DocumentationAEM 6.5User Guide

Technical Requirements technical-requirements

Last update: Thu Feb 15 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Adobe supports (AEM) Adobe Experience Manager on the platforms as detailed in the following information in this document.

For any issues that are related to the platform, contact the platform vendor.

NOTE
Depending upon the platform on which you install AEM, there could be different sets of requirements for user management.

Prerequisites prerequisites

Minimum requirements for installing Adobe Experience Manager:

  • Installed Java™ Platform, Standard Edition JDK, or other supported Java™ Virtual Machines
  • Experience Manager Quickstart file (Stand-alone JAR or web-application deployment WAR)

Minimum Sizing Requirements minimum-sizing-requirements

Minimum requirements for running Adobe Experience Manager:

  • 5 GB free disk space in the installation directory
  • 2 GB memory
NOTE

For further information, see the Hardware Sizing Guidelines.

Support Levels support-levels

This document lists the supported client and server platforms for Adobe Experience Manager. Adobe provides several levels of support, both for recommended configurations and other configurations.

Supported Configurations supported-configurations

Adobe recommends these configurations and provides full support as part of the standard software maintenance agreement.

Support Level
Description
A: Supported
Adobe provides full support and maintenance for this configuration. This configuration is covered by Adobe's quality assurance process.
R: Restricted Support
To ensure customers project success, Adobe provides full support within a restricted support program, which requires that specific conditions are met. R-level support requires a formal customer request and confirmation by Adobe. For more information, contact Adobe Customer Care.

Unsupported Configurations unsupported-configurations

Support Level
Description
Z: Not supported
The configuration is not supported. Adobe does not make statements about whether the configuration works, and does not support it.

Supported Platforms supported-platforms

Java™ Virtual Machines java-virtual-machines

The application requires a Java™ Virtual Machine to run, which is provided by the Java™ Development Kit (JDK) distribution.

Adobe Experience Manager operates with the following versions of the Java™ Virtual Machines:

CAUTION
Track the Security Bulletins from the Java™ vendor. Doing so ensures the safety and security of production environments. Also, always install the latest Java™ updates.
Platform
Support Level
Link
Oracle Java™ SE 17 JDK
Z: Not supported [1]
Oracle Java™ SE 11 JDK - 64-bit
A: Supported [1]
Download
Oracle Java™ SE 10 JDK
Z: Not supported [1]
Oracle Java™ SE 9 JDK
Z: Not supported [1]
Oracle Java™ SE 8 JDK - 64-bit
A: Supported [1]
Download
IBM® J9 VM - build 2.9, JRE 1.8.0
A: Supported [2]
IBM® J9 VM - build 2.8, JRE 1.8.0
A: Supported [2]
Azul Zulu OpenJDK 11 - 64-bit
A: Supported [3]
Azul Zulu OpenJDK 8 - 64-bit
A: Supported [3]

  1. Oracle has moved to a “Long Term Support” (LTS) model for Oracle Java™ SE products. Java™ 9, Java™ 10, and Java™ 12 are non-LTS releases by Oracle (see Oracle Java™ SE support roadmap). To deploy AEM in a production environment, Adobe provides support only for the LTS releases of Java™. Support and distribution of the Oracle Java™ SE JDK, including all maintenance updates of LTS releases beyond the end of the public updates, is supported by Adobe directly for all AEM customers that use the Oracle Java™ SE technology. See the Java™ support policy for Adobe Experience Manager.
    Important: Oracle Java™ 11 is supported until September 2026 at a minimum. Support for Oracle Java™ 17 is in preparation.

  2. The IBM® JRE is only supported along with WebSphere® Application Server.

  3. Azul Zulu OpenJDK LTS versions are supported for on-premises AEM deployments starting with version 6.5 SP9. Support and distribution of the Azul Zulu JDK LTS versions must be licensed directly from Azul by Adobe customers.

Storage & Persistence storage-persistence

Various options exist to deploy the repository of Adobe Experience Manager. See the following list for supported technologies and storage options.

