Export AEM As cloud service logs to third party systems

Leveraging Grafana for Reporting AEM as a Cloud Service Logs

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service provides developers and operations teams with scalable, cloud-native digital experience management capabilities. While AEM offers built-in logging and monitoring via Adobe Cloud Manager and Cloud Console, teams often seek more powerful and customizable observability options—especially when managing multiple environments or integrating logs with broader DevOps toolchains.

In this article, we’ll explore how AEM as a Cloud Service logs can be piped into Grafana for advanced reporting and monitoring, and discuss the advantages this integration brings.

Understanding AEM as a Cloud Service Logging

AEM as a Cloud Service generates various types of logs across its Author, Publish, and Dispatcher layers. These logs include:

-Access logs
-Error logs
-Request logs
-Custom application logs

These logs are accessible via Adobe's Cloud Console and Developer Console, and can be streamed using Adobe’s Log Forwarding feature, which supports integrations with external tools via a log shipping pipeline.

 Integrating AEM Logs with Grafana

To bring AEM logs into Grafana, the typical architecture involves shipping logs to a time-series database or a log aggregation layer that Grafana can query. Here's how you can set it up:

 1. Enable Log Forwarding in AEM Cloud Manager

Adobe supports forwarding logs to external systems using supported protocols like:

-HTTP/S
-Syslog
-Amazon S3
-Azure Blob Storage
-Elasticsearch

For Grafana, you’ll usually integrate through Elasticsearch, Loki, or Prometheus—all of which are compatible with Grafana as data sources.

 2. Set Up a Log Aggregator (e.g., Loki)

Grafana Loki is a log aggregation system that works seamlessly with Grafana. You can configure an intermediary service (like Fluentd, Logstash, or Filebeat) to:

* Ingest logs from AEM (via HTTP or S3)
* Transform and enrich logs as needed
* Push them into Loki

Alternatively, if you're using Elasticsearch, logs can be sent there directly and Grafana can be configured to query Elasticsearch indexes.

 3. Configure Grafana Dashboards

Once logs are ingested:

* Add your data source (Loki or Elasticsearch) in Grafana.
* Create dashboards to visualize:

  * Error trends over time
  * Request volume and latencies
  * Application-level logging metrics
  * Custom alerts and thresholds

Grafana’s templating and alerting features allow for deep customization, real-time analysis, and proactive monitoring.

 Advantages of Using Grafana for AEM Logs

 ✅ Centralized Monitoring

Grafana allows you to unify logs from AEM with logs from other systems (e.g., CDN, database, Kubernetes clusters), giving you a holistic view of application performance and infrastructure health.

 ✅ Powerful Visualizations

Grafana excels at creating visually rich dashboards with interactive graphs, heatmaps, and tables. This helps in faster root cause analysis and decision-making.

 ✅ Custom Alerts

You can set up alerts based on log patterns—such as increased error rates, specific error codes, or custom keywords—to notify teams via email, Slack, or PagerDuty.

 ✅ Improved Troubleshooting

With structured logging and centralized dashboards, developers and SREs can quickly trace issues across environments, reducing MTTR (Mean Time To Resolution).

✅ Overcoming AEM Cloud limitation of holding logs for limited number of days

Usually in AEM as cloud we can download logs of specific number of days. If we want to debug the logs beyond the limit of AEM cloud, we can use Graphana loaded logs since it holds the logs based on our settings.

 ✅ Scalability & Flexibility

Grafana supports multiple data sources and can scale with your needs. Whether you're operating one AEM instance or dozens across geographies, it adapts with minimal overhead.


 Final Thoughts

Bringing AEM as a Cloud Service logs into Grafana unlocks advanced observability and empowers teams to proactively monitor, analyze, and optimize digital experiences. With the right log forwarding setup and dashboard design, you can transform raw logs into actionable insights—leading to better performance, reduced downtime, and happier users.

 AEM CDN - Watch Video

 

 

Whether fastly caching can be avoided in AEM as cloud?

