This article covers a Bloomreach Experience Manager version 13. There's an updated version available that covers our most recent release.

Configure Virtual Hosts in an Environment

Introduction

Goal

Configure delivery tier virtual hosts after first deployment in an environment.

Background

Bloomreach Experience Manager's delivery tier supports running multiple sites on different host names with cross-domain linking.

The virtual hosts configuration is stored in the content repository and managed using the Console application.

For more technical background information about the configuration model read Request Matching, Hostname Matching and Mount Matching.

Static Virtual Hosts

Let's assume Bloomreach Experience Manager has been deployed in a production environment serving one site at https://www.example.com and the CMS application at https://cms.example.com.

  1. The starting point is the default virtual hosts configuration of a Bloomreach Experience Manager project:

    /hst:hst/hst:hosts:
      /dev-localhost:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /localhost:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /hst:root:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
    

    It configures the virtual host localhost for use in a local development environment.

  2. Create a new virtual host group production-env by adding a node of type hst:virtualhostgroup:

    /hst:hst/hst:hosts:
      /dev-localhost:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /localhost:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /hst:root:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
      /production-env:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
    
  3. In the production-env virtual host group, create a reverse hierarchy of the www.example.com domain using nodes of type hst:virtualhost:
    /hst:hst/hst:hosts:
      /dev-localhost:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /localhost:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /hst:root:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
      /production-env:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /com:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /example:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /www:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
  4. Copy the node  hst:hst/hst:hosts/dev-localhost/localhost/hst:root to  hst:hst/hst:hosts/production-env/com/example/www/hst:root to mount the site at the www.example.com virtual host:
    /hst:hst/hst:hosts:
      /dev-localhost:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /localhost:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /hst:root:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
      /production-env:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /com:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /example:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /www:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
              /hst:root:
                jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
    
  5. Add the two Boolean properties hst:showport and hst:showcontextpath, both with value false, to the hst:root node:
    /hst:hst/hst:hosts:
      /dev-localhost:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /localhost:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /hst:root:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
      /production-env:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
        /com:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          hst:scheme: https
          hst:showport: false
          hst:showcontextpath: false
          /example:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /www:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
              /hst:root:
                jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
    

    Use hst:scheme = https in HTTPS-only scenarios (recommended). Alternatively, use hst:scheme = http for HTTP-only, or hst:schemeagnostic = true to support both HTTP and HTTPS.

    The properties hst:showport and hst:showcontextpath when set to false make sure that the context path and port are not included in links generated by the delivery tier. They can be specified at any level in the virtual hosts configuration and are inherited by child configuration nodes.

  6. Mirror the new virtual hosts group in the platform configuration in order to define the CMS mount:
    /hst:platform/hst-hosts/production-env:
      jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhostgroup
      /com:
        jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
        hst:scheme: https
        hst:showport: false
        hst:showcontextpath: false
        /example:
          jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
          /cms:
            jcr:primaryType: hst:virtualhost
            /hst:root:
              jcr:primaryType: hst:mount
              hst:ismapped: false
              hst:namedpipeline: WebApplicationInvokingPipeline
    
  7. Write changes to the repository.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 for additional sites.
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