Slurp.. technical blogs!: AEM Dispatcher Setup Using Docker

Dispatcher Setup

The AEM as a Cloud Service SDK includes the recommended Dispatcher Tools version, that facilitates configuring, validating, and simulating Dispatcher locally. Dispatcher Tools is comprised of:

a baseline set of Apache HTTP Web server and Dispatcher configuration files, located in .../dispatcher-sdk-x.x.x/src
a configuration validator CLI tool, located at .../dispatcher-sdk-x.x.x/bin/validate (Dispatcher SDK 2.0.29+)
a configuration generation CLI tool, located at .../dispatcher-sdk-x.x.x/bin/validator
a configuration deployment CLI tool, located at .../dispatcher-sdk-x.x.x/bin/docker_run
a Docker image that runs Apache HTTP Web server with the Dispatcher module

Prerequisites:

Windows users must use Windows 10 Professional.
Install Experience Manager Publish Quickstart Jar on the local develop machine. Please refer local set-up.
Install and start the latest version of Docker (Docker Desktop 2.2.0.5+ / Docker Engine v19.03.9+) on the local development machine.

Dispatcher Set-Up

Dispatcher tools comes along with aem-sdk. Extract this zip file.

In the extracted folder, there is aem-sdk-dispacther-tools-x.x.xx-windows.zip. Extract this zip in some folder, you can see below structure.

src folder contains below folders:

Configuration Structure:

├── conf.d

│ ├── available_vhosts

│ │ └── default.vhost

│ ├── dispatcher_vhost.conf

│ ├── enabled_vhosts

│ │ ├── README

│ │ └── default.vhost -> ../available_vhosts/default.vhost

│ └── rewrites

│ │ ├── default_rewrite.rules

│ │ └── rewrite.rules

│ └── variables

| ├── custom.vars

│ └── global.vars

└── conf.dispatcher.d

├── available_farms

│ └── default.farm

├── cache

│ ├── default_invalidate.any

│ ├── default_rules.any

│ └── rules.any

├── clientheaders

│ ├── clientheaders.any

│ └── default_clientheaders.any

├── dispatcher.any

├── enabled_farms

│ ├── README

│ └── default.farm -> ../available_farms/default.farm

├── filters

│ ├── default_filters.any

│ └── filters.any

├── renders

│ └── default_renders.any

└── virtualhosts

├── default_virtualhosts.any

└── virtualhosts.any

docs folder:

bin folder:

The bin subdirectory also contains a docker image and a shell script to execute that will use your deployment information and run an Apache and dispatcher in a docker container. It also contains a validator binary for macOS and Linux.

Local development and testing

Start publish instance and docker desktop first.

Step 1: Validate the Dispatcher configuration contained in this SDK

On Windows, go to dispatcher folder and run below command

> bin\validator full -d out src

This validates the configuration and generates deployment information in out.

Out folder is created in folder:

Step 2: Validate the deployment information by the Dispatcher in a docker image.

Run below command:

bin\docker_run out host.docker.internal:4503 8080

host.docker.internal is pointing to localhost.

Open any page in publish instance:

Open same url on port 8080 as we started docker on this port 8080.

Dispatcher is working and we can access our publish instance pages on dispatcher.

Project Dispatcher’s code testing:

Step-1: Delete out folder from dispatcher’s folder.

Step-2: Now run below command to deploy project’s specific dispatcher configurations:

Let's add one rule in rewrite file.

custom.var file

bin\validator full -d out <loctaion>/dispatcher/src

out folder is created in the same folder:

Open any file to check your configurations. Let’s say I opened file “rewrite_rules” and you can see project specific configs are deployed successfully.