Sitecore Instance Manager (SIM) support for Sitecore 9.3 SXA Site Installation

9/29/2020 02:16:00 AM

Sitecore Instance Manager (SIM) support for Sitecore 9.3 SXA Site Installation

After modifying SIM to install SXA-Enabled Sitecore 10 Websites, implemented changes to build Sitecore 9.3 SXA-enabled websites. Here are the list of changes:

a. Added GlobalParams_9.3_Setup_XP0.json as well as added a mapping for 9.3 version in GlobalSettings.json -

b. Also, modified Sitecore 10 GlobalParams_10.0_Setup_XP0 to include separate tasks for spe, sxa_solr and sxa -

c. Step b enables passing separate packages for spe and sxa under PackageMapping section -

Changes specified in steps b and c were made in respective config files for 9.3 and 10 versions.

d. For SXA, bypassed logic that unzips XP0 Configuration files 9.3.0 rev. 003498.zip under Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (Setup XP0 Developer Workstation rev. 1.1.1-r4) folder since the configuration.zip files like createcert.json, identityserver.json etc. are already unzipped and present in Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (Setup XP0 Developer Workstation rev. 1.1.1-r4) folder.

Above step applicable for both 9.3 and 10 versions.

Based on above changes, here is a step-by-step approach to create a Sitecore 9.3 SXA website :

1. Download Graphical Setup Package from Sitecore Downloads -

2. Copy over the package onto the SIM's repository folder:

3. In case you are going through Github, compile the code, open the SIM.exe - the latest compiled version in the release folder -

4. Click Install Sitecore XP 9 and later -

5. Select 9.3 version and then select the "....SXA" option. This option becomes available only after you copy over Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (Setup XP0 Developer Workstation rev. 1.1.1-r4).zip in the repository folder of SIM here: C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\Sitecore\Sitecore Instance Manager\Repository.

6. Give a relevant name for the site, I gave sc930sxa. I had already installed Solr-7.5.0 instance in my machine so, that gets populated in the Solr field. Press the next button:

7. Once the next button is clicked, the Sitecore 9.3.0 rev. 003498 (Setup XP0 Developer Workstation rev. 1.1.1-r4).zip will be unzipped in the repository folder and the tasks will be listed in the install dialog. Here are the tasks added for SPE and SXA installation:

8. You can use the Advanced button to check the variables set for all the tasks. They don't need to be touched. So, press the next button. The validations start running and should get a success dialog -

9. Once you click the install button, the tasks must start executing one after another with status displayed one after another -

10. If the installation encounters any error, the Error state will be shown against the row. In my case, everything looks good and the install is successful -