https://www.bramstoop.com/categories/sitecore/ Recent content in sitecore on bramstoop.com Hugo -- gohugo.io en Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2021/08/2021-08-30-maintaining-sql-azure-scheduled/ Mon, 30 Aug 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2021/08/2021-08-30-maintaining-sql-azure-scheduled/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Introduction Within this blog post you will be setting up a YAML pipeline that will perform maintenance on your SQL Azure databases. Creating and executing a stored procedure running on a scheduled base. Benefits of using Azure DevOps pipeline as your scheduler is that it is free, is has no external dependencies, it does not use ‘run-as-account’ that might expire and it is easy to setup/maintain. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2021/02/2021-02-17-replace-xconnect-certificate-sitecore10/ Wed, 17 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2021/02/2021-02-17-replace-xconnect-certificate-sitecore10/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW This post is for easy looking up of actions that are involved while replacing your xConnect certificate on Sitecore 10. Replace thumbprint values within the following files and app settings: XP Roles CD \wwwroot\App_Config\ConnectionStrings.config + WEBSITE_LOAD_CERTIFICATES App Setting CM \wwwroot\App_Config\ConnectionStrings.config + WEBSITE_LOAD_CERTIFICATES App Setting CORTEX PROCESSING \wwwroot\App_Config\AppSettings.config \wwwroot\App_Data\jobs\continuous\ProcessingEngine\App_Config\ConnectionStrings.config + WEBSITE_LOAD_CERTIFICATES App Setting CORTEX REPORTING \wwwroot\App_Config\AppSettings.config + WEBSITE_LOAD_CERTIFICATES App Setting EXM-DDS https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2020/08/2020-08-06-setup-solr75-cluster-with-zookeeper-ensemble-on-windows/ Thu, 06 Aug 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2020/08/2020-08-06-setup-solr75-cluster-with-zookeeper-ensemble-on-windows/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Within this post I will show you how to setup a Solr cluster with a Zookeeper ensemble while load being distributed by an Azure loadbalancer. Note: There is no SSL used and in the future the Azure loadbalancer might get replaced by an Application Gateway. I would like to thank the owners (amongst others, I probably missed) of the following blogs for being a more than valuable source of information: https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2020/07/2020-07-29-useful-azure-application-gateway-waf-querys/ Wed, 29 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2020/07/2020-07-29-useful-azure-application-gateway-waf-querys/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW To archive some of the queries I created and/or found on the internet and proved to be of value, I will drop them here: Blocked requests AzureDiagnostics | where TimeGenerated > ago(1h) | where Category == “ApplicationGatewayFirewallLog” | where action_s == “Blocked” | order by TimeGenerated Count of the incoming requests on the Application Gateway. AzureDiagnostics | where ResourceType == “APPLICATIONGATEWAYS” and OperationName == “ApplicationGatewayAccess” | summarize AggregatedValue = count() by bin(TimeGenerated, 1h) | render timechart https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/11/2019-11-07-useful-sitecore-kql-ai-querys/ Thu, 07 Nov 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/11/2019-11-07-useful-sitecore-kql-ai-querys/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW As a successor to one of my previous posts, I would like to share some additional KQL queries which might help you during the troubleshooting sessions of your Sitecore application:Availability Results: availabilityResults | where timestamp > ago(7d) | summarize avg(toint(success)) * 100 by bin(timestamp, 1h), name | order by timestamp asc | render timechart Get unique users per day past 90 days: https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/10/2019-10-10-useful-xdb-troubleshooting-queries/ Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/10/2019-10-10-useful-xdb-troubleshooting-queries/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW There is not much structure to be found in this post, I will mainly use it as a location to keep track of useful xDB troubleshooting tips and tricks. How does all my xDB data flow and how to pinpoint/analyze issues: To check what user you are within xDB you will need to have the value of your SC_ANALYTICS_GLOBAL_COOKIE. Copy the value without ‘| False’. