Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer

Adobe Certified Expert Exam Guide

Exam number: 9A0-397

Revised 28 June 2018

Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

About Adobe Certified Expert Exams

To be an Adobe Certified Expert is to demonstrate expertise in helping clients realize value in an Adobe
solutions.

Adobe's Certification exams follow industry-accepted procedures to ensure validity and reliability. We
work with industry experts to create our exams, which represent real-world requirements and objectives
for the job roles we certify.

This guide is designed to provide the recommendations needed to prepare for your Adobe Certified
Expert exam, and help you determine when you are ready to take the exam. It will outline the knowledge
and skills required of a "minimally qualified candidate" for a specific job role, which will be evaluated in
the exam.

How is the Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Structured?

• Number of questions: 50
• Time limit: 75 minutes
• Passing score: All Adobe exams are reported on a scale of 300 to 700. The passing score for each
exam is 550. For more information about scaled scoring, visit the FAQs.

How Do I Register for the Exam?

Our exams are delivered worldwide by PSI.
• Exam name: Adobe Experience Manager Developer/Operations Engineer
• Exam number: 9A0-397
• Exam cost: $180 (US Dollars)

To register for the exam at a PSI testing center:

1. Visit Adobe’s credential management system logon page. The logon requires that you have an
Adobe ID. If you do not have an Adobe ID, click the link for “Get an Adobe ID”

2. After logging on, If you have never taken an Adobe exam before, you will be instructed to create a
Profile. After creating your Profile, you will be instructed to update your opt-in Settings..

3. Once logged on, click “Home” then click “Schedule your exam at PSI.”

4. You will be directed to a new page within CertMetrics where you will click “Click here to log in to PSI.”

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
5. You will be taken to a page hosted by our exam delivery vendor, PSI, that displays the available
exams

6. Scroll through the list of available exams and press the “Schedule Exam” button for the exam you
want to take.

7. Select a delivery mode for your exam by choosing either “Test Center” or “Remote Online Proctored
Exam.”

8. Select your exam language to see options for your exam.

9. Select an available date and start time.

10. Confirm schedule details to receive a booking confirmation.

11. Proceed to payment.

12. After payment is successful, you will receive an email confirmation your registration details and a
receipt.

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

1. Click on Proceed to Checkout

2. Review and click the checkbox to agree to the exam policies, then click Next
3. Choose your method of payment. If you have a voucher or promotion code, Click on the Add
Voucher or Promo Code and enter the voucher number into the text box and click Apply

What topics are covered on the Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer

exam?
The tasks measured on the exam are grouped into the following domains:
• Installing platform instances
• Configuring AEM
• Maintaining and optimizing AEM
• Administrating application operations
• Troubleshooting AEM

Within each domain, there are specific tasks that you should be able to perform as an Adobe AEM Dev/Ops
Engineer:
• Installing platform instances
You should be able to apply the appropriate procedure to configure the AEM instance as an
author or publish. You should also be able to apply the procedures necessary to configure the AEM
instance to use MongoDB, TarMK, or other persistence layers. In addition, you should be able to
apply the procedure to install Apache and dispatcher module as well as apply the procedure used
to set the runmode.
• Configuring AEM
You should be able to apply the procedure to configure the replication agents and to configure
custom loggers. You should also be able to apply the security checklist. In addition, you should be
able to apply the procedure to configure global AEM OSGi settings and to configure the AEM
dispatcher.
• Maintaining and optimizing AEM
You should be able to apply the procedure to backup and restore AEM. You should also be able to
determine when to use online compaction or offline compaction as well as apply the procedure to
configure regularly scheduled maintenance. In addition, you should be able to analyze specific
storage usage by the application, apply different procedures to configure JVM runtime settings,
and apply the procedure to take a publish instance out of production.
• Administrating application operations
You should be able to apply the procedure to deploy a package or bundle. You should also be able
to apply best practices to setup a continuous deployment job. In addition, you should be able to
apply the procedure to install an AEM Hotfix or Feature Pack to an existing AEM instance (Author
and/or Publish).
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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
• Troubleshooting AEM
You should be able to determine the cause of HTTP output issues to resolve the issue as well as
determine the cause of performance problems to resolve the issue. You should also be able to
evaluate the monitoring system for the AEM environment (e.g. dispatcher, AEM instances, the
operating system, disk utilization, application metrics). In addition, you should be able to determine
and resolve the rights management issues and the configuration deployment issues as well as apply
the procedures to clone the AEM environment.

Distribution of content covered on the exam:

The questions on the exam are distributed as follows for each domain. (Note: each question carries the
same weight and there is no partial credit for any question)

Domain Percent of Exam

Installing platform instances 10%

Configuring AEM 16%

Maintaining and optimizing AEM 26%

Administrating application operations 22%

Troubleshooting AEM 26%

The Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer job role

This exam is designed for individuals who are currently performing or have previous work experience
with the job responsibilities of an Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer.

