New publishing framework
SDL Web 8.5 introduces a new publishing framework to replace the (now deprecated) existing publishing framework.
- Topology management (infrastructure management) is the basis for site management
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The old publishing framework requires you to configure the server name, port number and other machine-specific information in Content Manager Explorer, which then stores the data in the Content Manager database.
By contrast, the new publishing framework associates your Content Manager only with logical (abstract) publishing destinations (Target Types) such as "Live" or "Staging" or "Legally Compliant Server Farm in Germany", which are themselves organized in one or more Business Process Types. Other publishing concepts such as Publication Targets and Protocol Schemas no longer exist in the new framework.
In the new framework, you map such logical items to physical machines (which may be geographically distributed) to a new, separate part of the product called the Topology Manager. The Topology Manager does not have a graphical user interface: system administrators manage the infrastructure using a set of self-documenting PowerShell scripts, which lend themselves to automation of the management of the infrastructure.
This new setup makes it much easier to manage your delivery infrastructure. Also, because the Topology Manager has its own database, the migration of content can now easily be separated from the migration of infrastructure information.
- Business Process Types
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In the new publishing framework, you organize your Target Types in one or more Business Process Types. Each Target Type must be part of one and only one Business Process Type, but multiple Target Types can refer to the same physical destination.
Business Process Types are organizational items in a Publication, which means that they are inherited from the root Publication down the BluePrint structure. The list of Business Process Types (or, more typically, the one Business Process Type) can be localized. If there are multiple Business Process Types associated with a Publication from which content is published, that Publication must identify one of the Business Process Types as the one to use for publishing.
- HTTP and HTTPS transport protocols
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The new publishing framework only accepts publishing over an HTTP or HTTPS transport protocol. Old protocols such as FTP or FTP over SSH are now deprecated, as is the use of a custom transport protocol through the creation of a custom Protocol Schema.
- Transition from the old framework to the new framework
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SDL Web 8.5 allows you to run the old and new publishing frameworks side by side in legacy mode. If you use legacy mode, the Publishing Management node in the Administration tab of Content Manager Explorer continues to exist; in normal mode, these GUI controls are not present.
Because the new framework introduces new concepts such as the Discovery Service and Business Process Types, migration from the old to the new publishing framework cannot be automated. A migration requires you to do the following:- Organize your Target Types in a Business Process Type in Content Manager Explorer.
- Configure the technical specifics of your delivery environment in Topology Manager rather than in Content Manager Explorer.
- Map your Target Types to those delivery machines in Topology Manager.
- On the Content Manager server, run a migration tool to migrate your Footprints.