Seeking Advice on Improving Website Performance via Java Backend in AEM Sites

[TrifaCh]

Hi everyone,

I hope you're all doing well!

I'm currently exploring ways to improve the loading speed of a website built with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) Sites. While I'm aware of the official optimization strategies mentioned in the documentation, I'm particularly interested in understanding if there are any additional programming techniques—especially on the Java backend—that could help enhance overall website performance.

Could anyone kindly share practical approaches or best practices beyond the standard recommendations? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much for your time and help!

Best regards,
Trifa

[kapil_rajoria]

Hi @TrifaCh, you can consider the following strategies:
1. Always serve cached content where ever applicable.

2. Use optimized coding techniques, proper handling of errors and exceptions.

3. Avoid using @ Inject in models and use specific annotation for injecting where ever required.
4. Ensure Sling Models and Servlets fetch properties only when they are accessed.

5. Avoid over-fetching data. Use specific, query-optimized resource resolvers to retrieve only the necessary properties.

6. Audit and disable unused OSGi services and bundles to reduce processing overhead.

7. Ensure thread pools for workflows and replication agents are configured optimally for the expected workload.

8. Always try to use/overlay/override OOTB functionalities, instead of going with custom if possible.

9. Use the AEM Query Builder instead of JCR-SQL2 or raw XPath queries, as it is optimized for Oak.

10. Optimize renditions and leverage Dynamic Media for faster asset delivery.

11. Use of sling jobs for scheduling tasks in AEM instead of using schedulers.

12. Use of garbage collection techniques and remove unused classes.

13. Resolve all sonar issues.

14. If AEM relies on external APIs, ensure those integrations are optimized (by caching response, use of graphQL which sits near AEM, a middle layer for caching etc.)

15. Remove unnecessary logs.

[arunpatidar · Accepted solution]

Hi @TrifaCh 

I would recommend to use Java Profiling to debug AEM page, page rendering is slow.

https://medium.com/@AlexanderObregon/profiling-java-applications-tools-and-techniques-3569b32862f4 

[AmitVishwakarma]

To improve AEM Sites performance via the Java backend, consider these strategies:

1. Efficient Sling Models: Use lightweight Sling Models to minimize processing overhead. Avoid unnecessary logic in models.

2. Service Layer Optimization: Optimize service layers (like JCR queries) to fetch only the required data and avoid expensive database queries.

3. Caching: Implement caching (e.g., Dispatcher caching, Ehcache for backend services) to reduce unnecessary backend calls.

4. Asynchronous Processing: Use asynchronous processing for tasks that don’t need to block page rendering (e.g., background data loading).

5. Optimize Servlet Filters: Ensure servlet filters are optimized for performance and avoid heavy operations in the request processing pipeline.

6. Minimize JCR Access: Minimize the number of JCR reads by using the appropriate query techniques and indexing.

7. Use Content Fragments and HTL: Leverage Content Fragments for structured data, and optimize HTL code for faster rendering.

These techniques can enhance backend performance alongside standard AEM optimizations.