SITECORE 9 ARCHITECURE AND ROLES QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

INTRODCTION
Sitecore 9 comes with ~50 roles. Which is obvious in this Microservices era. Sitecore team has done
good job documen ng them. It is very detailed. But I feel it is spread across lot of sec ons and It
was hard for me to connect the dots. Wanted to have one quick reference guide. Which explains
overall architecture.
If ques ons come in to your mind or ques on comes to you “What is usage of Reference Data
service?” “What is usage Data Exchange Framework Remote Client? And if you need quick answers,
then this document is for you.

BASICS
MAJOR PRODUCTS/COMPONENTS
1. Sitecore Experience Manager (a.k.a. XM): The Sitecore Experience Manager (XM) refers to
the web content management (WCM) core of the Sitecore Experience Pla orm. XM
encompasses the features involved in the crea on, management, personaliza on, and
publishing of content. The Sitecore Experience Manager consists of the subset of the logical
roles:

2. Sitecore Experience Pla orm (a.k.a. XP) : The Sitecore Experience Pla orm (XP) combines
Experience Manager with the marke ng and customer intelligence features offered by
xConnect and the xDB. xConnect and the xDB introduce several addi onal server roles and
storage mechanisms.

 xConnect is the name given to the set of services that sit in between the xDB and any
trusted client, device, or interface that wants to collect and search experience data
over HTTPS.
 xDB is the name given to the collec on of services and storage roles that store and
process experience data. Clients that are external to the xDB - such as a Content
Management server - must use xConnect to read and write xDB data.

The following diagram lists the logical roles that are added by the Experience Pla orm:

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The following diagram lists every logical role included in the Sitecore Experience Pla orm:

If you closely look at above diagram, it has two colors, Green color – Represents all XM roles and
Purple ones represent XP roles. So, we can easily say XP inherits/extends XM.
3. Sitecore Experience Commerce (a.k.a. XC) : Sitecore Experience Commerce (XC) provides
you all func onali es related to Commerce.

Following diagram shows XM, XP and XC in a single view.

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PRE-BUILT TOPOLOGIES
1. XM/XP Single: For small implementa ons, including local environments such as developer
worksta ons and tes ng environments, the pla orm can be installed on a single computer. This
topology configura on is known as XP Single.
2. XM/XP Scaled: For larger implementa ons, the pla orm can be ver cally and horizontally
scaled to suit your scaling requirements. A fully ver cally scaled topology configura on is
known as XP Scaled.
ROLES
The en re Sitecore product suite contains over 50 logical system roles or en es which can be
scaled and configured in a wide variety of topologies to form a running Sitecore solu on catering
for specific business needs or requirements.
Following table shows number of roles By Product:

Product/ # # Applica on # Applica on # Indexes # Cloud Total

Storage Roles: Web Roles: Services
# Roles
Roles Worker Roles
XM 6 3 1 3 2 15
XP 8 8 2 8 1 27
XC 2 5 1 3 0 11
Total 16 16 4 14 3 53

Few observa ons:

1. Total roles are 53
2. Total databases/storage roles are 16
3. Total Indexes are 14
4. If you install XP, then you will have ~42 roles.

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Now, let’s delve further in to each role and its importance:

STORAGE ROLES

Storage roles – store the data of the Sitecore pla orm, for example, content, media, or customer
informa on. These roles are typically databases, but can also be more transient storage providers,
for example, in-memory data stores. The data in these roles are stored either permanently or
temporarily, for example, data wai ng for processing.
# Name Usage Read More
1 Core The Core database stores Read more
infrastructure data needed to
run Sitecore itself.
2 Master The Master database contains Read more
all published and unpublished
content for all publishing
targets.
3 Web The Web database contains Read more
the published version of the
content for a given publishing
target. By default, there is a
single Web database.
4 Forms The Forms database contains Read more
customer form entries for the
Sitecore Forms module.
5 Private Session Store The Private Session State Read more
Store is temporary storage for
session data for ac ve visitors,
including metadata for ac ve
visitors and ac ve visits for
personaliza on.

