Choosing a Topology
Before you install Sitecore Experience Platform, you must choose the topology or the type of instance that you want to install.
Sitecore supports the following topologies for on-premise installations by default:
- XP Single Developer (XP0)
- XM Scaled (XM1)
- XP Scaled (XP1)
This guide describes how to install the XM Scaled topology.
If you want to install one of the other topologies, download the installation guide for that topology.
You can configure the topology to match your business needs. There are several scalability options that you can use to achieve better performance, cope with greater website demand, and manage large amounts of website traffic. For more information about scaling, see Scaling options.
Sitecore also provides a number of cloud-based offerings. For more information, see our Cloud Services.
If you want to install an XM Single topology, you must install the CM instance from the XM Scaled topology and then in the web.config file, specify the following setting:
On-premises topology options
The following topologies are available:
| Deployment topology | Description |
|---|---|
| XP Single Developer (XP0) | Use this topology for local development and testing. The Sitecore Experience Platform, runs as three single instances: Sitecore, xConnect, and Sitecore Identity server. The Experience Database (xDB) is partially included in the Sitecore and xConnect instances. Note For security and scalability reasons, in production environments, it is best practice to use the XM Scaled (XM1) or XP Scaled (XP1) configuration. This option runs all the services on a single server. |
| XM Scaled (XM1) | Use this topology if you are not planning to use the analytics and marketing features in the Sitecore Experience Platform. The Sitecore Experience Manager configuration (similar to CMS-only mode) runs the Content Delivery (CD), Content Management (CM) server roles and the Sitecore Identity server. Note When you select this topology, xDB and xConnect are not available. This option runs the services on one or more servers. |
| XP Scaled (XP1) | Use this topology if you are planning a fully featured Sitecore Experience Platform installation. The Sitecore Experience Platform configuration runs the following separated server roles:
This option runs the services on one or more servers. |
There are different ways to install Experience Manager (XM). You can use:
- Sitecore XM Scaled topology packages.
- Sitecore XP Single or the XP Scaled topology packages and then configure the installation to run in CMS-only mode.
- Sitecore containers.
In a Sitecore Experience Manager installation, the functionality that you can use is different depending on how you installed Sitecore XM.
In a scaled environment, you must consider how to configure your session state provider. For more information, see the section Configure session state providers.
This document does not describe how to configure the Sitecore Email Experience Manager. For more information, see the Sitecore Email Campaign Manager documentation.