We have installed Sitecore(9.0.1) instance in Azure Web App , we often facing Sitecore CM slowness as number users are more or number input requests are more and we have decide to go with multiple CM server one is for Authoring and Other one for Publishing. By scaling CM instance we may reduce the traffic.
Please suggest how can we setup multiple CM instances in Azure Web App?
If you want to achieve a clear separation of concerns and delegate the Publishing responsibility to another CM instance then I would recommend to configure a Content Publishing (CP) service that can be installed as an Azure Application Service in addition to your existing CM instance to offload it.
CP service acts as a replacement for the Sitecore publishing methods that are part of the Content Management role and increases publishing throughput, reduces the amount of time spent publishing large volumes of items, and offers greater data consistency and reliability.
Please visit the Publishing Service download page for documentation about setup and configuration, and also check the CP compatibility table with your Sitecore version here.
For development needs you can simply run the Publishing role as a console application.
You need to use the Sitecore Azure Toolkit (SAT) to install the Content Management role, you can refer to the installation guide for your Sitecore version (9.0.1).
See the below scaling options for CM role -
While installtion the separate CM, please make sure to consider below points -
Deploy the Content management role as close as possible to Master database and make sure you are using only one master database for all the CM servers.
The indexing sub-role is enabled on the Content Management role by default. If you have more than one instance of the Content Management role, you must disable indexing on all except one instance. - https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/90/platform-administration-and-architecture/enable-the-indexing-sub-role.html
Storing counters in Azure is not free, so make sure to Enable or disable performance counters based on your requirment for CM servers. - https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/90/platform-administration-and-architecture/enable-or-disable-performance-counters.html
The robot detection component is disabled by default on the Content Management role, and may cause errors if enabled.- https://doc.sitecore.com/xp/en/developers/90/platform-administration-and-architecture/disable-the-robot-detection-component-on-a-content-management-server.html
By default, Sitecore assigns each CM instance a name based on the machine name plus the IIS server name. You must ensure that each CM instance has a unique name. To set the instance name, create the following patch file at /App_Config/include/InstanceName.config:
<setting name="InstanceName">
<patch:attribute name="value"><your unique CM instance name>
</patch:attribute>
</setting>
Only one CM instance can perform publishing, and you must ensure that each CM instance points to the publishing CM instance. To set the publishing CM instance name, create the following patch file at /App_Config/include/PublishingInstance.config:
<setting name="Publishing.PublishingInstance">
<patch:attribute name="value"><your publishing CM instance name>
</patch:attribute>
</setting>
NOTE - The Publishing.PublishingInstance setting is only relevant when you are using the built-in publishing methods in the Content Management role. It is not relevant if you are using the optional Content Publishing service.
In the /Web.config file, set the validationKey and the decryptionKey attributes of the /configuration/system.web/machineKey setting to a non-auto generated value. Ensure that the value is the same on all the Sitecore instances within the environment and that the IsolateApps modifier is not present in either value.
On all but one instance, create a patch file that disables Scheduled Task processing:
<configuration xmlns:patch="http://www.sitecore.net/xmlconfig/">
<sitecore>
<scheduling>
<agent name="Core_Database_Agent">
<patch:delete />
</agent>
<agent name="Master_Database_Agent">
<patch:delete />
</agent>
</scheduling>
</sitecore>
</configuration>
Shared session state is not supported on Content Management (CM) servers and you have to use a load balancer to use sticky session.
If you have multiple CM instances, you must set up a dedicated Reporting Service instance.
References -
