Sitecore Publishing Service 101
The Sitecore Publishing Service is a great way to speed up your item publishing while offloading this task from your CMS role so it can focus on content editing and other tasks affecting performance.
Sitecore Publishing Service Setup Basics
The Sitecore Publishing Service is really split into two separate aspects, the service itself which should ideally reside on its own server or Azure App Service, and the Sitecore Publishing Service Module which will be installed on the CMS role as a module, but also some files added to your CD roles (you can even use the publishing service in a container environment).
Once the base service and module/files are in place, you must configure the connection to the publishing service between the CMS, CD, and Publishing Service roles. Please note the importance of ensuring network communication between these roles/service.
Steps to achieve this are listed in the following documentation:
Sitecore Publishing Service: Sitecore Downloads: Sitecore Publishing Service
Sitecore Publishing Service Module: Sitecore Downloads: Sitecore Publishing Service Module
Choosing the right version of the service and module matters, so you can reference the following compatibility matrixes:
Sitecore 9.1 and Greater: Support Information – Sitecore Publishing Service – compatibility tables (for SPS 4.1.0 and later)
Previous to Sitecore 9.1: Support Information – Sitecore Publishing Service – compatibility tables (for SPS prior to 4.1.0)
Note that while a version such as 9.1 could use version 4.0, its better to use the most recent publishing service for your version of Sitecore.
Sitecore Publishing Service Resources
Once you have your Sitecore Publishing Service up and running, you may need to adjust a few things or even revert to the original publishing of your CMS. The following resources can help you maximize your Sitecore Publishing Service:
How-to’s – How to reduce page load times after publishing a lot of items (sitecore.com)
How-to’s – Publishing Service: high availability (sitecore.com)
How-to’s – Revert to default publishing after installing the Publishing Service (sitecore.com)
How-to’s – How to collect basic information about your Publishing Service (sitecore.com)