Few Queries to set up the separate Processing server on AWS

Question

I have set up a separate processing/aggregation server following instruction - https://doc.sitecore.net/sitecore_experience_platform/82/setting_up_and_maintaining/xdb/configuring_servers/configure_a_processing_server and I have a few questions

1. Do I need to deploy our application code (bin + configuration + views + css etc) on the processing server?

2. We are setting up our environment on AWS (amazon) so do I need to enable the Azure configurations according to the above link?

3. How do CM and CD server know about the separate processing server? Do we need to give it's IP address in any of the config?

Some of my queries may sound stupid but I am setting it for first time so need some urgent help. Thanks

Answer 1

A processing server is basically just another Content Management server that has been reduced down to certain functions. These functions are then disabled from the Primary Content Management server per the configuration guidance (for Sitecore 8 and below) or by the Role Configuration settings in Sitecore 9+.

1) It is advised that all Sitecore instances have the same DLL code base available on all role servers. So binaries, configurations (that apply to the role) should be deployed. For ease of deployment, you CAN deploy all of the front end assets, but the front end delivery is disabled on processing and reporting servers.

2) The Azure configurations are only for Azure. In AWS, you should be creating these servers as if in a VM. The Azure configurations are really only for Azure Search. It is recommended that you utilize a Solr/SolrCloud configuration for index needs.

3) CD Servers communicate with Mongo (or XConnect for Sitecore 9) to store interaction data. Processing Servers pull from Mongo/XConnect and process/aggregate information into the Reporting Database. The Reporting Role then provides the service endpoints needed for Sitecore's CM server to read from the Reporting Database for Experience Analytics. The CM and CD roles do not need to be aware of the processing role. Only thing that matters is that processing role has access to Mongo/XConnect and the same databases as CM.