 

In AEM as a Cloud Service, Fastly is deeply integrated into the Adobe-managed infrastructure, and cannot be fully bypassed. However, you can control how and what Fastly caches through HTTP headers and configuration, effectively limiting its behavior for specific scenarios.
 

🔒 Can Fastly Caching Be Fully Avoided?
No, Fastly is not optional in AEM as a Cloud Service—it is part of Adobe's delivery pipeline and is always present in front of AEM Publish tiers. But you can instruct Fastly not to cache certain content.

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✅ How to Prevent or Control Fastly Caching

 
You can minimize or bypass caching by using cache-control headers and related strategies:

1. Use Cache-Control Headers

 
You can configure the response from AEM to include:
Cache-Control: no-store, no-cache, must-revalidate
 

OR 

Cache-Control: private, max-age=0
These headers tell Fastly (and downstream CDNs like Cloudflare) not to cache the content.

2. Set Surrogate-Control Headers

 
Fastly uses Surrogate-Control headers for Varnish-based caching. To explicitly prevent Fastly from caching:
Surrogate-Control: no-store

OR

Header set Surrogate-Control "private, max-age=0, stale-if-error=0, stale-while-revalidate=0"
In the responses, you should see always a MISS for x-cache, as this header is set by Fastly and not Dispatcher. Also, you won't see the Surrogate-Control header passed down.


3. Configure Dispatcher Rules

 
At the AEM Dispatcher level (which also sits behind Fastly), you can specify which paths or file types should not be cached. However, Fastly may still cache unless headers like the ones above are correctly set.

4. Use Headers for Selective Caching

 
You may want to cache only some parts of your site. You can do this by:
•    Setting different cache TTLs (max-age) for different content types.
•    Excluding dynamic or personalized content.

5. Use Query Parameters or File Versioning

 
Ensure dynamic content isn’t cached due to static-looking URLs by using query strings (e.g., ?v=123) or versioned file names.
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🧪 Debugging Fastly Caching

 
You can inspect HTTP response headers to understand Fastly’s behavior. Look for:

•    x-served-by: confirms response from Fastly
•    x-cache: shows HIT or MISS
•    cache-control and surrogate-control: shows cache directives

________________________________________
 

Summary
Can Fastly caching be completely disabled?    ❌ No (not in AEM as a Cloud)
Can caching be controlled per-path or content-type?    ✅ Yes
Is Fastly behavior influenced by headers?    ✅ Yes (cache-control, surrogate-control)
Should you rely only on dispatcher rules?    ⚠️ No, headers must align too
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Troubleshooting Asset Caching Issues with Fastly and Cloudflare in AEM as a Cloud Service

When using Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) as a Cloud Service in conjunction with both Fastly (Adobe’s CDN) and Cloudflare (customer-managed CDN), caching issues—especially with static assets like PDFs—can become tricky to debug. 

One way to identify which CDN is serving the content is by reviewing response headers:

•    x-served-by: Indicates the response was served by Adobe’s Fastly CDN.
•    cf-ray: Identifies the response as coming from Cloudflare.

If you’re experiencing stale content being delivered (such as outdated PDFs), several potential causes and solutions should be considered.
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Possible Causes of Stale Content

1. Long TTL (Time to Live) Settings
   A high TTL on either CDN can result in outdated content being served for an extended period.
2. Improper Cache Invalidation
   If cache purging isn’t triggered after content updates, the old versions may persist in cache.
3. Lack of Versioning in URLs
   URLs for assets (like PDFs) without a versioning parameter or hash will not prompt the CDN to fetch new versions after updates.

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Next Steps for Resolution
 

To resolve or mitigate the caching issue, follow these recommended steps:

1. Check TTL Settings in Cloudflare
   Review cache-control settings for the affected assets. Ensure the TTL is appropriate for how often the content changes.
2. Manually Purge the Cache
   As a short-term fix, manually purge the specific asset (e.g., the outdated PDF) from Cloudflare’s cache. Confirm whether the new version is served afterward.
3. Automate Cache Invalidation
   Set up an automated cache purge process that triggers when content is published or updated in AEM. This helps avoid stale content going forward.
4. Inspect CDN Headers
   Ensure headers like Cache-Control, ETag, and Last-Modified are correctly configured. These headers help CDNs determine when content should be refreshed.