Platform
Description
Support Level
File system with TAR files [1]
Repository
A: Supported
File system with Datastore [1]
Binaries
A: Supported
Store binaries in TAR files on file system [1]
Binaries
Z: Not supported for production
Amazon S3
Binaries
A: Supported
Microsoft® Azure Blob Storage
Binaries
A: Supported
MongoDB Enterprise 6.0
Repository
A: Supported [3, 4]
MongoDB Enterprise 5.0
Repository
A: Supported [3, 4]
MongoDB Enterprise 4.4
Repository
A: Supported [2, 3, 4, 7]
MongoDB Enterprise 4.2
Repository
A: Supported [2, 3, 4, 7]
MongoDB Enterprise 4.0
Repository
Z: Not supported
MongoDB Enterprise 3.6
Repository
Z: Not supported
MongoDB Enterprise 3.4
Repository
Z: Not supported
IBM® DB2® 10.5
Repository & Forms Database
R: Restricted Support [5]
Oracle Database 12c (12.1.x)
Repository & Forms Database
R: Restricted Support
Microsoft® SQL Server 2016
Forms Database
A: Supported
Apache Lucene (Quickstart built-in)
Search Service
A: Supported
Apache Solr
Search Service
A: Supported

  1. ‘File System’ includes block storage that is POSIX-compliant. Includes network storage technology. Mind that file system performance might vary and influences the overall performance. Load test AEM with the network/remote file system.

  2. MongoDB Enterprise versions 4.2 and 4.4 require AEM 6.5 SP9 as a minimum.

  3. MongoDB Sharding is not supported in AEM.

  4. MongoDB Storage Engine WiredTiger is supported only.

  5. Supported for AEM Forms upgrade customers. Not supported for new installations.

  6. Applicable to AEM Forms only:

    • Removed support for Oracle Database 12c and added support for Oracle Database 19c.
    • Removed support for Microsoft® SQL Server 2016 and added support for Microsoft® SQL Server 2019.

  7. Not supported for AEM Forms.

NOTE
See Deploying Communities for additional information regarding the AEM Communities capability.
NOTE
MongoDB is a third-party software program and is not included in the AEM licensing package. For more information, see the MongoDB licensing policy page.
To get the most of your AEM deployment with MongoDB, Adobe recommends licensing the MongoDB Enterprise version to benefit from professional support. See Recommended Deployments for more information.
The license includes a standard replica set, which is composed of one primary and two secondary instances that can be used for either the author or the publish deployments.
In case you want to run both author and publish on MongoDB, two separate licenses must be purchased.
Adobe Customer Care assists qualifying issues related to the usage of MongoDB with AEM.
For more information, see the MongoDB for Adobe Experience Manager page.
NOTE
Supported relational databases as listed above are third-party software and are not included in the AEM licensing package.
To run AEM 6.5 with a supported relational database, a separate support contract with a database vendor is required. Adobe Customer Care assists qualifying issues related to the usage of relational databases with AEM 6.5.
Most relational databases are currently supported within Level-R on AEM 6.5, which comes with support criteria and a support program as stated in the Level-R description above.

Servlet Engines / Application Servers servlet-engines-application-servers

Adobe Experience Manager can run either as a stand-alone server (the quickstart JAR file) or as a web application within a third-party application server (the WAR file).

