Sitecore Docs - Tech Tips by GS

When configuring a Sitecore production environment on VMs (on-prem or cloud) , it’s critical to define and open only the necessary network ports between the servers to ensure secure and functional communication between the roles (CM, CD, Solr, SQL, Redis, Identity, etc.). Below is a breakdown of recommended ports that should be opened between VMs in a scaled Sitecore XP 10.x environment : 🔐 Core Port Recommendations Source VM                               Target VM                                         Port(s)                     Protocol                         Purpose                 ...

Sitecore 10.4.1 is finally here! Everyone's excited about the new release—but with every update, sometimes surprises sneak in. And we’ve got one such story for you. This happened on a Sitecore 10.4.0 instance running in an Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) cluster. One day, a fellow Sitecorian reached out to me and told that things just… broke. The Problem He said it was supposed to be a normal release. A developer pushed changes, the pipeline ran, and then— boom —errors everywhere. So we started looking into it. For your context, we got the below error - The Analysis Our First Guess: Maybe It’s the Code? We thought maybe the issue was in the new Pull Request (PR). We checked the changes, but everything looked okay. Just to be sure, we  reverted the PR  and tried the release again. Same error. Then we tried releasing an  older build  (before the error started). That one worked just fine. So now we knew—this wasn’t caused by code changes. The Solution Soon, w...

If you are restoring a database on your local or if you have forgotten your admin password to Sitecore, you can default it back to admin/b. To do so, copy and run the sql below - UPDATE [aspnet_Membership] SET [Password] = 'qOvF8m8F2IcWMvfOBjJYHmfLABc=' , [PasswordSalt] = 'OM5gu45RQuJ76itRvkSPFw==' , [IsApproved] = '1' , [IsLockedOut] = '0' WHERE UserId IN ( SELECT UserId FROM dbo.aspnet_Users WHERE UserName = 'sitecore\Admin' ) The above query also unlocks your account if it was locked due to wrong password attempts. Now you can log into Sitecore using the credentials  username - admin  and  password - b . This query works on all versions of Sitecore, including 8, 9, 10.1, 10.2, and 10.3.

In the world of Sitecore development, I often meet many professionals who are certified, highly experienced, and even recognized as MVPs. While their Sitecore knowledge is impressive, what surprises me is how often they lack basic software engineering fundamentals . This gap becomes obvious in real-world projects — especially when deadlines loom or post-launch support begins. Sitecore Can Get You the Job, But It Won’t Keep the Client Happy Knowing Sitecore well can definitely help you land a job. But what really earns client trust — and long-term success — is the quality of your deliverables and the value you bring to their business . As a developer, you're not just building a website. You're building the digital face of a brand . First impressions matter — your work could help the client grow their reputation or even drive new business. The software you create is part of something that may have taken years of hard work to establish. So how can you go from being a good Siteco...

Things I Wish I Knew Earlier About Money Money plays a big role in our lives. It opens doors, solves problems, and—if used right—can give us freedom. But it also comes with hard lessons that most people learn too late. Here are a few things I wish I had known earlier. Money is powerful. It can open doors, win favors, and solve problems. Use it wisely—don’t waste its potential. Start investing early. The sooner you begin, the more your money grows. Time is your biggest asset. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Spread your investments. Diversification helps you manage risk and get more stable returns. Be careful lending money to friends or family. Once money is involved, relationships change. And often, not for the better. We pay more taxes than we think. Learn legal ways to save on taxes and make it a habit. Create money systems that pay you regularly. A steady return—like rental income or dividends—frees up your time and mind. Jobs don’t make you rich. Th...

