AEM 6.5 Dispatcher configuration

This module contains the basic dispatcher configurations. The configuration gets bundled in a ZIP file, and can be downloaded and unzipped to a local folder for development.

File Structure

./
├── ams-config-immutable
├───── conf.d
│       ├── available_vhosts
│       │       └── default.vhost
│       ├── dispatcher_vhost.conf
│       ├── enabled_vhosts
│       │   ├── README
│       │   └── default.vhost -> ../available_vhosts/default.vhost
│       └── rewrites
│       │   ├── default_rewrite.rules
│       │   └── rewrite.rules
│       └── variables
│           └── custom.vars
└─────── conf.dispatcher.d
        ├── available_farms
        │   └── default.farm
        ├── cache
        │   ├── default_invalidate.any
        │   ├── default_rules.any
        │   └── rules.any
        ├── clientheaders
        │   ├── clientheaders.any
        │   └── default_clientheaders.any
        ├── dispatcher.any
        ├── enabled_farms
        │   ├── README
        │   └── default.farm -> ../available_farms/default.farm
        ├── filters
        │   ├── default_filters.any
        │   └── filters.any
        ├── renders
        │   └── default_renders.any
        └── virtualhosts
            ├── default_virtualhosts.any
            └── virtualhosts.any

Files Explained

• conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost

  • *.vhost (Virtual Host) files are included from inside the dispatcher_vhost.conf. These are <VirtualHosts> entries to match host names and allow Apache to handle each domain traffic with different rules. From the *.vhost file, other files like rewrites, white listing, etc. will be included. The available_vhosts directory is where the *.vhost files are stored and enabled_vhosts directory is where you enable Virtual Hosts by using a symbolic link from a file in the available_vhosts to the enabled_vhosts directory.

• conf.d/rewrites/rewrite.rules

  • rewrite.rules file is included from inside the conf.d/enabled_vhosts/*.vhost files. It has a set of rewrite rules for mod_rewrite.

• conf.d/variables/custom.vars

  • custom.vars file is included from inside the conf.d/enabled_vhosts/*.vhost files. You can put your Apache variables in there.

• conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/<CUSTOMER_CHOICE>.farm

  • *.farm files are included inside the conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any file. These parent farm files exist to control module behavior for each render or website type. Files are created in the available_farms directory and enabled with a symbolic link into the enabled_farms directory.

• conf.dispatcher.d/filters/filters.any

  • filters.any file is included from inside the conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/*.farm files. It has a set of rules change what traffic should be filtered out and not make it to the backend.

• conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/virtualhosts.any

  • virtualhosts.any file is included from inside the conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/*.farm files. It has a list of host names or URI paths to be matched by blob matching to determine which backend to use to serve that request.

• conf.dispatcher.d/cache/rules.any

  • rules.any file is included from inside the conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/*.farm files. It specifies caching preferences.

• conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders.any

  • clientheaders.any file is included inside the conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/*.farm files. It specifies which client headers should be passed through to each renderer.

Environment Variables

• CONTENT_FOLDER_NAME
  • This is the customer's content folder in the repository. This is used in the customer_rewrite.rules to map shortened URLs to their correct repository path.

Immutable Configuration Files

Some files are immutable, meaning they cannot be altered or deleted. These are part of the base framework and enforce standards and best practices. When customization is needed, copies of immutable files (i.e. default.vhost -> publish.vhost) can be used to modify the behavior. Where possible, be sure to retain includes of immutable files unless customization of included files is also needed.

Immutable Files

conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost
conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf
conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules
conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm
conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any
conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any
conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any
conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any
conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/default.farm
conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any
conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any
conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any

EXAMPLE Project Structure

./
├── exaple-config-immutable
├─── common
├───── conf.d
│       ├── available_vhosts
│       │       └── example_author.vhost
│       │       └── example_publish.vhost
│       │       └── example_publish_cname.vhost
│       ├── enabled_vhosts
│       │   ├── README
│       │   └── example*.vhost -> ../symlinks to available vhost
│       └── rewrites
│       │   └── example_rewrite.rules
│       └── variables
│           └── ams_default.vars
│           └── example.vars
└─────── conf.dispatcher.d
        ├── available_farms
        │   └── 100_example_publish_farm.any
        ├── cache
        │   ├── example_publish_cache.any
        ├── enabled_farms
        │   ├── 100_example_publish_farm.any -> ../symlinks to available farms
        ├── filters
        │   ├── example_filters.any
        └── virtualhosts
            └── example_virtualhosts.any
├── dev
└─────── conf.d
        ├── available_farms
        │   └── example_markup.vhost
        ├── enabled_farms
        │   ├── example_markup.vhost -> ../symlinks to available farms
        └── variables
            ├── ams_default.vars
            └── example.vars 
├── qa
└─────── conf.d
        └── variables
            ├── ams_default.vars
            └── example.vars 

Files Explained

Common will have example site related configurations

DEV and QA folder consists of environment specific vhost, variables

Environment specific Deployment

./
├── deploy-scripts
    └── deploy-conf.sh
    └── disable-defaults.sh

Copy files Instruction

• Execute following command on MAC or Linux machine to copy the files from local to server
  • * ./copy-to-target.sh username ipaddress

Deploy files Instruction

Run following commands to deploy the code into dispatcher server

• Navigate to the path

  • • cd src/deploy-scripts/

• Execute the command

  • • ./deploy-conf.sh dev all

  • OR

  • • ./deploy-conf.sh qa all

Environment specific names like qa, dev, all should be name in shell script explanations

• deploy-scripts deployment shell scripts (backup and deploy)

• disable-default removing old files