Sitecore XM Cloud, Ordercloud, CDP, Personalize, ContentHub and Send: April 2024

Tuesday, April 30, 2024

Sitecore Search - Crawler error and fix

During the crawler setup, I got below error

While configuring a web crawler for a recent project, I encountered errors related to missing Open Graph (OG) metadata and 404 responses. These issues can significantly impact the efficiency of the crawler and the completeness of the data it collects. Below, I outline the errors encountered and the steps to resolve them.

Error Details
Missing Open Graph Metadata
The following error was reported during the crawler execution:
Missing Fields: type  
Required Fields: type, id  
This error indicates that some pages are missing required Open Graph fields, specifically the type field. Open Graph metadata is critical for ensuring content is properly interpreted and displayed when shared or indexed.
404 Errors for Certain Pages
Additionally, some pages returned a 404 Not Found status during crawling. This means the crawler could not access these pages, likely because they were not published or their URLs were incorrect.
Diagnosing the Issues
Missing OG Metadata:
In Open Graph schemas, the fields type and id are typically mandatory by default. When these fields are missing, the crawler cannot accurately interpret the content.
404 Errors:
Pages returning a 404 status need to be reviewed to ensure they are correctly published and accessible.

Step-by-Step Solutions
1. Fix Missing Open Graph Metadata
To resolve the missing OG metadata issue, ensure the following:
Add Required OG Tags:
Include the necessary Open Graph meta tags on all relevant pages. For example:
<meta property="og:type" content="article" />
<meta property="og:id" content="unique-id-1234" />
Check for Consistent Placement:
Ensure the meta tags are consistently placed within the <head> section of every page template. This ensures the crawler can retrieve the metadata reliably.
Automate Attribute Selection:
If your crawler supports attribute selectors, configure it to extract the type value directly from the page elements. This can serve as a fallback in case the metadata is not hard-coded.
Example configuration:
{
    "typeSelector": "meta[property='og:type']",
    "idSelector": "meta[property='og:id']"
}
2. Resolve 404 Errors
To address pages returning 404 status codes:
Publish Missing Pages:
Review the list of pages that are returning 404 errors. Ensure these pages are correctly published and accessible.
Verify URLs:
Confirm that the URLs being crawled are accurate and free of typos or incorrect paths.
Check Server Configuration:
Ensure your server settings and routing configuration are correctly handling requests for these pages.

Final Recommendations
Regularly Validate Metadata:
Implement automated checks to ensure Open Graph metadata is present on all pages.
Crawler Configuration:
Customize your crawler to handle missing attributes gracefully by defining fallback selectors.
Monitor for Broken Links:
Use tools to periodically scan your website for broken links and 404 errors to maintain data integrity.
By ensuring your Open Graph metadata is properly configured and addressing 404 errors promptly, you can optimize the performance of your web crawler and ensure comprehensive data collection.
If you encounter additional issues or need further assistance, feel free to reach out.
Happy Sitecore Coding and Configuration!

Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Troubleshooting Sitecore XM Cloud: Deployment Process Halted with Status Code 409 - Project and Environment Already in Deployment.

Lately, during the construction and deployment of the UAT environment, all builds were stuck in the queue and failed to respond. Despite numerous attempts to delete the builds, the issue persisted.

After posting about the problem in the Slack channel, we were unable to find a definitive solution. Consequently, we raised a Sitecore ticket, seeking assistance with the issue.

Slack Posted Question - I'm currently encountering an issue with deploying a build on the UAT environment. Despite waiting for several hours, the build remains stuck in the queue.

After canceling the build and attempting to restart the environment, it' showing an message that the build is still running and it's preventing the restart.

Now, every build is getting queued up. Do we have any options available to resolve this issue? the same branch was successfully deployed to a different environment (Dev) without any issues.

I would greatly appreciate it if anyone who has experienced a similar problem could share their suggestions.

Console error was

{

"title": "Not Found",

"status": 404,

"detail": "Deployment entity not existing for deploymentId XXXXXXXXXX",

"traceId": "XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX"

}

There was an issue with our service connection, due to which environment was wrongfully marked as having a running deployment, got fix now.

Slack Reference - Slack Conversation Link

Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Resolving "Unable to Connect to the Remote Server" in PowerShell with Docker

While working on a recent project involving PowerShell and Docker, I encountered an error that prevented my script from connecting to the local server. The error message was:


Waiting for CM to become available...

Invoke-RestMethod : Unable to connect to the remote server

At C:\Projects\Project.Web\up.ps1:121 char:19

+ ...   $status = Invoke-RestMethod "http://localhost:8079/api/http/routers ...
+                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (System.Net.HttpWebRequest:HttpWebRequest) [Invoke-RestMethod], WebException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : WebCmdletWebResponseException,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeRestMethodCommand

This error indicated that the PowerShell script was unable to establish a connection to the server at http://localhost:8079/api/http/routers. After investigating the root cause, I determined the issue was related to Docker's network configuration.

Solution

Here is the step-by-step process I used to resolve this issue.

1. List Docker Networks

First, identify the existing Docker networks by running the following command:

docker network ls

This command lists all the networks currently created by Docker. The output might resemble:



NETWORK ID          NAME                 DRIVER              SCOPE
9b73baa9dff4        bb                   bb                  local
2c2b1a85c1a2        host                 host                local
3e8e8a1c32b4        none                 null                local
7e8f1b1d3f44        my_project_network   bridge              local

2. Remove the Project Network

Identify the network associated with your project and remove it using the following command:


docker network rm <name_of_network>

For example, if the network name is my_project_network, run:


docker network rm my_project_network

This step removes the problematic network configuration, allowing Docker to recreate it with default settings.

3. Rerun the PowerShell Script

After removing the network, rerun your up.ps1 script:


.\up.ps1

This should resolve the connection issue, and the server should now be accessible.

Conclusion

If you encounter similar issues with PowerShell scripts and Docker on Windows, resetting the Docker network configuration can often resolve connectivity errors. If you have any questions or run into additional problems, feel free to leave a comment or reach out.

Happy coding!