A best practice for Production environments is to encrypt your connectionStrings to protect data in case the web.config file is accessed “without authorization”. My colleague Grant Killian wrote an excellent article in 2017 on the topic of encryption, the Microsoft ASP.NET IIS Registration Tool (aspnet_regiis.exe) is the focus in the updated Security Hardening guidelines of …
For those excited to run a Sitecore 9.1 SIF Distributed Installation, beyond what was detailed in the “Sitecore 9.1 SIF: Distributed Installation 101… and 1 Gotcha” and “WinRM over HTTPS for a Sitecore 9.1 SIF Distributed Installation” articles, there is another key aspect to consider… and its a big one. Sitecore 9.1 SIF Distributed Installations …
If you want to perform a Sitecore 9.1 SIF Distributed Installation you will need to ensure that WinRM operates over HTTPS. This is because Sitecore 9.1 contains SSL based endpoints (ex. Solr, Sitecore Roles, etc.). This can be achieved via the following steps: Ensure that Port 5986 is open on your network and in between …
If you plan on leveraging Sitecore 9.1 SIF to perform a distributed installation, there are few keys things to consider. What is a Distributed SIF Installation In a Distributed SIF Installation, which is a feature available starting with Sitecore 9.1, you can select the desired implementation level such as XM1 or XP1 and deploy “all …
Horizontal scaling of xConnect, behind Load Balancers, is an approved architecture in Sitecore 9. Beyond the details stated in the “Multiple XP Service Instances” section of Sitecore’s documentation (https://doc.sitecore.com/developers/90/platform-administration-and-architecture/en/scale-horizontally.html) there are few key steps to implement this capability. Horizontal xConnect Scaling Steps As xConnect roles are essentially RESTful endpoints, they are prime targets for load …
Sitecore 9.1 expands on the re-architecture of Sitecore achieved with Version 9.0… adding several new features from identity management to machine learning (AI). Looking beyond Sitecore 9.1, the acquisition of Stylelabs is at the forefront bringing Digital Asset Management (DAM) capabilities to the platform as an plugin first (announced January 9, 2019) with an eventual …
If you attempt to rebuild the links database in Sitecore 8.2 Update 6, 8.2 Update 7, or 9.0 Update 1 you may run into the following error: This is because Sitecore believes a general link or the deprecated “link” field contains an empty ID attribute. While you could modify the links to add an attribute, but …
Sitecore will point to Solr Cores by their “name”, commonly called an Index. These “pointers” are stored in various Sitecore configuration files, whereby they set the reference to the Solr Core as an “index id”. This typically looks like the following: <index id=”sitecore_fxm_web_index” type=”Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider.SolrSearchIndex, Sitecore.ContentSearch.SolrProvider”> Along with the connectionString (Sitecore 9+ or 8.2 Update 7) …
Exciting news came out of the 2018 Sitecore Symposium as it relates to the Sitecore Installation Framework (SIF). Sitecore Version 9.1 will come with several additions and capabilities that further deployment options. These include (and one blaring exclude) the following: Developer Workstation Templates – Stand up a developer instance with a dedicated SIF Role Prerequisites Install Templates – …
The Administration Tools within the Sitecore 9 Control Panel (Administration Section), are an often forgotten, but powerful arsenal in managing your Sitecore environment. Some of these tools, such as rebuilding the reporting database, have prerequisites. In the case of the “Rebuild Reporting Database” tool, it requires you to create a Secondary Reporting Database and connectionString …