Custom Run Modes in AEMaaCS

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In AEM 6.5, you can define arbitrary run modes to apply OSGi configurations to specific instances. However, in AEMaaCS, the platform supports a fixed set of predefined run modes. While custom run modes cannot be created in AEMaaCS, you can still achieve similar functionality using alternative approaches. In this article, we will explore the changes in run modes in AEMaaCS and discuss how to adapt your custom run modes for use in AEMaaCS.

Changes in Run Modes in AEMaaCS

  • Predefined Run Modes: Environments are standardized with predefined set: RDE, Dev, Stage, and Prod. Each environment consists of Author, Publish, and Preview service.
  • SlingSettingsService: The getRunModes() method returns either "author" or "publish", depending on the instance type. However, it does not indicate the specific environment, such as Dev, Stage, or Prod.
  • Preview Service: AEMaaCS provides Preview service, allows previewing the final website experience before content is published and made publicly available.
Each program can have only one production environment, but multiple non-production environments. If an additional environment is required for UAT, you can create another DEV environment. However, both DEV environments will have the same run mode, dev.
As both DEV environments share the same run mode, questions may arise on how to manage configurations for each DEV environment. For OSGi config perspective, we will have same configuration file for both DEV environments. Consider below example:
config.pusbish.dev / com.aem.demo.core.services.impl.AppConfigServiceImpl.cfg.json
{ "app.name": "aem-demo", "api.endpoint": "https://dev.google.com", "client.id": "8TfyfkUAB481AxOfn4UrqIyWIStKrTm8Jl", "client.secret": "8TxmpkXAPRtLiOHIFHzjx4uKHlm1soAvO7I" }
Based on above configuration, most likely app.name will be same for both DEV environments. Others are supposed to be different for each DEV environment.
Environment Variables and Secrets come into play to setup environment-specific configurations. You can set environment variables at the environment level in Cloud Manager and use them in your OSGi config to differentiate between environments.
config.pusbish.dev / com.aem.demo.core.services.impl.AppConfigServiceImpl.cfg.json
{ "app.name": "aem-demo", "api.endpoint": "$[env:API_ENDPOINT]", "client.id": "$[secret:CLIENT_ID]", "client.secret": "$[secret:CLIENT_SECRET]" }
Now, api.endpoint, client.id, and client.secret will be retrieved from environment variables and loaded dynamically based on the environment in which the instance is running.
SlingSettingsService is used to determine the run mode of the instance. In AEM 6.5, you can define custom run modes e.g., uat and getRunModes() will return both author and uat as run mode. However, in AEMaaCS, you will get the service only either "author" or "publish", no information about environment.
In case you need to understand the environment in which the instance is running, you can use Environment Variables to differentiate between environments. Create a new environment variable in Cloud Manager for each environment and use it in your code to determine the environment.
Environment.java
String envName = System.getenv("AEM_ENV_NAME");
Depending on your project requirement, you can use the environment variable as a property in OSGi configuration as well. However, it is highly recommended to avoid environment specific business logic in your code.

Run Modes for Preview Service

AEMaaCS introduces Preview service but does not provide a separate run mode for it. Both Publish and Preview services share the same run mode, "publish". Since separate run mode is not provided, environment variables can be used to distinguish between them by defining dedicated variables for each service.
Hope, this article helps you to understand the changes in run modes in AEMaaCS and how to manage configurations for different environments. Have any questions or feedback? Feel free to share in the comments below.
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