow below steps:
navigate to Settings\Sitecore\Publishing\Services\DefaultConnectionFactory\Options\Connections
Search for the child node Internet, duplicate the whole node along with children. For example, name it InternetUS
Within that InternetUS node navigate to child node ConnectionString and change the value of the node to following to match the name of the connection sting in steps above.
${Sitecore:Publishing:ConnectionStrings:web_us}
Navigate to Settings\Sitecore\Publishing\Services\StoreFactory\Options\Stores\Targets
Search for the child node Internet, duplicate the whole node along with children. For example, name it InternetUS
Change the value of the ConnectionName to InternetUs. This must match the name of the name of the new node name under Settings\Sitecore\Publishing\Services\DefaultConnectionFactory\Options\Connections. Created in one of the step above.
Set the id of new Publishing Target item in Sitecore CMS. For example,
<Id>46FDC9AF-3F00-4D55-BDB8-86ED13F82E00</Id>
Set the value of child node ScDatabase to newly added databsae name. In our example it would be web_us.
This step is optional if the service is not using databases on Azure SQL.
Navigate to Settings\Sitecore\Publishing\Services\DefaultConnectionFactory\options\Connections\
Search for Internet node in child nodes and duplicate that node with name InternetUS along with child nodes
Save File
Bonus
Log level changing for debugging
Nothing can beat detailed level logging while debugging application/service. Default publishing service have two filters one sitecore and anther is default.
For sitecore filter the default log level is set to Information and default log level is set to Warning. See below xml for the same.
One can select log filter level to one of the following:
Trace : The most detailed log messages, may contain sensitive application data. These messages are disabled by default and should never be enabled in a production environment.
Debug : Logs that are used for interactive investigation during development should use the Debug level. These logs should primarily contain information useful for debugging and have no long-term value.
Information : Track the general flow of the application using logs at the Information level. These logs should have value in the long term.
Warning : Warnings should highlight an abnormal or unexpected event in the application flow. This event does not cause the application execution to stop, but can signify sub-optimal performance or a potential problem for the future.
Error : An error should be logged when the current flow of execution is stopped due to a failure. These should indicate a failure in the current activity, not an application-wide failure. These will mainly be unhandled exceptions and recoverable failures.
Critical : A critical log should describe an unrecoverable application or system crash, or a catastrophic failure that requires immediate attention.
To overwrite these default log level filters, use wwwroot/config/sitecore/sc.logging.xml file.
Note
The Development environment mode sets the Sitecore log level filter to Debug. So the service can be run under Development Environment for more detailed logging.
After all these configuration changes restart the publishing service.
Now that Publishing service is deployed, configure and up in Part – 1, the next bit is to install and configure Sitecore publishing service module in Sitecore CM and CD. This part is very simple and strait forward. So lets get started…
The Sitecore publishing module is nothing but Sitecore package and needs to be installed the same way as other Sitecore packages. This package contains all the necessary artifacts for this module to perform it’s job.
Download
The Sitecore Publishing Module can be downloaded from here.
Note
Just check the the version compatibility with Sitecore version where you wanted to implement this publishing service/module. For this you need to navigate to individual release page and check the compatibility detail at start of the page under the main heading.
Install publishing module
To install Sitecore publishing module, one can use OOTB Sitecore installation wizard.
==========================================================
***Important! Copy and save this information***
==========================================================
BEFORE YOU CLICK NEXT:
- Ensure you have installed and configured the Sitecore Publishing Service (this module only enables integration with the service)
Documentation detailing how to install the service is available seperately.
[Warning] This module will not work without a properly configured service instance. No items will be able to be published.
AFTER YOU CLOSE THE WIZARD:
After the package is installed, follow these steps to complete the Sitecore Publishing Module installation:
- Configure the service endpoints:
Add a configuration file which overrides the 'PublishingServiceUrlRoot' setting to point to your service module
Make sure the address contains a trailing slash
e.g.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
<sitecore>
<settings>
<setting name="PublishingServiceUrlRoot">http://sitecore.publishing/</setting>
</settings>
</sitecore>
</configuration>
- Configure the Content Delivery Servers:
Ensure that the following file is in the website 'App_Config/Modules/PublishingService' directory:
* Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery.config
Ensure that the following files exist in the website 'bin' directory:
* Sitecore.Publishing.Service.dll
* Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Abstractions.dll
* Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery.dll
Note
Just before installation process starts, installer will prompt the information about configurations and artifacts needed for the Sitecore Module and services to work. As instructed, copy and save that instruction shown in above(From version 3.1.3).
Configure
Once installation of the module is successful, in CM perform following steps:
For CM
Navigate to <website root>/App_Config/Modules/PublishingService folder in CM app service
Make sure the URL is post-fix with forward slash(/) at the end.
For CD
Navigate to <website root>/App_Config/Modules/PublishingService folder in both the CM and CD app services
Copy Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery.config file from CM to above folder in CD
Navigate to <website root>/bin folder in both the CM and CD app services
Copy below library files to CD’s bin folder from CM
Sitecore.Publishing.Service.dll
Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Abstractions.dll
Sitecore.Publishing.Service.Delivery.dll
At this point, the publishing will start working, if there is only one default Internet publishing target is there. The Publishing Module has overwritten few of Sitecore default settings for publishing. So after installation of publishing module, one may notice change in UI for the Publishing. Please read here for more details about visual changes and changes in types of publishing.
The last part -3 will cover some specific configuration for Azure PaaS environment and some advance setting of Sitecore Publishing Service. So stay tuned and enjoy content publishing….!!!