Things I Wish I Knew Earlier in Life About People Over the years, life has taught me a lot—often the hard way. Here’s a list of lessons I’ve learned, things I wish someone had told me sooner. Most relationships are transactional. Many people stick around only when they benefit from you. Once their need is met, they move on. Do good, but don’t expect anything back. Helping others is noble, but don’t expect them to return the favor—or even appreciate it. People change. The one you trust today might let you down tomorrow. Be cautious with your trust. Keep your plans private. Not everyone around you has good intentions. Silence protects your goals. Be thoughtful when helping. Ask yourself: Are you helping because they need it, or because you feel obligated? Would they help you if roles were reversed? True friends show up in tough times. The people who stand by you during your lows are the ones who truly care. Keep your financial status to yourself. Talking about y...

Thinking of Buying Property? Here Are Some Lessons I’ve Learned If you’re planning to buy property—whether for living or investment—here are a few things I’ve picked up over time. These tips can save you stress, money, and regret later. Do your homework. Visit the area, talk to locals, check market rates, and clear up any rumors. Never buy based on hearsay alone. Look for future potential. A property that can be used for commercial purposes later is a smart investment. It gives you flexibility and better returns. Watch out for hidden commissions. Some real estate agents make money both from you and by inflating the sale price. Understand who’s earning what before you commit. Don’t blindly trust recommendations. Friends, family, or neighbors may mean well—but always verify everything. Double-check documents, ownership details, and any hidden fees. Never pay in full without possession. Always take control of the property before completing payment. If they refuse, walk ...

Introduction In today's fast-changing world, we face many big challenges—from technology and fake news to climate change and political uncertainty. In "21 Lessons for the 21st Century," Yuval Noah Harari breaks down these issues into 21 short chapters. This blog gives you a clear and simple summary of each lesson. Part I: The Technological Challenge Theme: How new technology is changing jobs, freedom, and fairness 1. Disillusionment Many people are losing faith in the idea that the world is getting better. We need to be honest about our confusion and take time to understand what's really happening. 2. Work Robots and AI may take over many jobs. In the future, learning new skills and being emotionally strong will be very important. 3. Liberty Big companies and governments are watching us more than ever. If they control our data, they can control us. 4. Equality The people who own data have a big advantage. If we don’t act, the gap between rich and poor will grow ev...

In my career, I have received some great advice from mentors and leaders which still guide me, especially when things get tough or decisions feel complex. Here are a few worth sharing: - Know your worth—because others won’t always remind you of it. - Be the person someone can say: “I trust you. Just get it done.” - Ask for what you need. Silence never brings clarity. - Do great work—but make sure leadership sees the impact. - Respond quickly. Waiting dilutes momentum. - Don’t let opinions define you. Stay grounded in your truth. - Always negotiate. It’s not about money—it’s about value. - Leave every door open. Never burn bridges. - Solve problems in a way that they don’t return. - If something can’t be stopped, build systems to see it coming. - Keep emotions out of email. Have real conversations when it matters. - When you learn from a community, give back to it. - Disagree with someone? Step into their shoes before you decide. Hope it helps you!

A fellow Sitecorian reached out to me for help on an issue related to Sitecore pod deployments in Kubernetes. They built a web application based on Sitecore 10.4 Headless SXA on Azure Kubernetes Services Cluster and used Azure DevOps for CICD> The Problem We found that the latest code is not getting released to our Sitecore pods. We checked the release pipelines and Deploy Application Specifications steps has logs that mentioned that cm and cd pods are unchanged which means it did not find any differences in the build deployed to Sitecore pods and the build downloaded in pipeline. The Solution We discussed this with our Sitecore rep and he mentioned this is a known issue with Kuberenetes and it occurs as latest tag is used for fetching images from Container Repository. These images get cached and there are chances that the latest image is not picked correctly from Container Registry.  I tried googling for it and I found the following stackoverflow link talks about similar issue ...