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/09/2019-09-19-sitecore-identity-server-deployment/ Thu, 19 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/09/2019-09-19-sitecore-identity-server-deployment/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW When you run in to the following ERROR while deploying your Sitecore XP solution, and in specific the Identity Server: 8:21:15 PM - Resource Microsoft.Web/sites/siteextensions ‘xxx/AspNetCoreRuntime’ failed with message ‘{ “id”: “/subscriptions/xxx/resourcegroups/xxx/providers/Microsoft.Web/sites/xxx/siteextensions/AspNetCoreRuntime”, “name”: “xxx/AspNetCoreRuntime”, “type”: “Microsoft.Web/sites/siteextensions”, “location”: “West Europe”, “properties”: { “id”: “AspNetCoreRuntime”, “title”: null, “type”: “Gallery”, “summary”: null, “description”: null, “version”: null, “extension_url”: null, “project_url”: null, “icon_url”: null, “license_url”: null, “feed_url”: null, “authors”: null, https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/09/2019-09-16-monitor-sitecore-certificates-and-runasaccount-azure-automation/ Mon, 16 Sep 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/09/2019-09-16-monitor-sitecore-certificates-and-runasaccount-azure-automation/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Using the instructions underneath you will be able to import an Azure Automation runbook that will alert you using Sendgrid before certificates will expire. The urge of creating this script was to find a way to inform us whenever the private certificate for Sitecore X-connect would expire. The script will, however, help you to monitor all your certificates within your Azure subscription. Next to that it will assure you will renew the certificates for your RunAsAccounts, causing it not to expire, so that your runbooks will be operational. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/08/2019-08-29-sitecore-hotfix-version-selector/ Thu, 29 Aug 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/08/2019-08-29-sitecore-hotfix-version-selector/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Because of the fact we are running a lot of different Sitecore versions for our customers we love to have a good overview of the available hot fixes. Sitecore has a great GitHub page for this:https://github.com/SitecoreSupport. Unfortunately it is hard to list all specific hotfixes per version. The idea to daily crawl the GitHub page began to rise. A runbook writes the needed JSON data to a private storage account wheres we read the data using a . https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-16-validate-all-your-sitecore-arm-templates-on-build/ Thu, 16 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-16-validate-all-your-sitecore-arm-templates-on-build/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW While working with ARM templates and Azure DevOps it definitely adds value to validate all your Json files during build. This might save you a lot of time. To implement this you could setup the following tasks within your build pipeline: Add a ‘npm’ task within your build and configure it as below: Now add a subsequent Powershell task, run it inline and add the following script: https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-13-rebuild-your-reporting-database-with-electric-speed/ Mon, 13 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-13-rebuild-your-reporting-database-with-electric-speed/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Since there is a lot of information to be found on the terribly slow rebuilding of your reporting database I would like to provide you with the setup and findings I did while rebuilding the reporting database for one of our customers. I found a configuration/path whereas you will at least process 100k interactions per hour and most likely more. Whenever you want to test this on another environment than production (hopefully) I suggest you take a brief look into one of my earlier posts: Restoring or migrating your Xdb data. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-13-restoring-or-migrating-your-xdb-data/ Mon, 13 May 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/05/2019-05-13-restoring-or-migrating-your-xdb-data/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Whenever you want to restore your Xdb data to another environment there are certain steps to take. I will take you through the steps to accomplish this in this post. The described process is valid for Sitecore 9 and Azure PAAS environments and consists of a total of three tasks: Restoring or migrating your Xdb data Rebuilding your reporting database Rebuilding your Xdb index Restoring or migrating your Xdb data https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-experience-analytics-there-are-errors/ Thu, 21 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-experience-analytics-there-are-errors/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW While pressing the tile ‘Experience Analytics’ in Sitecore 9, the following errors showed up: There are errors. The TopTenCampaignsByValue graph cannot be displayed due to a server error. Contact you system administrator. The OnlineInteractionsByVisitsAndValuePerVisit graph cannot be displayed due to a server error. Contact you system administrator. The TopTenPatternsByValuePerVisit graph cannot be displayed due to a server error. Contact you system administrator. The OnlineInteractions graph cannot be displayed due to a server error. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-rebuilding-your-sitecore-xdb-index-v901/ Thu, 21 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-rebuilding-your-sitecore-xdb-index-v901/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Since there is no complete out of the box functionality for rebuilding the Sitecore Xdb collection based on all historical data within your sql shards we received a hotfix from Sitecore to backport this functionality from 9.0.2. to 9.0.1. In case you are in need of this hotfix, please reach out to Sitecore and reference: “SC Hotfix 232561-2”. Good news. We’ve made a backport of the fix from the 9. