Configure CM servers in Sitecore 8.2

Purpose to configure Content Management server is to enable Content Editor/Author to create/publish content on website.

I am writing few recommendation which are required to configure Content Management for your sitecore project.

Recommendations

Below points should be taken care before configuring CM server.

xDB Analytics Tracking :  In case of having a dedicated CM server which is in use for tracking but not saving data in collection database then disable Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.Database.config placed at Deployment\8.2\Website\App_Config\Include. Also if other modules are dependent on tracking data access API then you need to enable this config.

Session State: In case of inproc session state, maintain a session connection string

Let’s start to configure a content management server.

Step 1: First install a Sitecore 8.2 instance with the help of my last Article.

https://sharjeelswork.blogspot.com/2019/04/sitecore82-installation-step-by-step.html

Step 2: Once instance installation is done then configure Database connection strings placed in deployment location for me it’s 

\Deployment\SharjeelsWork\8Dot2CM\Website\App_Config

Connection string file name is ConnectionStrings.config

For CM and CD server, required to follow instruction from below table available on https://doc.sitecore.com/developers/82/sitecore-experience-platform/en/database-connection-strings-for-configuring-servers.html

Database	Connection String	CD server	CM server	Processing server	Reporting Service server
SQL Server	core	Enable	Enable	Enable	Enable
	master	Disable	Enable	Enable	Enable
	web	Enable	Enable	Disable	Enable
	reporting	Disable	Enable	Enable	Enable
	reporting.secondary (optional)	NA	NA	Enable	Enable
MongoDB	analytics	Enable	Enable	Enable	Enable
	tracking.live	Enable	Enable	Enable	Enable
	tracking.history	Disable	Disable	Enable	Enable
	tracking.contact	Enable	Enable	Enable	Disable

I had made changes accordingly listed in above table.

Step 3: Now download the spreadsheet that lists of all the configuration files that you must enable or disable for CM/CD server type. This information is available on https://doc.sitecore.com/.

After verifying this xl sheet I enable/disable few config files and found CM server in ok state. I am sharing my changes sheet which requires some enable/disable config in default CM config files.

Note : I am assuming Lucene search is in use. If you want to use solr then disable Lucene config files and enable solr config files inside AppConfig folder.

File Path	Config file name	CM
\website\App_Config\	CacheContainers.config.example	Enable
	DataFolder.config.example	Enable
	ScalabilitySettings.config.example	Enable
	Sitecore.Analytics.Processing.Aggregation.Services.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.Analytics.Processing.Services.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.Aggregation.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.Database.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.Database.ScaledCM.config.disabled	Disabled
	Sitecore.Analytics.Tracking.RobotDetection.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.EngagementAutomation.Processing.Aggregation.Services.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.Marketing.Definitions.MarketingAssets.Repositories.Solr.Index.Master.config.disabled	Enable
	Sitecore.Marketing.Definitions.MarketingAssets.Repositories.Solr.Index.Web.config.disabled	Enable
	Sitecore.Marketing.Definitions.MarketingAssets.Repositories.Solr.IndexConfiguration.config.disabled	Enable
	Sitecore.PathAnalyzer.Processing.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.PathAnalyzer.RemoteClient.config.disabled	Enable
	Sitecore.Speak.ContentSearch.Solr.config.example	Enable
	Sitecore.Xdb.Remote.Client.config.disabled	Enable
	Sitecore.Xdb.Remote.Client.MarketingAssets.config.disabled	Enable
\website\App_Config\Include\ContentTesting	Sitecore.ContentTesting.Processing.Aggregation.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.ContentTesting.Solr.IndexConfiguration.config.disabled	Enabled
\website\App_Config\Include\ExperienceAnalytics	Sitecore.ExperienceAnalytics.Aggregation.config	Disabled
	Sitecore.ExperienceAnalytics.Reduce.config	Disabled
\website\sitecore\shell\Applications\Reports\Dashboard	CampaignCategoryDefaultSettings.config	Disabled
	Configuration.config	Disabled
	DefaultSettings.config	Disabled
	SingleCampaignDefaultSettings.config	Disabled
	SingleTrafficTypeDefaultSettings.config	Disabled

After following above steps my CM server is ready. Please see the below screen for the same CM server.

This CM server is based for Lucene search. To make it for solr we need to make some changes in config file to disable Lucene and enable solr. Soon I will share my analysis for solr based CM server.

Happy Learning!!!