As XM Cloud garners significant interest within the Sitecore community, I believe it’s my responsibility to provide information and guidance on this platform to assist those who are just starting out. Through this blog, I will be discussing XM Cloud, its features, and its information architecture.
Let’s get started …
What is XM Cloud?
With a rising demand for cloud architecture and the evolving needs of customer to remain competitive in the market, Sitecore introduced a modern cloud-based (SaaS)CMS known as Experience Manager Cloud, a headless content management system. As its SaaS based Sitecore will take care of upgrades as well as installation of needed security patches. It provides fully integrated deployment platform with widely used source control system example — GitHub and Azure DevOps
XM Cloud provides a modern base for an open, composable digital experience platform, as clearly depicted in the following tech stack diagram.
Owing to its composable nature, XM Cloud easily fits into today’s advance technology ecosystem.
By observing the above diagram of XM Cloud’s tools and applications, traditional Sitecore XP developers can easily understand that it signifies a complete lift and shift, or revolution, in the Sitecore platform from how it previously functioned.
Let’s assess what XM Cloud offers as a new platform!
No more hassle with version upgrades
Being a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform, Sitecore handles running automatic updates and security fixes regularly. This ensures that the platform remains secure and up to date with the latest features.
Experience Edge is the new delivery platform.
There is no content delivery servers or multiple CD environments as experience edge is an API-based service from Sitecore that gives globally replicated, scalable access to XM Cloud items, layout and media. Using GraphQL API content can be pulled from XM Cloud. This has removed infrastructure complexity, its Scalable and reaches customers across all channels.
Support for popular version control systems.
XM Cloud has deploy app which deals with version control system and environments. Initially only GitHub was the option but with the recent XM Cloud release (1.5.21) Azure DevOps got added as an option. It’s a subscription-based SaaS so based on subscription projects and related environments get can be created.
Front-end application supports Next.js SDK
Owing to its headless nature, XM Cloud’s main focus is on content. Therefore, it supports Next.js SDK and other Heads for front-end applications.
Next-Generation Authoring and Editing Tools
Sitecore has introduced new editing tools, Pages and Explorer, in addition to the existing Experience editor, each packed with added functionalities. These tools enable content authors to preview content on any device, aiding in responsiveness.
Headless SXA support for creation of Sites
The use of headless SXA greatly simplifies site creation. As we already know, SXA comes with pre-built components that meet the needs of a website and shorten the time to bring it to market.
Front-End As A Service - (FaaS or FEaaS)
Front-End as a Service (FEaaS) is a relatively novel concept in web development. It provides a more efficient and convenient method for constructing the front end of a website or application. This new offering offers a low-code, visual method for creating new components for Sitecore. It allows for the mapping of content/data into these components from any source with an endpoint.
Why XM Cloud?
If you’ve had prior experience with a Sitecore JSS project, you would be aware that Sitecore utilizes this SDK approach for headless projects, employing a decoupled architecture, contrasting the monolithic, tightly coupled nature of Sitecore XP projects using MVC. This approach results in a clear separation of duties, enabling the front-end and backend teams to operate independently.
The front-end team can use modern JavaScript frameworks, but this still introduces some friction as marketers now need to depend on developers for even the tiniest changes to the frontend experience. XM Cloud effectively combines the best of both worlds: it allows building new web experiences based on headless architecture using modern front-end frameworks for a faster time to market, while at the same time it provides marketers with the freedom to design the frontend experience using page layout functionalities.
The above diagram effectively illustrates my points, showing that as a cloud-based product, XM Cloud encompasses all the features expected from a cloud-based system.
XM Cloud Architecture
The XM Cloud CM instance includes both the Sitecore XP Experience Editor and Content Editor, along with two new powerful editing tools: Sitecore Pages and Explorer. As previously mentioned, there’s no content delivery (CD) since a new publishing target called Experience Edge has been added by Sitecore.
Experience Edge delivers content and design information headlessly through the GraphQL endpoint and can be consumed by any head technology such as Next.js, ASP.NET core, Angular, Vue or React.
Build and deployment services can manage Continues Integration and Deployment, projects and Environments through deploy app,
For content authoring, there is an Editing Host where Sitecore pages can be edited and previewed before they go live.
How to Access the XM Cloud Portal and Its Related Ecosystem?
Earlier as a Sitecore developer, you had to install Sitecore using an .exe file, SIA, or a PowerShell script. After following the steps, Sitecore would launch using a hostname, and with your preferred admin and password (b), you would gain access. However, this has now changed. Now https://portal.sitecorecloud.io is the main entry point for XM Cloud. To access this, your organization should have a subscription, as it operates on a subscription-based model.
On the login page, in the Email address field, enter the email address of your account, and click Continue.
If your account uses the default Sitecore authentication, enter your password and click Continue. If multi-factor authentication is enabled by your organization, follow the necessary steps to authenticate.
If your account utilizes single sign-on (SSO), you’ll be redirected to your identity provider’s sign-in page. Log in using your credentials.
On the Sitecore Cloud Portal home page, navigate to the Apps section. Click on the XM Cloud app you wish to log into. In the right-hand pane, click Open or select the relevant app or tool in the Quick actions section.
As I reach the conclusion of this blog, I hope I’ve been able to satiate the curiosity of beginners regarding what XM Cloud brings to the table for Sitecore developers. Today, I’ve guided you on how to access the XM Cloud app. In upcoming blog posts, I will explain what the next steps are.
Happy XM Cloud Learning…...