The minimum Servlet API Version required is Servlet 3.1

Platform
Support Level
Quickstart built-in Servlet Engine (Jetty 9.4)
A: Supported
Oracle WebLogic Server 12.2 (12cR2)
Z: Not supported
IBM® WebSphere® Application Server Continuous Delivery (LibertyProfile) with Web Profile 7.0 and IBM® JRE 1.8
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [2]
IBM® WebSphere® Application Server 9.0 and IBM® JRE 1.8
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [1] [2]
Apache Tomcat 8.5.x
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [2]
JBoss® EAP 7.2.x with JBoss® Application Server
Z: Not supported
JBoss® EAP 7.1.4 with JBoss® Application Server
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [1] [2]
JBoss® EAP 7.0.x with JBoss® Application Server
Z: Not supported
  1. Recommended for deployments with AEM Forms.
  2. Starting AEM 6.5 deployments on application servers moves to Restricted Support. Existing customers can upgrade to AEM 6.5 and keep using application servers. For new customers, it comes with support criteria and a support program as stated in the Level-R description above.
  3. Applicable AEM Forms only:
    • Removed support for JBoss® EAP 7.1.4 and added support for JBoss® EAP 7.4.10.

Server Operating Systems server-operating-systems

Adobe Experience Manager works with the following server platforms for production environments:

Platform
Support Level
Linux®, based on the Red Hat® distribution
A: Supported [1] [3]
Linux®, based on Debian distribution incl. Ubuntu
A: Supported [1] [2]
Linux®, based on SUSE® distribution
A: Supported [1]
Microsoft® Windows Server 2019 [4]
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [5]
Microsoft® Windows Server 2016 [4]
R: Restricted Support for new contracts [5]
Microsoft® Windows Server 2012 R2
Z: Not supported
Oracle Solaris™ 11
Z: Not supported
IBM® AIX® 7.2
Z: Not supported

  1. Linux® Kernel 2.6, 3. x, 4. x, and 5. x includes derivatives from Red Hat® distribution, including Red Hat® Enterprise Linux®, CentOS, Oracle Linux®, and Amazon Linux®. AEM Forms add-on features are only supported on CentOS 7, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 7, Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 8, and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 9.

  2. AEM Forms is supported on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

  3. Linux® distribution supported by Adobe Managed Services.

    note note
    NOTE
    For Linux based server (OSGI and JEE stack), AEM Forms add-on require runtime dependencies such as:
    • glibc.x86_64 (2.17-196)
    • libX11.x86_64 (1.6.7-4)
    • zlib.x86-64 (1.2.7-17)
    • libxcb.x86_64 (1.13-1.el7)
    • libXau.x86_64 (1.0.8-2.1.el7)

  4. Microsoft® Windows production deployments are supported for customers upgrading to 6.5 and for non-production usage. New deployments are on-request for AEM Sites and Assets.

  5. AEM Forms is supported on Microsoft® Window Server without the Support-Level R restrictions.

  6. AEM Forms removed support for Microsoft® Windows Server 2016.

NOTE
If you are installing AEM Forms 6.5, make sure you have installed the following 32-bit Microsoft® Visual C++ redistributable.
  • Microsoft® Visual C++ 2008 redistributable
  • Microsoft® Visual C++ 2010 redistributable
  • Microsoft® Visual C++ 2012 redistributable
  • Microsoft® Visual C++ 2013 redistributable
  • Microsoft® Visual C++ 2019(VC14.28 or greater) redistributable

Virtual & Cloud Computing Environments virtual-cloud-computing-environments

Adobe Experience Manager is supported running in a virtual machine on cloud computing environments. These environments include as Microsoft® Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS), running in compliance with the technical requirements listed on this page, and according to Adobe’s standard support terms.

For a cloud-native environment, review the latest offering from the AEM product line: Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service. See Adobe Experience Manager as a Cloud Service Documentation for details.

Adobe also offers Adobe Managed Services to deploy AEM on Azure or AWS. Adobe Managed Services provides experts with experience and skills of deploying and operating AEM in these cloud computing environments. See additional documentation on Adobe Managed Services.

In all other cases of deploying AEM on Azure or AWS, or any other cloud computing environment, support from Adobe is contained to the virtual compute environment. That virtual environment must be run in compliance with the technical specifications listed on this page. Any reported issue relative to AEM running in any of these cloud environments must be reproducible independently from any cloud service specific to the cloud computing environment. That is, unless the cloud service is supported as part of the technical requirements listed on this page, for example, Azure Blob storage or AWS S3.

