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OlivBur
OlivBur
Level 2
May 16, 2019

Automating packages deployment: CRX HTTP API/OSGi Installer?

  • May 16, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 4576 views

Hi,

I would like to automate a bit the deployment of CRX/Vault packages to AEM instances. As of now I know about these two possibilities:

- CRX HTTP Service API: Using cURL or some other tool to upload/install/uninstall/etc. packages via CRX

- Sling OSGi Installer: Simply uploading bundles or vault packages to som ".../install" or ".../config" folders. The OSGi Installer then picks these packages for installation.

What do you use or do you prefer?

Or what's the Adobe AEM recommended approach?

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    1 reply

    V
    Adobe Employee
    vish.dhaliwalAdobe Employee
    Adobe Employee
    May 16, 2019

    Hello,

    The first approach seems to be structured and reliable.

    The second approach does not allow proper automation mainly because, unless a log analyzer is being used, there is really no feedback on the success/failure of package deployment.

    Did you take a look at content-package-maven-plugin [1]?

    [1] Managing Packages Using Maven

      OlivBur
      OlivBurAuthor
      Level 2
      May 16, 2019

      Hi Vish.dhaliwal​

      thanks for response. Yes I'm aware of the content-package-maven-plugin.

      I think actually too, that the usage of the CRX HTTP API is like the more structured way.

      But I have heard once at some AEM/Sling Conference, that the installation handling via the OSGi Installer is much more stable because the Installation via the CRX PackageManager does not respect properly the OSGi bundle lifecycle specifics, etc.

      To make sure the installation was successful via OSGi Installer we could check the bundle status or the existence of some nodes in /apps or also having a custom Health check endpoint for its application.

      Also I haven't found anymore an official CRX HTTP API documentation. Has this been moved/removed somehow? Or will this CRX HTTP API be deprecated in near future?

      joerghoh
      Adobe Employee
      joerghohAdobe Employee
      Adobe Employee
      May 16, 2019

      It's true, the HTTP API documentation for the package manager went missing in one of the latest versions of the product documentation. Can you raise a Daycare ticket for it and ask to make it available again?

      Regarding OSGI installer ("install" folder) vs package manager: From a reliability point of view they are the same; the only limitation is that you cannot deploy OSGI bundles via package manager, but you need to wrap them into packages. But internally both use the OSGI installer to start the bundles.

      But I still prefer the package manager, because it's quite easy to make your AEM unusable with the install folder:

      * copy a bundle into the install folder

      * wait till it is installed

      * shutdown the AEM instance

      * remove that file from the install folder

      * startup AEM again

      (ok, this isn't a problem when you just use content packages.)

      On the other hand side the package manager HTTP API is a bit problematic, because just uploading and installing packages in a row does not always work, and you need to handle the error detection, retries etc. Doable but the many trivial "automation scripts" you find in the internet only focus on the happy path. Might work in 90% of all cases.

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