AD0-E117 exam prep, how deep should I go into Cloud Manager & DevOps workflows?

[AndrewWa23]

Hi everyone,

I’m currently preparing for the Adobe Experience Manager Architect Master certification and I’d like to get some clarity on the level of depth needed around Cloud Manager and DevOps practices.

My background is mainly in solution architecture and implementation design, but I’m not always the person configuring pipelines or managing deployment environments directly. For those who have taken the AD0-E117 exam, how in-depth does it expect you to go regarding:

• Pipeline setup & quality gate configuration
• Environment sizing / scaling considerations
• Deployment strategies and Cloud Manager best practices

Should I focus on conceptual knowledge and design-level reasoning, or is a hands-on understanding of specific pipeline configuration steps expected? Any guidance or study approach tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[muskaanchandwani]

Hello @AndrewWa23 

For the AEM Architect Master (AD0-E117) exam you don’t need deep hands-on Cloud Manager/DevOps skills.
Focus on conceptual & design-level knowledge - why and when to use pipelines, quality gates, scaling, and deployment strategies.

Also: thoroughly review the relevant Experience League Documentations

[Passexam4sureco]

I was short on time for my AD0-E117 exam, so I tried the study material from Dumps-Spot on a friend’s suggestion. After checking the free demo, I prepared all the questions and passed with great scores. I’m very satisfied and will surely use this platform again for future exams.

[SantoshSai]

Hi @AndrewWa23,

Cloud Manager & DevOps coverage = conceptual, not hands-on.

Pipeline setup & quality gates

• Know what each stage (build/test/stage/prod) does.

• Know what “quality gates” mean (code scan, perf test, security scan).

• Be ready to reason which setup fits a scenario — not configure one.

Environment sizing / scaling

• Understand how AEM Cloud Service auto-scales.

• Know when to recommend more publishers, CDN use, caching, etc.

• You won’t be asked for CPU/memory specs — just design trade-offs.

Deployment strategies / best practices

• Know the difference between blue-green, rolling, and standard deployments.

• Understand how Cloud Manager supports CI/CD and rollback.

• Focus on “why this approach” questions, not “click this button” ones.

[HrishikeshKagne]

Hi @AndrewWa23 ,

Adobe Experience Manager Architect Master (AD0-E117) certification, your focus on Cloud Manager and DevOps should be conceptual and design-level, centering on the "why" and "when" of its features, rather than the hands-on "how-to" configuration. You must deeply understand how to architect solutions that leverage Cloud Manager's capabilities, such as knowing when to use specific deployment strategies (like rolling updates), how the quality gates (code quality, security, performance) function and impact the delivery process, and the implications of AEM as a Cloud Service's auto-scaling on environment sizing and performance optimization, enabling you to make sound architectural recommendations in real-world scenarios. 

[ManviSharma]

Hello @AndrewWa23 ,

For the AEM Architect Master (AD0-E117) exam, you don’t need deep, hands-on DevOps experience. The focus is on conceptual understanding, architectural decision-making, and best practices, rather than detailed pipeline configurations.

Here’s the level of depth expected:
____________________________________

1. Pipeline setup & quality gates:
   Understand the purpose of each stage (build, code quality, security, performance testing, deploy) and how quality gates ensure stability — not the exact configuration steps.

2. Environment sizing & scaling:
   Be able to select and justify environment types and scaling options for Author, Publish, and Dispatcher tiers based on project requirements.

3. Deployment strategies & best practices:
   Know the deployment types (full stack, front-end, configuration) and when each is appropriate. Focus on how Cloud Manager supports CI/CD automation and governance.

You can also expect straightforward scenario-based questions, for example:

A client is upgrading their live AEM site hosted via AMS from version 6.3 to 6.5. They prefer a Blue-Green deployment approach and are not choosing an in-place upgrade.

Which tool should the architect use to migrate existing content to the new servers?

✅ Content Transfer Tool
❌ Bulk Import Tool
❌ Dak-Run Tool
❌ CRX2OAK Tool

[Jameswi16]

Hello @AndrewWa23, you don’t need to know click-by-click pipeline configuration. The exam looks for architect-level understanding, not DevOps operator detail.

What matters:

• Knowing what the Cloud Manager pipeline stages are and why they’re there (quality gates, approvals, performance testing).
• Being able to explain when to use certain pipeline types (full stack vs. dispatcher-only, etc.).
• Understanding how AEM as a Cloud Service scales (mostly automatic + horizontal scaling).
• Familiarity with how deployments happen without downtime and why immutable infrastructure matters.

What you don’t need:

• Memorizing UI steps
• Writing pipeline YAML or knowing exact quality threshold values
• Hands-on config of environments

If you can answer questions like:

• “Why would I separate content releases from code releases?”
• “What risks do quality gates help catch?”
• “How do dispatcher changes get deployed safely?”

…you’re in the right place.

Also, even if you have strong AEM background, you must go through scenario-style practice questions. Not to memorize answers, but because the exam has a particular pattern, it often gives multiple valid-sounding solutions and expects you to choose the one that aligns with:

• scalability
• maintainability
• governance/enterprise controls

That “pattern recognition” is a big part of the challenge. So in short, focus on conceptual reasoning and architectural choices, not configuration screens and make sure you spend some time practicing the exam style scenarios to get comfortable with how the questions are asked.