Can't get user roles on content delivery server

Question

In Sitecore 7.2 we're having some trouble getting a value from Sitecore.Context.Domain.GetRoles() on our content delivery servers. It works fine in development and locally but when we deploy to a load balanced environment (e.g, production) it's not returning any roles.

Does anybody have any pointers to resolve?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

Since membership data is stored in the core database and you have separate core databases between CM and CD, it's likely that the CDs' core does not contain the role memberships you expect.

You will need to either:

1. Share a core database between CM and CD or
2. Configure replication of the core database between CM and CD

For more information, consult the Scaling Guide for your version of Sitecore.

Relevant sections, depending on how your environment is configured (emphases mine):

2.1. Configuring a Standard Multi-Instance Environment

The standard multi-instance Sitecore setup uses the same three databases, shares the Core and Web databases between all the CM and CD instances, and shares the Master database between all the CM instances.

3.2. Isolating the CM and CD Environments

The CM and CD environments typically need to be isolated to meet security or infrastructure requirements. You can also use the information in this section when you configure geographically distributed CM and CD environments.

3.2.2 Addressing Security Synchronization

In an isolated CM and CD environment, security data and caches are automatically synchronized within every instance of the CM environment, as well as within every instance of the CD environment. This happens because every instance within the environment shares the same databases, and therefore shares the same security data and system event queue. However, security data and caches are not automatically synchronized between the isolated CM and CD environments.

There are different ways to address security synchronization in an isolated CM and CD setup depending on the implementation requirements.

• If your solution does not require synchronization of security data and caches, you do not need to perform any of the modifications described in this section. For example, if the CD instances do not use any extranet security, synchronization may be not required.

• If your solution requires live synchronization of the security data and caches between the CM and CD environments from the default SQL membership, role, and profile providers, plus security caches from additional security providers (Active Directory, CRM, or custom providers), we recommend that you configure database replication to synchronize the CM Core database with the CD Core database.

  This will ensure that the security account data that is stored in these two databases, as well as related security events that are required for synchronizing security caches are replicated between the environments.

  For more information about configuring database replication, see the section How to: Configure SQL Server Replication.

• If your solution does not require live synchronization of security data between the CM and CD environments from the default SQL membership, role, and profile providers, but requires synchronization of security caches from additional security providers (Active Directory, CRM, custom providers), it is enough to only address security cache clearing rather than replicating the Core database.

  For more information about addressing security cache clearing, see the section How to: Address Security Caching Clearing.