For recommendations on how to deploy AEM on Azure or AWS, outside of Adobe Managed Services, Adobe recommends working directly with the cloud provider. Or, working with Adobe partners supporting the deployment of AEM in the cloud environment of your choice. The selected cloud provider or partner is responsible for the sizing specifications, design, and implementation of the architecture, to meet your specific performance, load, scalability, and security requirements.

Dispatcher Platforms (Web Servers) dispatcher-platforms-web-servers

The Dispatcher is the caching and load-balancing component. Download the latest Dispatcher version. Experience Manager 6.5 requires Dispatcher version 4.3.2 or higher.

The following web servers are supported for use with Dispatcher version 4.3.2:

Platform
Support Level
Apache httpd 2.4.x [1,2]
A: Supported
Microsoft® IIS 10 (Internet Information Server)
A: Supported
Microsoft® IIS 8.5 (Internet Information Server)
Z: Not supported

  1. Web servers built based on the Apache httpd source code have as much support as the version of httpd on which it is based. If in doubt, ask Adobe for confirmation of the support level related to the respective server product. The following cases:

    1. The HTTP server was built using only official Apache source distributions, or
    2. The HTTP server was delivered as part of the operating system on which it is running. Examples: IBM® HTTP Server, Oracle HTTP Server

  2. Dispatcher is not available for Apache 2.4.x for Windows operating systems.

Supported Client Platforms supported-client-platforms

Supported Browsers for Authoring User Interface supported-browsers-for-authoring-user-interface

The Adobe Experience Manager user interface works with the following client platforms. All browsers are tested with the default set of plug-ins and add-ons.

The AEM user interface is optimized for larger screens (typically notebooks and desktop computers) and tablet form factor (such as Apple iPad or Microsoft® Surface). The phone form factor is not supported.

NOTE
Support for browsers with rapid release cycles:
Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Microsoft® Edge release updates every few months. Adobe is committed to provide updates for Adobe Experience Manager to maintain the support level as stated below with upcoming versions of these browsers.
Browser
Support for UI
Support for Classic UI
Google Chrome (Evergreen)
A: Supported
A: Supported
Microsoft® Edge (Evergreen)
A: Supported
A: Supported
Microsoft® Internet Explorer 11
Z: Not supported
Z: Not supported
Mozilla Firefox (Evergreen)
A: Supported
A: Supported
Mozilla Firefox last ESR [1]
A: Supported
A: Supported
Apple Safari on macOS (Evergreen)
A: Supported
A: Supported
Apple Safari 11.x on macOS
Z: Not supported
Z: Not supported
Apple Safari on iOS 12.x
A: Supported [2]
Z: Not supported
Apple Safari on iOS 11.x
Z: Not supported
Z: Not supported
  1. Extended Support Release of Firefox Learn more on mozilla.org
  2. support for Apple iPad

Supported Browsers for Websites supported-browsers-for-websites

Generally, browser support for websites rendered by AEM Sites depends on the implementation of AEM page templates, design and component output, and is therefore in the control of the party implementing these parts.

WebDAV Clients webdav-clients

Microsoft® Windows 7+

When connecting with Microsoft® Windows 7+ to an AEM instance that is not secured with SSL, basic authentication over an unsecured network must be enabled in Windows. It requires a change in the Windows Registry of the WebClient:

  1. Locate the registry subkey:

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WebClient\Parameters

  2. Add the BasicAuthLevel registry entry to this subkey using a value of 2 or more.

Additional Platform Notes additional-platform-notes

This section provides special notes and more detailed information about running Adobe Experience Manager and its add-ons.

IPv4 and IPv6 ipv-and-ipv

All elements of Adobe Experience Manager (Instance, Dispatcher) can be installed in both IPv4 and IPv6 networks.

Operation is seamless as no special configuration is required. You specify an IP address using the format that is appropriate to your network type, if necessary.

