Discrepancy in Dispatcher Validator - Local vs Pipeline

Hi All,

I ran the dispatcher utility in local and it auto-runs as part of web-tier in build stage too.

Ideally one would expect same inconsistencies but there was a difference in my case.

Local Validator - 

PS C:\Users\admin\Downloads\aem-sdk-dispatcher-tools-2.0.274-windows\bin> .\validate.cmd 'C:\projA\dispatcher\src'
opt-in USE_SOURCES_DIRECTLY marker file detected
Phase 1: Dispatcher validator
Cloud manager validator 2.0.89
2026/09/07 19:41:48 The following warnings were found:
  Did not find ServerAlias '*.adobeaemcloud.net' in any vhost file
  Did not find ServerAlias '*.adobeaemcloud.com' in any vhost file

2026/09/07 19:41:48 The following suggestions are proposed:
  C:\projA\dispatcher\src\conf.d\enabled_vhosts\aem_publish.vhost: file is not a symlink, all files inside "enabled_vhosts" and "enabled_farms" should be symlinks

2026/09/08 19:41:48 The following errors were found in the httpd config:
  C:\projA\dispatcher\src\conf.d\enabled_vhosts\aem_publish.vhost: link points to invalid location: C:/projA/dispatcher/src/conf.d/available_vhosts/aem_publish.vhost, CreateFile C:\projA\dispatcher\src\conf.d\enabled_vhosts\C:\projA\dispatcher\src\conf.d\available_vhosts\aem_publish.vhost: The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect.

2026/09/07 19:41:48 skipping symlinks resolution checks for global folder due to windows platform
2026/09/07 19:41:48 please use a Linux/OS X environment to run locally or check results with a Cloud Manager pipeline
Phase 1 failed

Primary Error on Local - “symLinks resolution”

Cloud Validator - 

Log file: dispatcher_validation.log
STATUS_SIGNAL: /mnt/shared/status-validation
Waiting max 600 seconds for the build zip file
Timeout: 600s
Running [runValidation]...
End stage: start
Begin stage: prepare configuration
step1: prepare destination directories
step2: extract layer0
step3: waiting for customer zip file
Iteration: 0/600. Waiting for customer zip file...
Iteration: 16/600. Waiting for customer zip file...
There are zip files, using /mnt/shared/dispatcher.zip
Extracting: /mnt/shared/dispatcher.zip
step4: extract layer1 (customer configuration)
End stage: prepare configuration
Begin stage: check configuration
10 biggest configuration files:
24094  04-09-26 12:00  /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/available_vhosts/brandA.vhost
13417  04-09-26 12:00  /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf
12008  04-09-26 12:00  /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf/httpd.conf
10051  04-09-26 12:00  /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/filters/brandA_filters.any
total size of unpacked dispatcher configuration:
656K  /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration
opt-in USE_SOURCES_DIRECTLY marker file detected
immutability check (warns in case of mutation detection):
checking 'conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost' for changes
checking 'conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf' immutability (if present)
replacing include directive in 'conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf' before comparing
checking existing 'conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf' for changes
!! immutable file 'conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf' has been changed!
!! diff output:
--- /etc/httpd-expected/conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf
+++ /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf
@@ -317,7 +317,7 @@
</VirtualHost>

# Customer's vhosts:
-Include "conf.d/enabled_vhosts/*.vhost"
+Include conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf

# Create a catch-all vhost
# A catch-all is a safe place for un-matched hostnames to land.
!!
checking 'conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf' for changes
checking 'conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any' immutability (if present)
replacing 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any' content as it gets overridden on startup anyway
'/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any' -> '/etc/httpd-expected/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any'
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any' for changes
!! immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any' has been changed!
!! diff output:
--- /etc/httpd-expected/conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any
+++ /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
# DO NOT EDIT this file, your changes will have no impact on your deployment.
#
# Instead modify clientheaders.any.
-#
+# host removed from below list

"X-Forwarded-Proto"
"X-Forwarded-SSL-Certificate"
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
"accept-encoding"
"accept-language"
"accept"
-"host"
"if-match"
"if-none-match"
"if-range"
!!
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any' immutability (if present)
replacing include directive in 'conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any' before comparing
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any' for changes
!! immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any' has been changed!
!! diff output:
--- /etc/httpd-expected/conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any
+++ /tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any
@@ -1,11 +1,10 @@
-#
-# This is a file provided by the runtime environment and only included for
-# illustration purposes.
-#
-# DO NOT EDIT this file, your changes will have no impact on your deployment.
-#
+### Name of the dispatcher
+/name "internet-server"

+## each farm configures a set of (load-balanced) renders
+### Include the author first on purpose
+### Include the publish farm last.  That way if the hostname isn't matched they'll end up on the last farm, better for 404 errors that are non descript than 403 authentication and redirect to a login page
+
/farms {
-  # Include all *.farm files in enabled_farms
-  $include "enabled_farms/*.farm"
+  $include "enabled_farms/*_farm.any"
}
!!
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/farms.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/farms.any' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any' for changes
checking 'conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any' immutability (if present)
checking existing 'conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any' for changes
!!
!! Mutation of immutable files was detected - these changes will be overwritten at runtime!
!!
overwriting immutable file 'conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost'
'/etc/httpd/conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/available_vhosts/default.vhost'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf'
'/etc/httpd/conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/dispatcher_vhost.conf'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf'
'/etc/httpd/conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/enabled_vhosts/vhosts.conf'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules'
'/etc/httpd/conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.d/rewrites/default_rewrite.rules'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/available_farms/default.farm'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_invalidate.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/cache/default_rules.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/dispatcher.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/farms.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/farms.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/enabled_farms/farms.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/filters/default_filters.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/renders/default_renders.any'
overwriting immutable file 'conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any'
'/etc/httpd/conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any' -> '/tmp/dispatcher/unzippedConfiguration/conf.dispatcher.d/virtualhosts/default_virtualhosts.any'
Cloud manager validator 2.0.89
2026/09/04 12:00:44 Dispatcher configuration validation failed:
2026/09/04 12:00:44 conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any:24: duplicate client header: host
  conf.dispatcher.d/clientheaders/default_clientheaders.any:24: duplicate client header: host

ERROR: '11 TEST_FAILURE dispatcher validator failed'
    at validate_configuration(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:127)
    at runValidation(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:189)
    at status.track(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:261)
    at main(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:192)
Reporting error to: '/mnt/shared/status-validation'
ERROR: '11 TEST_FAILURE ERROR: '11 TEST_FAILURE dispatcher validator failed'
    at validate_configuration(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:127)
    at runValidation(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:189)
    at status.track(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:261)
    at main(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:192)'
    at reportError(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:127)
    at validate_configuration(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:127)
    at runValidation(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:189)
    at status.track(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:261)
    at main(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:192)
Status file exists: '/mnt/shared/status-validation' assuming it is already saved in earlier step.
ERROR: '11 SCRIPT_ERROR Script command failed (see stack trace)'
    at status.internal.handleError(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:269)
    at status.track(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:269)
    at main(/usr/local/bin/validate-static.sh:192)
Status file exists: '/mnt/shared/status-validation' assuming it is already saved in earlier step.
    at status.internal.handleExit(/usr/local/bin/lib-status.bash:56) exited with code '11'

Primary Error on Cloud - “duplicate client header: host”

More importantly the error flagged in cloud pipeline is not reported on local. Is that to be expected?

Thanks,
NK