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 6 Shared Session Store
7 xDB Collec on Database
8 EXM Database
9 Message Bus Database
10 xDB Reference Data Database
11 xDB Processing Tasks
Database
12 xDB Processing Pools
Database
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The Shared Session State
Store allows storing
informa on about the current
contact state and related
data, including all data that is
unique to a contact and that
can be shared across
simultaneous sessions. This
informa on needs to remain
accessible to other concurrent
opera ons, for example,
interac ons and background
processes, and can be shared
across mul ple sessions.
The xDB Collec on database Read more
contains all contacts and
interac ons, including facets
and events.
The EXM database stores the Read more
email dispatch queue used by
the EXM Dispatch roles to
handle email genera on and
dispatching.
The Message bus is a message
transport mechanism which
allows applica on roles to
communicate across
boundaries.
The Sitecore Message bus is
based on the RabbitMQ
message broker.
The xDB Reference Data
database contains marke ng
reference content for all xDB
data, such as defini ons and
taxonomies.
The xDB Processing Tasks
database stores processing
tasks related to history
aggrega on and distributed
processing.
The xDB Processing Pools
database performs the
following func ons:
Stores work items with IDs for
newly created contacts and
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 interac ons. Work items are
added by the xConnect
Collec on service role and
consumed by the xDB
Processing role during live
aggrega on processing.

Acts as a retry mechanism for

live aggrega on, history
aggrega on and distributed
processing by storing work
items with IDs for contacts
and interac ons that could
not be processed and should
be retried. Work items are
added by and consumed by
xDB Processing role.
13 xDB Repor ng Database The xDB Repor ng database
(Repor ng DB) contains data
that has been aggregated or
reduced by xDB Processing.
14 Marke ng Automa on This Marke ng Automa on
Database database contains marke ng
automa on plan and ac vity
enrollments, and the
automa on pool.
15 Shared Environments The Shared Environments Read more
database stores data that is
used by mul ple Commerce
roles, including the product
catalog, customers, pricing
informa on, and promo ons.
16 Global The Global database stores Read more
Commerce configura on data,
such as policies.

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APPLICATION ROLES: WEB ROLES
Web Roles – deliver output to visitors or administrators or to calling applica ons – in other words
websites or web services with API endpoints.
# Name
1 Content Delivery
2 Content Management
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Usage Read More
The Content Delivery (CD) role Read more
handles requests from visitors
across channels, determines
which content to serve, and
renders output in the relevant
format for the channel.
You can configure one or
more content delivery servers
for improved scalability and
be er performance. If you
expect to have high numbers
of visitors or want to
configure servers in different
geographic loca ons, you can
arrange content delivery
servers into clusters.
The Content Management Read more
(CM) role enables authors to
create, manage, and publish
content.
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 3 Content Publishing
4 xConnect Collec on Service
5 xConnect Collec on Search
Service
6 xDB Processing
7 xDB Repor ng
8 EXM Dedicated Dispatch
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The Content Publishing Read more
(Publishing) role publishes
content from the Master
database to Web database
and is an op onal
replacement for the Sitecore
publishing methods that are
part of the Content
Management role.
The xConnect Collec on Read more
service role performs the
following func ons:
 Receives contacts and
interac ons, either
individually or in a
batch.
 Allows reading of
contact and interac on
data by ID or iden fier.
 Supports data
extrac on.
The xConnect Collec on
service can be accessed using
the xConnect Client API or
another API that consumes
the oData service.
The xConnect Collec on Read more
Search service role allows you
to search contacts and
interac ons using the
xConnect Client API or
another API that consumes
the oData service. This role
can also collect data.
The xDB Processing Read more
(Processing) role analyses and
aggregates collected data to
make into usable in repor ng.
The xDB Repor ng Read more
(Repor ng) role retrieves
repor ng data from various
data sources to use in Sitecore
repor ng applica ons.
The EXM Dispatch role is a Read more
Core role that has been
configured to generate emails
and dispatching them to the
email message transfer agent
(MTA).
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 9 Marke ng Automa on The Marke ng Automa on Read more
Opera ons Opera ons service allows you
to manage contact
enrollments or register live
events using the Marke ng
Automa on Opera ons API.
10 Reference Data The Reference Data Service Read more
role allows you to create or
retrieve reference data using
the Reference Data Client API.
Examples of reference data
include event defini ons and
airport codes.
11 Marke ng Automa on The Marke ng Automa on Read more
Repor ng Repor ng service role allows
you to retrieve plan and
enrollment sta s cs using the
Marke ng Automa on
Repor ng API.
12 Shops The Commerce Shops role is Read more
the instance of the Commerce
Engine that serves traffic from
one or more storefronts.
13 Authoring The Commerce Authoring role Read more
is the instance of the
Commerce Engine that serves
traffic from the Commerce
business tools.
14 BizFX The BizFX role serves the Read more
complete merchandising
interface and serves as a
single point of access to
manage all merchandising
ac vity.
15 Iden ty Server The Iden ty role validates Read more
access to BizFX.
16 DevOps The Commerce DevOps role is Read more
an instance of the Commerce
Engine that is internal and
only available to DevOps
personnel.