When an IP address must be specified, you can select (as required) from the following:

  • An IPv6 address. For example, https://[ab12::34c5:6d7:8e90:1234]:4502

  • An IPv4 address. For example, https://123.1.1.4:4502

  • A server name. For example, https://www.yourserver.com:4502

  • The default case of localhost is interpreted for both IPv4 and IPv6 network installations. For example, https://localhost:4502

Requirements for AEM Dynamic Media Add-on requirements-for-aem-dynamic-media-add-on

AEM Dynamic Media is disabled by default. See here to enable Dynamic Media.

With Dynamic Media enabled, the following additional technical requirements apply.

NOTE
These system requirements only apply if you use Dynamic Media - Hybrid mode; Dynamic Media - Hybrid mode has an embedded image server, which is only certified on certain operating systems.
For Dynamic Media customers who run Dynamic Media - Scene7 mode (that is, dynamicmedia_scene7 run mode), there are no additional system requirements; only the same system requirements as AEM. Dynamic Media - Scene7 mode architecture uses the cloud-based image service and not the service embedded in AEM.

Hardware hardware

The following hardware requirements are applicable for both Linux® and Windows:

  • Intel Xeon® or AMD® Opteron CPU with at least four cores
  • At least 16 GB of RAM

Linux® linux

If you are using Dynamic Media on Linux®, the following prerequisites must be met:

  • Red Hat® Enterprise 7 or CentOS 7 and later with latest fix patches
  • 64-bit Operating System
  • Swapping disabled (recommended)
  • SELinux disabled (See note that follows)
NOTE
If the locale is set such that LC_CTYPE is not equal to en_US.UTF-8, it prevents Dynamic Media from working. To see what its value is, type “locale” at the command prompt. If it is not set properly, then set the LC_CTYPE environment variable to the empty string by typing “export LC_CTYPE=” before running AEM.
NOTE
Disabling SELinux: Image Serving does not work with SELinux turned on. This option is enabled by default. To remedy this issue, edit the /etc/selinux/config file and change the SELinux value from:
SELINUX=enforcing to SELINUX=disabled
NOTE
NUMA Architecture: Systems with processors featuring AMD64 and Intel® EM64T are typically configured as non-uniform memory architecture (NUMA) platforms. That is, the kernel constructs multiple memory nodes at boot-time rather than constructing a single memory node.
The multiple node construct can result in memory exhaustion on one or more of the nodes before other nodes become exhausted. When memory exhaustion happens the kernel can decide to kill processes (for example, the Image Server or Platform Server) even though there is available memory.
Therefore, Adobe recommends that if you are running such a system that you turn off NUMA using the numa=off boot option to avoid the kernel killing these processes.
NOTE
Server host name must resolve: Ensure that the host name of the server is resolvable to an IP address. If that is not possible, add the fully qualified host name and the IP address to /etc/hosts:
<ip address> <fully qualified hostname>

Windows windows

  • Microsoft® Windows Server 2016
  • Swap space equal to at least twice the amount of physical memory (RAM)

To use Dynamic Media on Windows, install Microsoft® Visual Studio 2010, 2013, and 2015 redistributable for x64 and x86.

For Windows x64:

For Windows x86:

macOS macos

  • 10.9.x and later
  • Only supported for trial and demo purposes

Requirements for AEM Forms PDF Generator requirements-for-aem-forms-pdf-generator

