Troubleshooting HTTP 429 error responses in AEM as a Cloud Service
HTTP 429 is a client-side error indicating that too many requests have been directed at Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS) in a given amount of time. When this occurs, AEM can struggle to handle the load, resulting in slow performance because it isn’t designed to function as a high-throughput web server.
The amount of load an AEM server can handle depends on your implementation and the types of requests. Configuring caching properly at both the Dispatcher and CDN levels is crucial to having a responsive site.
Description description
Environment
Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service (AEMaaCS)
Issue/Symptom(s)
The HTTP 429 is a rate-limiting response that gets served to avoid Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks in an AEM Publish instance. This error is often indicative of a poorly implemented caching strategy.
Resolution resolution
To resolve HTTP 429 error responses in AEMaaCS, implement the following strategies:
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Ensure that your CDN is configured to cache content effectively. This reduces the load on your AEM instance by serving cached content to users.
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Optimize your Dispatcher configuration to cache as much content as possible. Review and adjust cache rules and invalidation strategies to minimize unnecessary requests to the AEM server.
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Reconfigure rate-limiting parameters to control the number of requests.
- Consider implementing exponential backoff to slow down the rate of incoming requests when thresholds are approached.
- To get more details on the rate-limiting mechanism and limit, open a support ticket.
Cause
A poorly implemented caching strategy leads to a large number of similar requests reaching the AEM server.
AEM is not designed to handle high-throughput scenarios. Therefore, its topology needs to be insulated with adequate caching and rate-limiting mechanisms.