Managing Environments

The following section describes the types of environment a user can create and how the user can create an environment.

Environment Types

A user with the requisite permissions can create the following environment types (within the bounds of what is available to the specific tenant).

• Production and Stage Environment:
  The Production and Stage is available as a duo and is used for testing and production purposes.

• Development: A Development environment can be created for development and testing purposes and will be associated with non-production pipelines only.

  NOTE

  A Development environment that is auto-created in a Sandbox program will be configured to include Sites and Assets solutions.

  The following table summarizes Environment types and their attributes:

  Name	Author Tier	Publish Tier	User Can create	User can delete	Pipeline which can be associated with environment
  Production	Yes	Yes if Sites included	Yes	No	Production pipeline
  Stage	Yes	Yes if Sites included	Yes	No	Production pipeline
  Development	Yes	Yes if Sites included	Yes	Yes	Non-production pipeline

  NOTE

  The Production and Stage is available as a duo and is used for testing and production purposes. User will not be able to create only Stage or only Production environment.

Adding Environment

1. Click on Add Environment to add an environment. This button will be accessible from the Environments screen.
   

   The Add Environment option is also available on the Environments card when there are zero environments in the program.

   

   NOTE

   The Add Environment option will be disabled based on lack of permissions or what may be contracted.

2. The Add environment dialog box appears.The user needs to submit details such as Environment type and Environment name and Environment description (depending upon the user’s objective in creating the environment within the bounds of what is available to the specific tenant).

   

   NOTE

   When creating an environment, one or more integrations are created in Adobe I/O. These are visible to customer users who have access to the Adobe I/O Console and must not be deleted. This is disclaimed in the description in the Adobe I/O Console.

   

3. Click Save to add an environment with the populated criteria. Now the Overview screen displays the card from where you can set up your pipeline.

   NOTE

   In case, you have not yet set up your non-production pipeline, the Overview screen displays the card from where you can create your non-production pipeline.

Environment Details

The Environments card on the Overview page lists up to three environments.

1. Select the Show All button to navigate to the Environment summary page to view a table with a complete list of environments.

   

2. The Environments page displays the list of all the existing environments.

   

3. Select any one of the environments from the list to view the environment details.

   

Accessing Preview Service

Preview Service feature delivers an additional Preview (publish) Service to each AEM as a Cloud Service environment via Cloud Manager.

Preview a website’s final experience before it reaches the publish environment and is available publicly. A few pointers before you you can see and use Preview Service:

1. AEM Version: Your environment must be on AEM version 2021.05.5368.20210529T101701Z or higher. Make sure an update pipeline has successfully run on your environment to accomplish this.

2. Default IP Allow List Lock: Upon creation, the Preview Service will have a default IP Allow List applied to it, labeled Preview Default [Env ID].

   NOTE

   Upon first creation, you must actively unapply the default IP Allow List from the Preview Service in your environment in order to enable access.

   A user with requisite permissions must do one of the following in order to unlock access to Preview Service and provide the desired access:

   • Create an appropriate IP Allow List and apply it to the Preview Service. Follow this immediately by unapplying Preview Default [Env ID] IP Allow List from the Preview Service. Refer to UnApplying an IP Allow List for more details.

     OR,

   • Use the update IP Allow List workflow to remove the default IP and add IP(s) as appropriate. Refer to Viewing and Updating an IP Allow List to learn more.

     NOTE

     The above steps must be done in advance of sharing the preview service URL with any of your teams in order to ensure the appropriate members of your team are able to access the preview URL.

     Once access to preview service is unlocked, the lock icon (as shown in the figure below) will no longer be displayed.

     

3. Publish Content to Preview: You can publish content to the Preview Service by using the Manage Publication UI inside AEM. Refer to Previewing Content for more details.

Updating Environment

Updates of Stage and Production environments are automatically managed by Adobe.

Updates to Development environments are managed by users of the program. When an environment is not running the latest publicly available AEM release, the status on Environments Card on the Home Screen will show UPDATE AVAILABLE.

The Update option is available from the Environments Card.
This option is also available, if you click on Details from the Environments card. The Environments page opens and once you select the Development environment, click on … and select Update, as shown in the figure below:

Selecting this option will allow a Deployment Manager to update the pipeline associated with this environment to the latest release and then execute the pipeline.

If the pipeline has already been updated, the user is prompted to execute the pipeline.

Deleting Environment

User with the requisite permissions will be able to delete a Development environment.

The Delete option is available from the dropdown menu in the Environments Card. Click on … for a Development environment you want to delete.

The delete option is also available, if you click on Details from the Environments card. The Environments page opens and once you select the Development environment, click on … and select Delete, as shown in the figure below:

Managing Access

Select Manage Access from the dropdown menu in the Environments Card. You can navigate to the author instance directly and manage access for your environment.

Accessing Developer Console

Select Developer Console from the dropdown menu in the Environments Card. This will open a new tab in your browser with the login page to Developer Console.

Only a user in the Developer role will have access to Developer Console. The exception being for Sandbox Programs, where any user with access to the Cloud Manager Sandbox Program will have access to Developer Console.

Refer to Hibernating and De-hibernating Sandbox Environments for more details.

This option is also available, if you click on Details from the Environments card. The Environments page opens and once you select an environment, click on … and select Developer Console.

Login Locally

Select Local Login from the dropdown menu in the Environments Card to login locally to Adobe Experience Manager.

Additionally, you can login locally from the Environments summary page.

Managing Custom Domain Names

Navigate to the Environments details page from the Environments Summary page.

The following actions can be performed on the Publish service for your environment as described below:

1. Adding a Custom Domain Name

2. Viewing and Updating a Custom Domain Name

3. Deleting a Custom Domain Name

4. Checking Status of Custom Domain Name or an SSL Certificate.

5. Checking Status of an IP Allow Lists

Managing IP Allow Lists

Navigate to the Environment details page from the Environments Summary page. You can perform the following actions on the Publish and/or Author service(s) for your environment here.

Applying an IP Allow List

Applying an IP Allow List is the process by which all IP ranges included in the definition of the Allow-List are associated with an Author or Publish service in an environment. A user in the Business Owner or Deployment Manager role must be logged in in order to be able to apply an IP Allow List.

Follow the steps below to apply an IP Allow List:

1. Navigate to the specific environment from the Environments details page and navigate to the IP Allow Lists table.
2. Use the input fields at the top of the IP Allow List table to select the IP Allow List and the Author or Publish service you wish to apply it to.
3. Click on Apply and confirm your submission.

Unapplying an IP Allow List

Unapplying an IP Allow List is the process by which all IP ranges included in the definition of the Allow List are disassociated from an Author or Publisher service in an environment. A user in the Business Owner or Deployment Manager role must be logged in in order to be able to Unapply an IP Allow List.

Follow the steps below to unapply an IP Allow List:

1. Navigate to the specific Environments details page from Environments screen and navigate to the IP Allow Lists table.
2. Identify the row where the IP Allow List rule you wish to unapply is listed.
3. Select the … menu from the far right end of the row.
4. Select the Unapply option and confirm your submission.