Software support for PDF Generator software-support-for-pdf-generator

Product
Supported Formats for Conversion to PDF
Acrobat 2020 classic track latest version
XPS, image formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, JPF, JPX, JP2, J2K, J2C, JPC), HTML, HTM, DWG, DXF, and DWF
Acrobat 2017 classic track latest version (Deprecated)
XPS, image formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, JPF, JPX, JP2, J2K, J2C, JPC), HTML, HTM, DWG, DXF, and DWF
Microsoft® Office 2019
DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, RTF, and TXT
Microsoft® Office 2016 (Deprecated)
DOC, DOCX, XLS, XLSX, PPT, PPTX, RTF, and TXT
WordPerfect 2020
WP, WPD
Microsoft® Office Visio 2016 (Deprecated)
VSD, VSDX
Microsoft® Publisher 2019
PUB
Microsoft® Publisher 2016 (Deprecated)
PUB
Microsoft® Project 2016 (Deprecated)
MPP
OpenOffice 4.1.10
ODT, ODP, ODS, ODG, ODF, SXW, SXI, SXC, SXD, XLS, XLSX, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, image formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, JPF, JPX, JP2, J2K, J2C, JPC), HTML, HTM, RTF, and TXT
OpenOffice 4.1.2 (Deprecated)
ODT, ODP, ODS, ODG, ODF, SXW, SXI, SXC, SXD, XLS, XLSX, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, image formats (BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, TIF, TIFF, PNG, JPF, JPX, JP2, J2K, J2C, JPC), HTML, HTM, RTF, and TXT
NOTE
PDF Generator supports only English, French, German, and Japanese versions of the supported operating systems and applications.
In addition,
  • PDF Generator requires a 32-bit version of Acrobat 2020 classic track version 20.004.30006 or Acrobat 2017 version 17.011.30078 to perform the conversion.
  • PDF Generator conversions for OpenOffice are supported only on Windows and Linux®.
  • PDF Generator supports only the 32-bit Retail version of Microsoft® Office Professional Plus and other software required for conversion on the Windows operating system.
  • PDF Generator supports the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of OpenOffice on the Linux® operating system.
  • PDF Generator does not support Microsoft® Office 365.
  • The OCR PDF, Optimize PDF, and Export PDF features are supported only on Windows.
  • A version of Acrobat is bundled with AEM Forms to enable PDF Generator functionality. Programmatically access the bundled version only with AEM Forms, during the term of the AEM Forms license, for use with AEM Forms PDF Generator. For more information, see AEM Forms product description as per your deployment (On-Premise or Managed Services)
  • PDF Generator service does not support Microsoft® Windows 10.
  • PDF Generator fails to convert files using Microsoft® Visio 2019. You can continue to use Microsoft® Visio 2016 to convert .VSD and .VSDX files.
  • PDF Generator fails to convert files using Microsoft® Project 2019. You can continue to use Microsoft® Project 2016 to convert .VSD and .VSDX files.

Requirements for AEM Forms Designer requirements-for-aem-forms-designer

  • Microsoft® Windows® 2016 Server, Microsoft® Windows® 2019 Server, Microsoft® Windows® 10, or Windows® 11
  • 1 GHz or faster processor with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2.
  • 1 GB of RAM for 32-bit or 2 GB of RAM for 64-bit OS
  • 16-GB disk space for 32-bit or 20-GB disk space for 64-bit OS
  • Graphics memory - 128 MB of GPU (256 MB recommended)
  • 2.35 GB of available hard-disk space
  • 1024 X 768 pixels or greater monitor resolution
  • Video hardware acceleration (optional)
  • Acrobat Pro DC, Acrobat Standard DC, or Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
  • Administrative privileges to install Designer
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 (VC 14.28 or greater) 32-bit runtime for 32-bit AEM Forms Designer
  • Microsoft Visual C++ 2019 (VC 14.28 or greater) 64-bit runtime for 64-bit AEM Forms Designer (For both OSGI and JEE stack)

Requirements for AEM Assets XMP metadata write-back requirements-for-aem-assets-xmp-metadata-write-back

XMP write-back is supported and enabled for the following platforms and file formats:

Requirements for AEM Assets to process metadata-heavy assets on Linux® assetsonlinux

The XMPFilesProcessor process requires the library GLIBC_2.14 to work. Use a Linux® kernel that contains GLIBC_2.14, for example, Linux® kernel version 3.1.x. It improves performance for processing assets that contain a large amount of metadata, like PSD files. Using a previous version of GLIBC leads to error in logs starting with com.day.cq.dam.core.impl.handler.xmp.NCommXMPHandler Failed to read XMP.

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