DXP onboarding process
Describes the onboarding process including provisioning of environments and deployment setup.
The Cloud Accelerator Package enhances understanding of the Optimizely Digital Experience Platform (DXP). It provides tools to address technical and operational gaps, ensuring a smooth onboarding and deployment process.
This section shows the components of Cloud Accelerator.
1. Technical overview
When an order is provisioned, and you have received the service provisioning information from Optimizely, a Customer Success project manager sets up a kickoff meeting. During this meeting, you review DXP services, roles and responsibilities, and steps to develop and launch to Production. Information also includes expectations for communication, processes, and deadlines.
In Optimizely DXP, a web app is a solution built on the Optimizely platform. It operates as an Azure web app, including an SQL database, a BLOB storage, and an Optimizely Search & Navigation index. See Development considerations.
Separate environments ensure your websites have developed and tested content before viewing it publicly. See also DXP environments.
- Integration environment – Involves the process of moving code and content between environments, such as from Development considerations to preproduction (UAT) to production, as part of a continuous deployment process. You can deploy Optimizely solutions using methods and tools supported by most development environments.
- Preproduction environment – A staging website where you test and assure the quality of content before it is transferred to the production environment.
- Production environment – The live, public website where editors and visitors interact with your website.
Elastic auto-scaling occurs when performance criteria are exceeded. There is no set number of servers, CPUs, or memory; extra allocation is provided when needed. If a sudden spike in activity occurs, capacity scales up quickly and scales back slowly as demand ebbs.
Note
To ensure seamless operation during upcoming campaigns or marketing events with anticipated high site traffic, you should open a proactive Support ticket 3 to 4 weeks in advance to give Optimizely time to assess your campaign's requirements and ascertain if supplementary resources are necessary for optimal performance.
During deployment, a copy of the content called a "slot" is created. Configuration transforms are applied to the slot, and when it is verified, it is swapped with the content on the website for seamless interaction. See Deploy DXP.
2. Train to use DXP
Developing for the DXP is a one-day training course with two seats with your Cloud Accelerator Package purchase. This course's students should have skills equivalent to CMS Development Fundamentals. See Optimizely Education Services.
3. Implement and load test monitoring
Deployment to Preproduction provides the opportunity to load test and validate sites before going live. Through the DXP Management Portal, you can access self-service functionality for deploying between environments. Features include:
- One-click deployment
- Configuration transforms
- Validations when deploying
- Maintenance page
- Deployment progress and details
- Error handling and logging
See DXP self-service.
- Deployment – See Deploy DXP.
- Testing – Review these recommendations:
4. Go Live Certification
Before deploying to Production, Optimizely ensures that everything on the following checklist is completed as part of the Go Live Certification.
- Partner/developer task checklist
- DNS provider task checklist
- Reduce Time-to-Live (TTL) to 5 to 10 Minutes. This should take place several days before Go Live.
- Enter appropriate Go Live DNS records to cut over live traffic to the Microsoft Azure DNS app service.
- Back-up and restore management – Optimizely provides redundancy precautions; see also Failover.
- Application changes are backed up when they occur (i.e, after each deployment)
- Automatic backup every 24 hours
Note
BLOB storage data is currently not backed up because it is already replicated to multiple copies.
- Point-in-time database restore up to 35 days
5. Go Live Support
Optimizely's Customer Success team provides support throughout onboarding until your site goes live. During onboarding, copy your onboarding Customer Success project manager on communications to ensure prompt assistance.
Responsibilities from Optimizely DXP Support and Partner/Client Management:
Optimizely's Support team is available throughout all phases of the onboarding process and after the launch of your website. Optimizely Managed Services Service Desk will support these service requests during business days:
- Non-standard deployments
- CDN configuration changes
- Placing IP addresses on the allow list
- URL aliasing
- DNS changes
- Adding or removing user access
- VPN configuration
Contact Optimizely
- Web – Support Help Center
- Email – [email protected] CC: Your onboarding project manager
- Phone –
- USA – +1-888-726-8127 or +1-877-383-0885 (Toll free)
- UK – +44 (0) 800 066 4784 (Toll free)
- SWE – +46 8-555 827 50
Updated about 18 hours ago