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dispatcher

Manages AEM Dispatcher configurations and farms.
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2,750 latest version

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Version information

  • 1.0.0 (latest)
  • 0.2.0
released Apr 8th 2020
This version is compatible with:
  • Puppet Enterprise 2019.8.x, 2019.7.x, 2019.5.x, 2019.4.x, 2019.3.x, 2019.2.x, 2019.1.x, 2019.0.x, 2018.1.x, 2017.3.x, 2017.2.x, 2016.4.x
  • Puppet >= 4.10.0 < 7.0.0
  • , , , , ,

Start using this module

  • r10k or Code Manager
  • Bolt
  • Manual installation
  • Direct download

Add this module to your Puppetfile:

mod 'adobeinc-dispatcher', '1.0.0'
Learn more about managing modules with a Puppetfile

Add this module to your Bolt project:

bolt module add adobeinc-dispatcher
Learn more about using this module with an existing project

Manually install this module globally with Puppet module tool:

puppet module install adobeinc-dispatcher --version 1.0.0

Direct download is not typically how you would use a Puppet module to manage your infrastructure, but you may want to download the module in order to inspect the code.

Download

Documentation

adobeinc/dispatcher — version 1.0.0 Apr 8th 2020

Dispatcher

Table of Contents

  1. Description
  2. Setup - The basics of getting started with dispatcher
  3. Usage - Configuration options and additional functionality
  4. Limitations - OS compatibility, etc.
  5. Contributing - Guidelines for contributing
  6. Development - Guide for contributing to the module

Description

Dispatcher is Adobe Experience Manager's caching and/or load balancing tool. This Puppet module will facilitate the configuration and management of Adobe Dispatcher modules in your infrastructure. It can configure the module and any number of farms definitions in an a simple and efficient manner.

Setup

What the Dispatcher module affects:

  • Dispatcher module configuration files
  • Dispatcher farm configuration files

Setup Requirements

Because the dispatcher module depends on the Apache module, that module must be included in the catalog, otherwise an error will be raised.

This module will configure the dispatcher, but the module must be provided by the consumer. Ensure that the Dispatcher module is made available within the catalog.

Beginning with Dispatcher

To have Puppet install the Dispatcher with default parameters (but no farms), declare the dispatcher class:

class { 'dispatcher' :
  module_file => '/path/to/module/file.so'
}

When you declare this class with the default options, the module:

  • Installs the module in the operating system dependent Apache installation directory.
  • Places the dispatcher configuration file in the operating system dependent Apache directory.
  • Configures the module with default log file, log level, and other optional flags.

Note: While the dispatcher module does not require any farms to be defined, the system will not function correctly without any - and none are defined/provided by default.

Usage

Dispatcher Configuration

The default parameters for the dispatcher class configures the Dispatcher module with reasonable defaults to ensure operation. Minimally, a reference to the dispatcher module file must be provided by the consumer.

class { 'dispatcher' :
  module_file => '/path/to/module/file.so'
}

See the dispatcher class reference for a list of all parameters and their defaults.

Specifying Farms to Load from Hiera

The dispatcher class can be passed a list of farm names. These will signal to load farms directly from hiera data, so that no other resources need to be defined.

class { 'dispatcher' :
  module_file => '/path/to/module/file.so',
  farms       => ['author', 'publish'],
}

Dispatcher Loading to VirtualHosts

To automatically load the Dispatcher module into Apache Virutal hosts, the dispatcher class can be passed a list of those virtual host names. This will concatenate the necessary fragment into the VirtualHost conf file to allow for the dispatcher to process requests.

class { 'dispatcher' :
  module_file => '/path/to/module/file.so',
  vhosts       => ['default', 'custom'],
}

Defining a Farm

The dispatcher::farm configures a render farm definition for the Dispatcher. A minimal configuration is required for successful operation - these parameters are renderers, filters, and cache.

dispatcher::farm { 'publish' :
  renderers => [
    { hostname => 'localhost', port => 4502 },
  ],
  filters => [
    {
      allow => false,
      rank  => 1,
      url   => { regex => true, pattern => '.*' },
    },
  ],
  cache => {
    docroot => '/var/www/html',
    rules => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*.html', allow => true },
    ],
    allowed_clients => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*', allow => false },
      { rank => 2, glob => '127.0.0.1', allow => true },
    ],
  }
}

See the dispatcher::farm defined type reference for a list of all parameters and their defaults.

Note: It is recommended that the farms be defined using hiera data rather than define them as in-line resources in the catalog. See the examples or spec data for ways to achieve this.

Required Parameters

Renderers

The renderers parameter must be passed a list of Dispatcher::Farm::Renderer struct types. This struct allows the farm to be configured with one or more renderer endpoints.

dispatcher::farm { 'publish' :
...
  renderers => [
    { hostname => '192.168.0.1', port => 4502 },
    { hostname => '192.168.0.1', port => 4502 },
  ],
...
}

See the Dispatcher::Farm::Renderer struct type reference for a list of all parameters.

Filters

The filters parameter must be passed a list of Dispatcher::Farm::Filter struct types. This struct defines the order and rules for allowing content to be accessible via the Dispatcher.

Since Adobe has recommended not using glob references, they are not supported in Filters. Regex support is available - this flag is used to determine the quote type: ' (regex) or " (normal).