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-report-your-team-about-sitecore-stats-using-flow-and-ai/ Thu, 21 Mar 2019 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2019/03/2019-03-21-report-your-team-about-sitecore-stats-using-flow-and-ai/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW In reality I notice that not every person within a client team has or takes the time to look into the data that Sitecore is sending to Application Insights on a daily and structured base. In essence not every person has to do that but should be served an overview on regular base. To improve the awareness of the power of logs we build an AI flow that queries Application Insights and sends reports using Sendgrid on a weekly base. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-22-disabling-sitecore-config-files-in-azure-app-service-using-azure-devops/ Mon, 22 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-22-disabling-sitecore-config-files-in-azure-app-service-using-azure-devops/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Since we are keen on keeping the Sitecore scwdp packages OOTB as untouched as can be (as of our deployment strategy) we have two type of tasks in our release pipeline to disable/rename config files after deploying a vanilla package. Please keep in mind that, while using these tasks, we are always deploying to a staging slot with status ‘stopped’. While checking the script(s), note that you are able to write your own powershell scripts within the $commandBody variable: "$commandBody = @{ command = "powershell. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-18-baseline-your-dashboards-using-arm-templates/ Thu, 18 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-18-baseline-your-dashboards-using-arm-templates/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW In one of my previous posts (click) I mentioned some useful AI query’s for maintaining and managing your Sitecore solution. To make sure every Sitecore solution(s) you are managing will be deployed with a baseline dashboard I added all the query’s to an ARM template. 1.Download the arm template: [code language="powershell”] $url = “https://raw.githubusercontent.com/bstoop-github/public/master/Sitecore/dashboard/deployDashboard.json" $output = “c:\TMP\deployDashboard.json” Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile $output [/code] https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-16-sitecore-symposium-must-read-takeaways/ Tue, 16 Oct 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/10/2018-10-16-sitecore-symposium-must-read-takeaways/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW “Returning from this year’s Sitecore Symposium in Orlando, I would like to share some improved/new insights that have come to me due to attending some great sessions. Some of this blog post will assume you are using a Sitecore on Azure PAAS solution. Most sessions I attended were related to continuous integration, continuous deployment, architectures, scaling, high availability and disaster recovery. The sessions from Bas Lijten, Dennis Weston and Rob Habraken inspired me most and therefore I will elaborate/reflect on most of their content. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/08/2018-08-09-check-sitecore-using-these-ai-querys/ Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/08/2018-08-09-check-sitecore-using-these-ai-querys/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW While using Sitecore on Azure you will most likely be able to find your way around using Application Insights. Keeping your Sitecore instances running smooth will, however, require you to check the available logs on a regular base. The most common way to check your environment is to browse trough AI within the Azure Portal. Given the fact you are using AI as ALM monitoring, obviously. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/08/2018-08-03-monitor-your-azure-ssl-certificates-expiration/ Fri, 03 Aug 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/08/2018-08-03-monitor-your-azure-ssl-certificates-expiration/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Using the instructions underneath you will be able to import an Azure Automation runbook that will alert you using Sendgrid whenever certificates will expire. The urge of creating this script was to find a way to inform us whenever the private certificate for Sitecore X-connect would expire. The script will, however, help you to monitor all your certificates within your Azure subscription. Prerequisites: - Azure Automation account - Azure Automation module - AzureRM. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/06/2018-06-13-replacing-the-sitecore-client-certificate-on-azure-in-5-steps/ Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/06/2018-06-13-replacing-the-sitecore-client-certificate-on-azure-in-5-steps/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW These instructions are for a Sitecore 9.0.1. XP1 Topology - on Azure. For using X-connect there is a need of using client certificates. In Azure these certificates are named private certificates. Since these certificates expire there is a need to replace them. To make life easier I will describe this process in the 5 steps underneath: Step 1 Upload the new certificate (pfx) to Azure using ARM template or portal. