Environment variables in Cloud Manager environment-variables
Standard environment variables can be configured and managed via Cloud Manager. They are provided to the run time environment and can be used in OSGi configurations.
Environment variables can be either environment-specific values or environment secrets, based on what is being changed.
About environment variables overview
Environment variables offer a host of benefits to users of AEM as a Cloud Service such as the following:
- They allow the behavior of your code and application to vary based on context and environment. For example, they can be used to enable different configurations in the development environment compared to the production or stage environments to avoid costly mistakes.
- They only need to be configured and setup once and can be updated and deleted when necessary.
- Their values can be updated at any point in time and take effect immediately without the need for any code changes or deployments.
- They can separate code from configuration and remove the need to include sensitive information in version control.
- They improve the security of the AEM as a Cloud Service application since they live outside of the code.
Typical use cases for using environment variables include the following:
- Connecting your AEM application with different external endpoints
- Using a reference when storing passwords instead of directly in the code base
- When multiple development environments exist in a program and some configuration differs from one environment to the next
Add an environment variable add-variables
If you want to add multiple variables, ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ recommends that you add the first variable, then use
To add, update, or delete environment variables, you must be a member of the Deployment Manager role.
To add an environment variable:
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Log into Cloud Manager at and select the appropriate organization.
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On the My Programs console, select the one you want to manage.
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From the side menu, click Environments.
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On the Environments page, select a row in the table that has the environment for which you want to add an environment variable.
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On the environment’s detail page, click the Configuration tab.
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Click
If you are adding an environment variable for the first time, click Add Configuration in the center of the page.
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In the Environment Configuration dialog box, enter the details in the first row of the table.
table 0-row-2 1-row-2 2-row-2 3-row-2 4-row-2 Field Description Name A unique name of the configuration variable. It identifies the specific variable that is used in the environment. It must adhere to the following naming conventions:
- Variables can only contain alphanumeric characters and the underscore (
_). - There is a limit of 200 variables per environment.
- Each name must be 100 characters or less.
Value The value that the variable holds. Step Applied Select which service to which the variable applies. Select All to have the variable applied to all services.
- All
- Author
- Publish
- Preview
Type Select if the variable is normal or a secret. 
- Variables can only contain alphanumeric characters and the underscore (
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Click
Add additional variables as needed.
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Click Save.
A spinner with the status Updating is shown in the upper-right corner of the table. A spinner also appears to the left of any newly added variables. These statuses indicate that the environment is being updated with the configuration. After completion, the new environment variable is visible in the table.
Update an environment variable update-variables
After you have created environment variables, you can update them using
If you want to update multiple variables, ÃÛ¶¹ÊÓƵ recommends that you use the Environment Configuration dialog box to update all necessary variables at once before clicking Save. This way you can add them with one update to the environment.
To update an environment variable:
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Log into Cloud Manager at and select the appropriate organization.
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On the My Programs console, select the one you want to manage.
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From the side menu, click Environments.
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On the Environments page, select a row in the table that has the environment for which you want to update a variable.
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On the environment’s detail page, click the Configuration tab.
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Click
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In the Environment Configuration dialog box, click
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In the drop-down menu, click Edit.
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Update the value of the environment variable as necessary.
When editing a secret, the value can only be updated, not viewed.
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Do one of the following:
- Click
- Click
- Click
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Click Save.
A spinner with the status Updating is shown in the upper-right corner of the table. A spinner also appears to the left of any updated variables. These statuses indicate that the environment is being updated with the configuration. After completion, the updated environment variable is visible in the table.
Delete an environment variable delete-env-variable
- Log into Cloud Manager at and select the appropriate organization.
- On the My Programs console, select the one you want to manage.
- From the side menu, click Environments.
- On the Environments page, select a row in the table that has the environment for which you want to update a variable.
- On the environment’s detail page, click the Configuration tab.
- Click
- In the Environment Configuration dialog box, click
- In the drop-down menu, click Delete to remove the variable immediately.
- Click Save.
Use of environment variables using
Environment variables can make your pom.xml configurations more secure and flexible. For example, passwords needn’t be hard coded and your configuration can adapt based on the values in environment variables.
You can access environment variables and secrets by way of XML as follows:
${env.VARIABLE_NAME}
See Setting Up Project for an example of how to use both types of variables in a pom.xml file.
See also the for more details.
Availability of environment variables availability
Environment variables can be used in several places as follows:
Only regular environment variables can be used with the Dispatcher.
- Secrets cannot be used.
- Environment variables cannot be used in
IfDefinedirectives. - Validate your use of environment variables with the Dispatcher locally before deploying.