________________________________________

Additional Configuration Tips

 
If applicable, also consider the following optimizations:

•    Shorten Cloudflare TTLs for specific content types like PDFs or other assets that change frequently.
•    Automate Cache Purging via API
Use Cloudflare’s API or webhooks to automatically clear cache for updated content.
•    Implement URL Versioning
Append a query string (e.g., ?v=2) or use a unique filename each time content is updated.
•    Integrate CDN Logic into AEM Workflow
Ensure the AEM publishing process includes steps to communicate with the Cloudflare API for cache control.
•    Enable Monitoring and Logging
Track cache hits/misses and set up alerting to proactively identify caching issues before they impact end users.
________________________________________

Still Facing Issues?
After implementing the above steps, verify whether the issue has been resolved. If problems persist, it’s advisable to contact Cloudflare support directly to further investigate potential misconfigurations or unexpected caching behaviors on their end.

Unlocking the Power of Fastly CDN with Adobe Solutions

 When it comes to delivering fast, secure, and reliable digital experiences, a robust content delivery network (CDN) is key. Adobe leverages Fastly—a Varnish-based CDN—to provide high-performance caching and content delivery capabilities that go beyond standard configurations, including those offered by custom setups like Cloudflare.

Here’s a closer look at what Fastly offers and how it integrates with Adobe solutions:

Performance-Driven Caching

Fastly’s Varnish-based infrastructure enables effective caching of site pages, assets, stylesheets, and more directly within backend data centers. This reduces bandwidth consumption, improves load times, and lowers infrastructure costs. With support for custom VCL (Varnish Configuration Language) snippets, developers can fine-tune caching logic and tailor responses based on specific request parameters.

Enhanced Security Features

Beyond performance, Fastly provides built-in security features such as a Web Application Firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection. These help safeguard Adobe-hosted applications and ensure uptime and resilience against attacks.

Considerations for Custom CDN and WAF Integration

If you're using a custom CDN (Bring Your Own CDN - BYOCDN) or an external WAF, specific configurations are necessary to ensure cache purging works as expected. This includes allowing PURGE requests to reach Fastly and ensuring all required headers are included for accurate cache invalidation.

GeoIP Services for Targeted Content Delivery

Fastly supports GeoIP-based configurations, making it easier to serve region-specific content or enforce geographic restrictions. This is particularly useful for personalization or regulatory compliance.

SSL Management Made Easy

For Adobe Commerce on cloud infrastructure, Fastly includes SSL certificates as part of its service. If needed, teams can bring their own SSL certificate—though it may involve additional costs.

Image Optimization Capabilities

To further enhance site performance, Fastly offers image optimization features that compress and resize images on the fly. This not only speeds up load times but also cuts down on data transfer usage.

Diagnostic and Testing Tools

Fastly provides helpful tools for testing and verifying CDN behavior, such as checking headers between your origin and live environments. These tools are essential for troubleshooting and ensuring optimal content delivery.

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Final Thoughts

Fastly is a powerful, flexible CDN that integrates seamlessly with Adobe's cloud infrastructure. While it supports layered setups with other CDNs, achieving optimal performance requires careful configuration—especially when it comes to caching logic, purging, and security settings.

With the right setup, Fastly can significantly boost both performance and security for your Adobe-powered digital experiences.

Purging Fastly CDN Cache When Using a WAF or BYOCDN

Fastly CDN and Adobe This article provides insight into how to configure cache purging for AEM as a Cloud Service when using a Web Application Firewall (WAF) or a custom Content Delivery Network solution (BYOCDN). Understanding how to navigate these complex setups is crucial for maintaining efficient content delivery.

 AEM As Cloud CDN Configurations - Watch the video