DXP Self-Service Portal - Optimizely CMS 12

Exam Area: Area 2 – Installation, Operation & Configuration (20%) Reference: https://docs.developers.optimizely.com/digital-experience-platform/docs/self-service-portal

1. What is the DXP Self-Service Portal?

The DXP Self-Service Portal (also known as the Optimizely Paas Portal or PaaS Portal) is a web-based management console for customers running on the Optimizely Digital Experience Platform (Azure PaaS).

Access: paas.optimizely.com (login with Optimizely credentials)

2. Portal Capabilities

Feature	Description
Environment management	View Integration, Preproduction, Production environments
Deployment	Deploy packages to environments; promote between environments
Database management	Download DB backup (.bacpac); restore from backup
Blob storage	Browse and manage media files
Log access	View application logs, IIS logs, event logs
Slot management	Blue/green deployment via deployment slots
Scaling	Adjust App Service Plan size
CDN management	Configure CDN rules and purge CDN cache
Custom domains & SSL	Bind custom domains, upload certificates
Access control	Manage portal users and permissions

3. Environments

DXP customers get 3 environments by default:

Environment	Purpose	Typical Instance Size
Integration	Developer testing, CI/CD	Small (B2)
Preproduction	QA, acceptance testing, staging	Medium
Production	Live website	Large (auto-scale)

Code flow:
Developer → Integration → Preproduction → Production

4. Deployment Workflow

DXP Portal → Environments → Integration → Deploy
  1. Upload deployment package (.zip)
     OR use Deployment API (CI/CD)
  2. Integration deployed
  3. Smoke test

  → Promote to Preproduction
  4. Regression test

  → Promote to Production
  5. Monitor

5. Deployment Slots (Blue/Green)

Production slot (live) ←──┐
      ↕ swap               │
Staging slot (warm-up) ────┘

Steps:
1. Deploy new version to staging slot
2. Warm up / test on staging slot
3. Swap slots → staging becomes production instantly
4. Old production → staging (easy rollback)

6. Database Management

Portal → Environments → [Environment] → Database
  → Download backup (.bacpac file)
  → Restore from a previous backup
  → Copy database between environments
     (e.g. copy Production DB to Preproduction for testing)

7. Log Access

Portal → Environments → [Environment] → Logs
  → Application logs (ILogger output)
  → IIS logs (HTTP request logs)
  → Event logs (Windows Event Log)
  → Streaming logs (real-time via Kudu)

8. CDN Cache Purge

Portal → CDN → Purge cache
  → Purge by URL
  → Purge by tag
  → Purge all (full cache clear)

9. Deployment API

The DXP Deployment API allows CI/CD pipelines to deploy without using the portal UI:

# Deploy via CLI tool (epi-deployment)
epi-deployment deploy \
  --project-id <project-id> \
  --environment Integration \
  --package ./app.zip \
  --client-key <key> \
  --client-secret <secret>

See 10_deployment_api.md for full API details.

Review Questions

What is the URL for the DXP Self-Service Portal? (paas.optimizely.com)
How many standard environments does a DXP customer receive? (3 — Integration, Preproduction, Production)
What is the purpose of deployment slots (blue/green)? (Zero-downtime deployments — deploy to staging slot, test, then swap with production)
In what format can you download a database backup from the portal? (.bacpac)
Can you copy a database between DXP environments? (Yes — e.g. copy Production DB to Preproduction for realistic testing)