Replicate Content in AEM 6.5 LTS

Use this skill when the user asks to publish, unpublish, replicate, activate, deactivate, or bulk-replicate content on AEM 6.5 LTS publish instances.

Prerequisites

• AEM 6.5 LTS Author with configured replication agents — see configure-replication-agent
• Author permissions to activate/deactivate content

Replication Method Selector

Quick Publish

Sites console → select page(s) → Quick Publish (toolbar or right-click menu)

• Shallow: publishes selected pages only, not children
• Uses all enabled default replication agents immediately
• ✓ Verify: page shows green "Published" checkmark in Sites console

Manage Publication

Sites console → select page(s) → Manage Publication

1. Action: Publish / Unpublish / Publish Later / Unpublish Later
2. Date/time: set if using a "Later" option
3. Scope: Selected / Include Children / Modified Only
4. Options: Include References (assets, XFs), Create Version Before Publish
5. ✓ Verify: progress indicator completes with no error notifications; check replication agent queue is idle

Tree Activation

http://localhost:4502/miscadmin → Replication → Activate Tree

• Start Path: /content/mysite/en
• Always run Dry Run first to preview scope
• Options: Only Modified, Only Activated, Ignore Deactivated
• ✓ Verify: results log shows success count with zero failures

For full steps and performance guidance, see references/TREE_ACTIVATION.md.

Package Replication

/crx/packmgr → Create Package → add filters → Build → More → Replicate

• ✓ Verify: package appears as Installed in Publish CRX Package Manager (http://publish:4503/crx/packmgr)

For full steps, see references/PACKAGE_REPLICATION.md.

Workflow Replication

Select page → Timeline panel → Start Workflow → Request for Activation → assign approver

• Approver acts via http://localhost:4502/aem/inbox: Approve → content activates; Reject → returns to author
• ✓ Verify: page status updates to "Published" after approval completes

Scheduled Activation

Page Properties → Advanced tab → set On Time (activate) and/or Off Time (deactivate)

• Requires replication agent trigger "On-/Offtime reached" enabled
• ✓ Verify: agent trigger at /etc/replication/agents.author/[agent] → Triggers tab → "On-/Offtime reached" is checked

Replication API

@Reference private Replicator replicator;

replicator.replicate(session, ReplicationActionType.ACTIVATE, "/content/path");
replicator.replicate(session, ReplicationActionType.DEACTIVATE, "/content/path");

curl -u $AEM_USER:$AEM_PASSWORD -X POST http://localhost:4502/bin/replicate.json \
  -F "cmd=Activate" -F "path=/content/mysite/en/page"
# ✓ Verify: HTTP 200 with {"success":true,"path":"/content/mysite/en/page"}

For ReplicationOptions (synchronous, agent filtering) and full curl error handling, see references/REPLICATION_API.md.

Deactivation (Unpublishing)

Sites console → select page(s) → Quick Unpublish (or Manage Publication → Unpublish)

• Content removed from Publish; URLs return 404; Author content preserved
• Dispatcher cache invalidated if flush agent is configured
• ✓ Verify: page URL on Publish returns 404

Replication Status Indicators

Check queue: Tools → Deployment → Replication → Agents on author → [agent] → queue should be idle/empty after processing.

Logs: crx-quickstart/logs/replication.log

Troubleshooting

• Content not appearing on Publish: confirm replication timestamp is recent; agent queue should be empty
• Agent blocked: Agents on author → select agent → Force Retry or Clear failed item
• Dispatcher serving stale content: manually flush cache or verify flush agent configuration
• Permission denied errors: check Agent User Id has replication privileges on the content path

For deep diagnostics, use the troubleshoot-replication skill.

Asset Replication (DAM)

Use the Assets console (/assets.html/content/dam) with the same Quick Publish / Manage Publication actions. All renditions and metadata replicate automatically. For shared datastores, enable binary-less replication (Serialization Type: Binary-less) on the agent to transfer only metadata nodes.

Additional Resources

• AEM 6.5 LTS Replication
• Managing Publications

Related Skills

• configure-replication-agent — set up and configure replication agents
• replication-api — full programmatic Replication API reference for custom OSGi services and servlets
• troubleshoot-replication — diagnose and resolve replication failures