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/06/2018-06-08-download-sitecore-media-items-to-local-disk/ Fri, 08 Jun 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/06/2018-06-08-download-sitecore-media-items-to-local-disk/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW For one of our customers we were in need of downloading all media files from Sitecore to our local hard disk. Since we are using the Sitecore SPE extension, the following script gave us all the urls we needed to download them using our local Powershell. [code language="powershell”] $url = “https://URLOFTHESITECOREWEBSITE/” $mediaLibraryRootPath = “master:/sitecore/media library/Images/” $listAllItems = Get-ChildItem -Recurse $mediaLibraryRootPath foreach($item in $listAllItems){ https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/04/2018-04-26-etimedout-app-service-deploy-task/ Thu, 26 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/04/2018-04-26-etimedout-app-service-deploy-task/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW We experienced issues while uploading files to the slot of an App Service. We were using the Azure App Service Deploy task. We have approximately 10 of these task within our deployment process. Sometimes the tasks succeed, sometimes they fail. We do not see any algorithm in this behaviour. We are using TFS on-premises, version: 16.122.27102.1 With system,debug on true we notice the following ERROR output: https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/04/2018-04-25-sugcon-2018-berlin/ Wed, 25 Apr 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/04/2018-04-25-sugcon-2018-berlin/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW Since there were 60 sessions to participate in, it seemed like a hard job to make a selection. On the other hand, there weren’t as much sessions with focus on operations which made things easier. The opening session was about connecting and processing data with x-connect that is not coming from within a Sitecore application. Basically it explained that all data can be pushed to/consumed by the x-connect API. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/03/2018-03-16-sitecore-9-0-1-xcserverconfigurationenvironment-parameter/ Fri, 16 Mar 2018 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2018/03/2018-03-16-sitecore-9-0-1-xcserverconfigurationenvironment-parameter/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW We’re setting up an automated deployment using the Sitecore ARM templates. Doing so we came across the following parameter: xcServerConfigurationEnvironment This variable can contain either “Development” or “Production” and is used in the x-connect and Marketing automation apps. We were wondering what the purpose of this variable is and how this parameter should be configured on the different environments? Answer: I would like to address your question regarding the “xcServerConfigurationEnvironment” parameter. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/08/2017-08-11-sitecore-hardening-using-azure-app-authentication/ Fri, 11 Aug 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/08/2017-08-11-sitecore-hardening-using-azure-app-authentication/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW With Azure App Authentication it is easy to secure your app with an identity provider. The steps to take are described at the following page: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service-mobile/app-service-mobile-how-to-configure-active-directory-authentication . For securing certain url paths it is required to set Action to take when request is not authenticated to Allow request (no action). When you have followed the instructions above, the next step is to create a authorization. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/07/2017-07-16-ipsecurityrestrictions-on-azure-app-services/ Sun, 16 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/07/2017-07-16-ipsecurityrestrictions-on-azure-app-services/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW With the powershell scripts underneath you can easily close and open traffic towards your azure app services. Note: by adjusting the resource name variable you can add appsettings to your staging slot as well. [expander_maker id="1” more="Script: open to the world” less="Collapse”] ### Open to the world ### Write-Host “Open all traffic to app service” $resourceGroupName = ‘TOBEFILLED’ $resourceName = ‘YOURAPPNAMEHERE’ + ‘/web’ $r = Get-AzureRmResource -ResourceGroupName $resourceGroupName -ResourceType Microsoft. https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/06/2017-06-12-how-to-export-sql-azure-to-storage-account/ Mon, 12 Jun 2017 00:00:00 +0000 https://www.bramstoop.com/posts/2017/06/2017-06-12-how-to-export-sql-azure-to-storage-account/ BACK TO BLOG OVERVIEW The script underneath can be used to export a sql azure database to a storage account. It will create a storage account if it does not exist. Remark: script underneath is based on exporting Sitecore master, core and web database but can be changed to your standards easily. Note: the database names we use are based on tfs_buildnumbers that we set in a appsetting within the azure app service.