Experience Manager

Current version: 9.2

Sitecore Experience Manager (CMS-only mode) allows you to run Sitecore XP without enabling the Experience Database (xDB) or purchasing xDB licenses.

With Experience Manager, you can create, manage, and publish content to your websites.

Requirements

To run Experience Manager, you must have:

  • Sitecore XP 8.1 or later.

  • SQL server.

  • A server environment that has a content management and a content delivery server.

  • A valid Sitecore Experience Manager license.

Note

You can also configure Experience Manager to run as a single-instance installation that acts as both a content management and a content delivery server.

Experience Manager installation options

There are two different ways to install Experience Manager. You can use the:

  • 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.

In a Sitecore XM installation, the functionality that you can use is different depending on how you installed Sitecore XM, for example:

  • If you used the Sitecore XP topology packages (XP Scaled or XP Single) to install Sitecore XP and then configured it to run in CMS-only mode, some of the personalization conditions are available and you can implement in-session personalization.

  • If you used the Sitecore XM Scaled topology packages to install Sitecore XM, no personalization conditions are available and you cannot implement any personalization.

Install with the XM Scaled topology packages

The XM Scaled topology installation packages do not include some of the Sitecore Experience Platform components.

Fully compatible

Experience Manager can run the following features without any changes:

  • Content editing in the Experience Editor and Content Editor

Compatible with limited functionality

Experience Manager can run the following features with limitations:

  • Device detection – The device database exists on the instance and it is possible to use the API for custom development.

    Personalization rules based on device are not available.

  • IP Geolocation detection – The IP Geolocation service can be enabled using the API, but personalization rules are not available.

  • Sitecore Forms – runs without any analytics functionality.

Incompatible

Experience Manager can not run the following features:

  • Experience Explorer

  • Campaign Creator

  • Commerce Connect

  • Personalization

  • Content testing

  • Email Experience Manager

  • Experience Analytics

  • Experience Profile

  • List Manager

  • Path Analyzer

  • Segmentation

  • Federated Experience Manager

  • Marketing Automation

Install with the XP topology packages and configure to run in CMS-only mode

If you use the XP topology packages to install sitecore XM, you must edit the Sitecore.Xdb.config configuration file and change the Xdb.enabled configuration setting to false . For more information, see The CMS-only mode configuration settings.

When xDB.enabled is set to false, you do not have access to the reporting or collection databases. Any functionality that depends on the xDB for data collection is not available and a number of applications in the Sitecore Experience Platform cannot run.

Fully compatible

Experience Manager can run the following features without any changes:

  • Content editing in the Experience Editor

  • Device detection

  • IP Geolocation detection

  • Experience Explorer

Compatible with limited functionality

Experience Manager can run the following features with limitations:

  • Campaign Creator – runs without any analytics functionality.

  • Personalization – You can implement some in-session personalization rules, such as ones based on IP Geolocation, to provide personalized content to your contacts. You cannot, however, implement any personalization rules that are based on historical data, such as outcomes or past goals triggered.

  • Sitecore Forms – runs without any analytics functionality.

Incompatible

Experience Manager can not run the following features:

  • Content testing

  • Email Experience Manager

  • Experience Analytics

  • Experience Profile

  • List Manager

  • Path Analyzer

  • Segmentation

  • Federated Experience Manager

  • Marketing Automation

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