Resolving inactive replication agents and 404 errors in Adobe Experience Manager
This article explains how to address issues where replication agents in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) become inactive, resulting in published pages returning 404 errors on the Publish instance.
Description description
Environment
Adobe Experience Manager (all supported versions)
Symptoms
- Pages appear as published in the AEM Author instance but return 404 errors on the Publish instance.
- Replication agents, such as Dispatcher Flush and Reverse Replication, show as not active and their queues aren’t processing.
- Attempts to flush the dispatcher don’t resolve the issue.
Cause
This issue occurs when the AEM author instance isn’t functioning properly or when a large deactivation or replication job is blocking the replication queues. When replication agents are inactive, published content doesn’t reach the Publish instance, resulting in 404 errors.
Resolution resolution
Follow the steps below to resolve the issue:
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Verify the status of your AEM Author instance to ensure it’s running and responsive.
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Check the replication agent status in the AEM Tools console. Look for agents that are marked as not active, and review their queue status.
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If replication agents remain inactive or queues aren’t processing, restart the AEM Author instance to restore normal operation.
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Review any ongoing large deactivation or replication jobs that are blocking the queues. If possible, allow these jobs to complete before initiating further replication.
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To urgently publish specific content, create a content package containing the required pages or assets:
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In AEM, use the Package Manager to create a new package and include the necessary content paths.
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Build the package in the Author instance.
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Download the package, and manually upload it to the Publish instance using the Package Manager.
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Install the package on the Publish instance to make the content available.
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After taking these steps, verify that the published pages are accessible on the Publish instance and no longer return 404 errors.