The Problem While running the installation steps for setting up Sitecore XP in AKS, we found that the CM/CD pods are not running. This was primarily due to the fact that CM/CD pods were waiting on other pods like xDBsearch to come to running state due to wait-initialization. After waiting for significant time, we found that xDBsearch pod is not coming up and it probably has an issue. Ran kubectl logs command to check xdbsearch logs and found below entries -  The Solution This error definitely implied that the shard databases have some issue. We deleted the shard databases and ran the init job again. When the init job completes, it is advisable to check logs by running kubectl logs command. This will inform if the job was successful or did it errored out at some point. Once the shard databases were recreated, we recreated the pods and this time the xdbsearch pods came up fine. Thanks for reading :)

Hello!! This year, I have mostly worked on Sitecore 10.1.1 as part of IT team of an accounting services organization. Due to my nature of work, I dont have exposure to different projects exploring variety of new Sitecore tools and technologies (like my other fellow MVPs have), but I have used this year to upgrade my learning and dig deeper into Sitecore XP on which I primarily work. Below are my contributions this year -  Sitecore Blogs Below are the links to all my blogs which I have published in year 2022 on Sitecore.  https://ghanendras.blogspot.com/2024/11/sitecore-installation-on-kubernetes.html https://ghanendras.blogspot.com/2024/11/sitecore-bug-502996-checkbox-rendering.html https://ghanendra-singh.vercel.app/posts/customize-sitecore-desktop https://ghanendras.blogspot.com/2024/11/sitecore-solr-error-keepererrorcode.html https://ghanendras.blogspot.com/2024/11/cannot-find-options-for.html https://ghanendras.blogspot.com/2024/11/links-db-in-sitecore-not-consistent.html ...

Introduction Recently, a community member attempted to install Sitecore 10.4 on a Kubernetes (K8s) cluster and reached out to me regarding the challenges they faced. Despite following Sitecore's standard installation document, they encountered issues due to their limited knowledge of Kubernetes. This blog post summarizes their experience and serves as a reference for other developers in a similar situation. Steps for Installation To successfully set up a Sitecore instance in a K8s cluster, follow these detailed steps: Prerequisites Access to Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) : Ensure you have the ability to create namespaces and clusters in AKS. Having a team member knowledgeable in Kubernetes is highly beneficial. Local Tools : Install Azure CLI, Chocolatey, and Helm on your local machine. You'll be needing these while executing commands in PowerShell. Cluster Specifications Ensure your cluster meets these specifications: Kubernetes 1.27.x or later Windows Server 2019 version 18...

 The Problem In a recent project based on Sitecore 10.1.4, I encountered an intriguing issue with Sitecore’s rendering parameters. Specifically, I was working with a rendering parameter template that included Checkbox fields. The standard values for these fields were set to “checked”  Observed Behavior When reading these values for a page rendering, I noticed the following behavior: Unchecking the Checkbox: The value remained “1”. Unchecking the Checkbox and adding another rendering parameter with a value: The checkbox value became null (as expected). This led me to question why the checkbox value remained “1” when unchecked, unless a value was added to the one of the rendering parameter field. The Analysis Upon further investigation and raising a support ticket with Sitecore, it was confirmed that this behavior is indeed a bug in the current Sitecore version. The checkbox rendering parameter appears to read from the standard value if unchecked, which is not the expected behav...

 The Problem We use SOLRcloud for SOLR with Zookeeper. While performing my routine development activities, I encountered that my local SOLR instance is giving a weird error as shown in snapshot below -  The Solution We checked SOLR logs and could see error like below repeating continuously -  2024-11-10 22:31:31.216 ERROR (zkConnectionManagerCallback-7-thread-1-EventThread) [   ] o.a.s.c.LeaderElector node exists => org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException$NodeExistsException: KeeperErrorCode = NodeExists for /overseer_elect/leader at org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.create(KeeperException.java:126) org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException$NodeExistsException: KeeperErrorCode = NodeExists for /overseer_elect/leader at org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.create(KeeperException.java:126) ~[zookeeper-3.5.5.jar:3.5.5] at org.apache.zookeeper.KeeperException.create(KeeperException.java:54) ~[zookeeper-3.5.5.jar:3.5.5] at org.apache.zookeeper.ZooKeeper.create(...