The Content Copy Tool content-copy
The content copy tool enables users to copy mutable content On-demand from their production environments on AEM as a Cloud Service to lower environments for testing purposes.
Introduction introduction
Current, real data is valuable for testing, validation, and user-acceptance purposes. The content copy tool lets you copy content from a production AEM as a Cloud Service environment to a staging, development, or Rapid Development Environment (RDE) environment for such testing.
A content set defines the content to copy. A content set consists of a list of JCR paths. These paths contain the mutable content to be copied from a source authoring service environment to a target authoring service environment, all within the same Cloud Manager program. The following paths are permitted in a content set:
/content
/conf/**/settings/wcm
/conf/**/settings/dam/cfm/models
/conf/**/settings/graphql/persistentQueries
/etc/clientlibs/fd/themes
When copying content, the source environment is the primary data source.
- If the source and destination paths match, content from the source overwrites modified content in the destination environment.
- If the paths are different, content from the source is merged with the content in the destination.
Permissions permissions
To use the content copy tool, certain permissions are required in both the source and target environments.
For more details on permissions and how to set them, see AEM as a Cloud Service Team and Product Profiles.
Create a content set create-content-set
Before any content can be copied, a content set must be defined. After it is defined, content sets can be reused to copy content. To create a content set, follow these steps.
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Sign in to Cloud Manager at my.cloudmanager.adobe.com and select the appropriate organization and program.
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Using the side navigation panel, navigate to the Content Sets tab from the Overview page.
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At the top-right of the screen, click Add Content Set.
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On the Details tab of the wizard, provide a name and description for the content set and select Continue.
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On the Content Paths tab of the wizard, specify the paths of the mutable content to be included in the content set.
- Enter the path in the Add Include Path field.
- Click Add Path to add the path to the content set.
- Click Add Path again as necessary.
- Up to 50 paths are allowed.
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If you must refine or restrict your content set, subpaths can be excluded.
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In the list of included paths, click the option Add exclude sub-paths next to the path you want to restrict.
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Enter the subpath to exclude from the selected path.
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Select Exclude Path.
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Select Add exclude sub-paths again to add additional paths to exclude as necessary.
- Excluded paths must be relative to the included path.
- There is no limit on the number of excluded paths.
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You can edit the specified paths, if necessary.
- Click the X next to the excluded subpaths to delete them.
- Click the ellipsis button next to the paths to reveal the Edit and Delete options.
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Select Create to create the content set.
The content set can now be used to copy content between environments.
Edit a content set edit-content-set
- Follow similar steps as when creating a content set. Instead of clicking Add Content Set, select an existing set from the console, and select Edit from the ellipsis menu.
- To reveal the excluded subpaths, you can expand the configured paths when editing your content set.
Copy content copy-content
After a content set is created, you can use it to copy content.
To copy content:
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Sign in to Cloud Manager at my.cloudmanager.adobe.com and select the appropriate organization and program.
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On the Overview page, navigate to Environments > Content Sets.
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On the console, select a content set.
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From the ellipsis menu, click Copy Content.
note NOTE An environment may not be selectable if any of the following is true: - The user does not have the appropriate permissions.
- The environment has a running pipeline or a copy content operation in progress.
- The environment is hibernating or starting up.
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In the Copy content dialog box, specify the source and destination for your content copy action.
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Content can be copied from a higher environment to a lower environment, between Development and RDE environments, or from a lower non-production environment to a higher non-production environment (Forward Flow). The environment hierarchy is as follows, from highest to lowest:
- Production
- Staging
- Development/RDE
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Cross Program content copy is available by default. In the Destination section, select a Program, then select the destination environment.
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(Optional) If desired, set the following:
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Include Access Control Lists - Select if you want to copy the content’s access control permissions along with the content.
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Wipe - Select to delete the existing content at the destination before starting the import, so you can begin with an empty state and avoid conflicts with existing content. If you leave Wipe deselected, Cloud Manager imports the new content on top of the existing destination content. A confirmation prompt appears before the wipe begins, and Cloud Manager logs the wipe action and import details for traceability.
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When choosing the Wipe destination before import option and clicking Copy a popup will appear with a warning where you have the options to:
- Cancel (In this case the Copy Content flow will not start)
- Confirm (the Copy Content flow will start and the content on the destination will be wiped)
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If you don’t choose Wipe destination before import then the Copy Content flow will work as before.
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Package Import Failure Policy Select the policy to use when importing packages:
- Stop on first failure: Default mode, stops after the first failure encountered.
- Continue with remaining packages: Continues the import process, even after a failure. The packages (and their content) that were not successful can be found in the import logs
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Click Copy.
The copy process starts. The status of the copy process is reflected in the console for the selected content set.
Content copy activity copy-activity
You can monitor the status of your copy processes in the Copy Content Activity page.
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Log into Cloud Manager at my.cloudmanager.adobe.com and select the appropriate organization and program.
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Navigate to the Environments screen from the Overview page.
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Navigate to the Copy Content Activity page from the Environments screen.
Content copy statuses statuses
Once you start copying content, the process can have one of the following statuses.
Cancel a copy process canceling
If you must abort a content copy operation after starting it, you can optionally cancel it.
To do so, on the Copy Content Activity page, select the Cancel action from the ellipsis menu of the copy process you previously started.
Access logs accessing-logs
You can check the logs for both the source and destination environments for any completed content copy process.
To access logs:
- On the Copy Content Activity page, from the ellipsis menu, click Logs for the copy process you want to review. Then select the environment.
The logs are downloaded to your local machine.
- If the download does not commence, check your pop-up blocker settings.
Limitations limitations
The content copy tool has the following limitations.
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The content copy tool supports two flow modes:
- Top-Down Flow: Content can be copied from higher environments to lower environments (for example Production → Stage, Stage → Development/RDE).
- Forward Flow: Content can also be copied from a lower non-production environment to a higher non-production environment (for example, Development to Stage, or RDE to Stage). Production environments are never valid destinations for Forward Flow.
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Content can only be copied from and to authoring services.
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Running concurrent content copy operations in the same environment is not possible.
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Up to 50 paths can be specified per content set. There is no limitation on excluded paths.
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Do not use the content copy tool as a cloning or mirroring tool because it cannot track moved or deleted content on the source.
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The content copy tool has no versioning capability and cannot automatically detect modified content or created content on the source environment in a content set since the last content copy operation.
- If you want to update your destination environment with content changes since the last content copy operation, you must use an existing content set. Then, specify the paths on the source instance where changes were made since the last content copy operation.
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Version information is not included in a content copy.
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Content Fragments Models can specify reference fields based on universally unique IDs (UUID). Such UUIDs are repository-specific, so the content copy tool recalculates these UUIDs in the target environment when copying Content Fragments.