This example has two rules:

  • Deny access to all content
  • Allows html files from the /content path

They will be ordered deny then allow, as the rank attribute determines order.

dispatcher::farm { 'publish' :
...
  filters => [
    {
      'allow' => true,
      'rank' => 10,
      'path' => { 'regex' => false, 'pattern' => '/content/*' },
      'extension' => { 'regex' => false, 'pattern' => 'html' },
    },
    { 'allow' => false, 'rank' => 1, 'url' => { 'regex' => true, 'pattern' => '.*' } },
  ],
...
}

See the Dispatcher::Farm::Filter struct type reference for a list of all parameters.

Cache

The cache parameter must be passed a Dispatcher::Farm::Cache struct type. This configures the rules for the farm's cache.

This example specifies a docroot, cache files with the html extension, and allow the local system to flush the cache.

dispatcher::farm { 'publish' :
...
  cache => {
    docroot => '/var/www/html',
    rules => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*.html', allow => true },
    ],
    allowed_clients => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*', allow => false },
      { rank => 2, glob => '127.0.0.1', allow => true },
    ],
  }
...
}

See the Dispatcher::Farm::Cache struct type reference for a list of all parameters.

Securing a Farm

The dispatcher::farm defined type supports a custom parameter secure which will indicate whether or not to enable the Adobe Best Practices for securing a dispatcher. Enabling this flag will define the following Farm configurations:

Filters

First, block all access - This forces consumers to explicitly define access rights via other, subsequent filters. Regardless of other filters defined, this will always be the first one.

  /0000 { /type "deny" /url '.*' }

Finally, block access to specific AEM resource paths, selectors, URL parameters and source files. Again, regardless of other filters defined, these entries will always be at the end of the list. This will ensure that even if another filter grants access, these override other definitions.

If access is needed to any resources blocked by these filters, then the Farm must be set to secure => false. There is no mechanism to override the order of these filters.

  /9993 { /type "deny" /url "/crx/*" }
  /9994 { /type "deny" /url "/system/*" }
  /9995 { /type "deny" /url "/apps/*" }
  /9996 { /type "deny" /selectors '(feed|rss|pages|languages|blueprint|infinity|tidy|sysview|docview|query|[0-9-]+|jcr:content)' /extension '(json|xml|html|feed)' }
  /9997 { /type "deny" /method "GET" /query "debug=*" }
  /9998 { /type "deny" /method "GET" /query "wcmmode=*" }
  /9999 { /type "deny" /extension "jsp" }

Cache

Adobe Security best practices recommend that only explicit agents be allowed to flush the Dispatcher's cache. Therefore enabling farm security defines the following allowedClient entry. Again, regardless of other definitions in the Dispatcher::Farm::Cache struct, this entry will always be first - forcing consumers to be explicit about the allowed clients.

/cache {
  ...
  /allowedClients {
    /0000 { /type "deny" /glob "*" }
  }
}

SELinux Docroot Support

Normally the Apache module is responsible for managing the docroot for a given farm and VirtualHost. However, when SELinux is enabled and enforcing, this creates an issue as the default setting for the docroot is read only.

This module allows you to switch ownership of the docroot from the Apache module to this module. Thus, when SELinux is enforcing, the seltype will be correctly set to read/write on this folder. To do so, set the manage_docroot of the Dispatcher::Farm::Cache struct to true.

Note: The manage_docroot of the Apache VirtualHost resource must be set to false or a catalog error will occur. 

dispatcher::farm { 'publish' :
...
  cache => {
    docroot => '/var/www/html',
    manage_docroot => true,
    rules => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*.html', allow => true },
    ],
    allowed_clients => [
      { rank => 1, glob => '*', allow => false },
      { rank => 2, glob => '127.0.0.1', allow => true },
    ],
  }
...
}

Note: This module only supports managing the docroot based on default parameters in the Apache module. To customize further, the docroot must be managed externally.

Reference

For information on classes, types, and structs see the REFERENCE.md.

Templates

This module relies heavily on templates to configure the dispatcher::farm defined type. These templates are based on Facter and properties in the Apache module that are specific to your operating system. None of these templates are meant for configuration.

Limitations

For an extensive list of supported operating systems, see the metadata.json.

Contributing

We always appreciate any community contributions to this project. Please check out our Contributing guidelines for more information.

Development

Testing

This module uses PDK for development. When making updates to the module, please run the PDK Validation and PDK Unit Testing commands.

  $ pdk validate
  ...
  $ pdk test unit --puppet-version 5
  ...
  $ pdk test unit --puppet-version 6

When developing or testing, it is recommended not to use the bundle command directly. PDK and Bundle aren't always friendly. If a bundle command will be run, use PDK to "wrap" the bundle command. See the Acceptance Tests section for example with running Litmus.

Note: This module should be tested against both Puppet v5.x and v6.x

Acceptance Tests

This module uses puppet_litmus to perform acceptance tests. There are three provision groups: debian, ubuntu and el. Before submitting a Pull Request, please add acceptance tests and validate the changes:

  $ pdk bundle exec rake 'litmus:provision_list[<group>]'
    ...
  $ pdk bundle exec rake litmus:install_agent
    ...
  $ pdk bundle exec rake litmus:install_module
    ...
  $ pdk bundle exec rake litmus:acceptance:parallel
    ...
  $ pdk bundle exec rake litmus:tear_down

Documentation

If you submit a change to this module, be sure to regenerate the reference documentation as follows. (This may be removed after validation that it is created by TravisCI.)

$ pdk bundle exec rake strings:generate:reference