APPLICATION ROLES: WORKER ROLES

Worker Roles – await changes to data in the storage roles and execute business logic to transform
and/or transfer the data to other storage roles or indexes.

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 # Name Usage Read More
1 Data Exchange Framework Data Exchange Framework Read more
Remote Client (DEF) allows synchroniza ons
to run outside of the Sitecore
server by implemen ng and
configuring a DEF Remote
Client. This can significantly
reduce the load on your
Sitecore server by moving
much I/O and other
processing to a separate
machine.

A DEF Remote Client is hosted

2 xConnect Search Indexer
3 Marke ng Automa on Engine
4 Minions
in a custom applica on by
implemen ng the Data
Exchange Framework Remote
SDK.
The xConnect Search Indexer Read more
role updates the xDB index.
The Marke ng Automa on Read more
engine processes campaign
and ac vity enrollments, and
moves contacts through
campaigns.
The Commerce Minions role is Read more
an instance of the Commerce
Engine that runs
independently and supports
asynchronous processing.

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INDEXES

Indexes – op mize the finding of relevant data using queries. The indexes are maintained and used
by the applica on roles and typically catalog the data stored in the storage roles.

# Name Usage Read More

1 Core Index The Core index contains a Read more
configurable subset of the
content and media items in
the Core database.
2 Master Index The Master index contains a Read more
configurable subset of the
content and media items in
the Master database.
3 Web Index The Web index contains a Read more
configurable subset of the
content and media items in
the Web database.
4 xDB Index The xDB index contains Read more
contact and interac on data,
and is updated by the
xConnect Search Indexer.
5 Tes ng Index The Tes ng index contains Read more
test defini on items used in
the test lists in Experience
Op miza on and the
Experience Editor. This does

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 not include the suggested
tests list.

It is also used in the Sitecore

6 Master Marke ng Assets
Index
7 Master Marke ng Defini ons
Index
8 Suggested Test Index
client UI to report on any tests
present on an item.
The Master Marke ng Assets Read more
index contains a list of all
media items that are
classified as assets in the
Master database.
The Master Marke ng Read more
Defini ons index contains
defini ons such as goals,
outcomes, and campaigns and
is created from the Master
database.
The Suggested Test index Read more
provides storage for
computed values for all of the
content items in the content
tree and is used to suggest
the items that should be
op mized.

This index drives the

suggested test list in the
Experience Op miza on and
inside the Experience Editor. It
is also used in the Sitecore
client UI to show when a test
has ended.
9 Web Marke ng Defini ons The Master Marke ng Read more
Index Defini ons index contains
defini ons such as goals,
outcomes, and campaigns and
is created from the Master
database.
10 Web Marke ng Assets Index The Web Marke ng Assets Read more
index contains a list of all
media items that are
classified as assets in the Web
database.
11 FXM Master Index All versions of every item on Read more
your FXM websites. Changes
that you make to the content
are added every me the
index is rebuilt.

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 12 Catalog Items Scope Index The Catalog Items Scope index Read more
allows merchandisers to
search for and retrieve a
specific catalog item.
13 Order Items Scope Index The Orders Scope index allows Read more
merchandisers to search for
and retrieve a specific order.
14 Customers Scope Index The Customers Scope index Read more
allows merchandisers to
search for and retrieve a
specific customer.

CLOUD SERVICES

Cloud services – services hosted by Sitecore in the cloud and are accessed by the applica on roles.
The Sitecore Cloud services are not technically part of the product architectures but are so ware-
as-a-service offerings available through the licensing of the products or on separate subscrip ons.

# Name Usage Read More

1 Device Detec on The Device Detec on role is a Read more
SaaS Cloud service that
provides con nuously updated
informa on on hardware
based on User Agent string.
Sitecore v9 and up uses the
data vendor 51 Degrees,

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 previous versions use
Netbiscuits.
2 GeoIP Lookup The IP Geoloca on role is a Read more
web service that looks up the
approximate geographic
loca on of an IP addresses.
The service uses a regularly
updated database from
MaxMind.
3 Email Dispatch The E-mail Cloud service role Read more
is a web service that manages
a customer’s interac ons with
the Sitecore MTA provider,
SparkPost.

REFERENCES:
1. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/architecture-and-roles/_images/overview.31.png
2. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/architecture-and-roles/roles/index.html#sitecore-
experience-pla orm-xp
3. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/architecture-and-roles/_images/index.41.png
4. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/architecture-and-
roles/architecture/index.html#sitecore-experience-manager
5. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/architecture-and-roles/roles/cloud-services/device-
detec on.html
6. h ps://doc.sitecore.net/developers/scaling-guide/scaling-scenarios/developer-
environment.html

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