The Minimally Qualified Candidate

To pass the exam, you must possess the minimum level of knowledge, skills, and abilities required of an
Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer, which are outlined below.

Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer you should be able to perform the

following tasks without any assistance:
• Identify which AEM runtime parameters need to be monitored
• Analyze log data
• Conduct initial interpretation of heap and thread dumps
• Tune the performance of hardware, operating system, and the JVM (not coding
optimization)
• Out-of-box AEM specific tuning
• Monitor out-of-box AEM metrics
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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
• Define custom metrics for an installation
• Configure AEM to meet custom performance metrics
• Define measurement points required to monitor customer-specific code
• Define runtime dependencies and monitoring practices for third-party integrations
• Configure, setup, and monitor maintenance processes
• Create and revise disaster recovery plans
• Execute a disaster recovery plan
• Ensure safe deployment with minimal downtime or errors
• Conduct initial installation and configuration of AEM environment (e.g., publishers,
dispatches, authors, clusters, persistence)
• Operate AEM with any supported persistence layer
• Manage the overall AEM platform (operational, hands on, changing the configuration)
• Automate operational tasks (e.g., automated deployments, configuration and
reconfiguration)
• Clone environments
• Transfer data including content, configuration and application between environments
• Build, release and deploy code
• Define criteria and execute tests for operational acceptance
• Manage AEM authorizations permissions including users, groups, LDAP, SAML, etc.
• Debug the full web stack
• Create tools for debugging AEM, configuring AEM, etc.
• Apply tasks from the security checklist to the environment
• Adjust security checklist to meet environment-specific needs
You should also be familiar with common UNIX administration tools, system monitoring tools, build and
deployment of automation tools, Java (troubleshooting, profiling, monitoring and management tools),
Java build tools (e.g., Maven), and configuration management tools (including version management tools).

What is the typical job experience for minimally qualified

candidates taking this exam?
A minimally qualified Adobe AEM Dev/Ops Engineer typically has the following work experience:

• 2 – 3 years’ experience operating and developing AEM solutions (with a focus on non-functional
aspects)
• 2 – 3 years’ experience defining system architecture (network, topology, etc.)
• Can manage experienced developers who may not be familiar with AEM, but get them set up with
their development, QA environments, automated build, source control
• Familiar with IT change and operations management processes
• Prior troubleshooting experience reviewing code (desirable, but may not be a prerequisite)
• Experience with Java and understanding of good coding practices
• Knowledge of OSGi

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

What training is available to help me prepare for the exam?

Is training required?
You are not required to complete training before taking the exam; however, training can significantly
increase your knowledge of and skills with Adobe Experience Manager. It is important to note that training
alone will not provide you with the knowledge and skills required to pass an exam. Successful, on-the-job
experience is critical to providing you the knowledge needed to pass the exam.

Training for Adobe Partners

A variety of training and resources are available for Adobe Solution Partners. To access these resources, you
will need to login to the Solution Partner Portal with your Adobe ID and visit the Training landing page. From
there you can select your solution of interest and access on-demand, instructor led, and onsite training
options.

• On-demand Training: All Partners have access to on-demand training resources for sales, technical
and delivery roles. This includes self-paced learning modules, eSeminar videos, quizzes, exams, and
test outs to help measure comprehension - All at no cost!

• Virtual Instructor Led Training: Partners at the Business and above levels can access Virtual Instructor
Led Training through the learning management system. These trainings are 100% subsidized.

• In-person Instructor Led Training: Partners also have access to training delivered through Adobe
Digital Learning Services (ADLS). Adobe Digital Learning Services offers comprehensive, hands-on
courses across all job roles. Learn from Adobe experts in a virtual classroom or live in-person at any
Adobe training center globally. Courses come with a cost and Partners receive a discount (15-30%)
based on their Partner level in the Solution Partner Program.

• On-site Training: Get your team up-to-speed quickly with on-site training where we can come to
your location or you can bring your team to one of our training centers. Adobe Digital Learning
Services offers flexible, convenient instructor-led training for teams virtually or in-person. Content can
be customized to match your unique learning requirements.

Partners also have access to Certification Learner Journeys, Certification Paths, and free Certification Prep
courses. Please visit the Solution Partner Portal Certification page to access these valuable resources.

Not registered for the Solution Partner Portal? Please follow these instructions to get registered.

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

Training Courses Available to the Public

You can find a complete list of all Adobe training and tutorials here.

How do I know if I am ready to take the exam?

Nothing can guarantee that you will pass your test, however; the more practical work experience you
have and the more training you complete, the better your chances are to pass the test. Use the self-
assessment preparation worksheet (below) to evaluate your level of readiness.

On-the-Job Experience
Since Adobe exams measure knowledge and skills for a specific job role, one of the best ways to prepare
for the exam is to ensure you have the minimum work experience, as described in this guide.

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

Self-Assessment Preparation Worksheet

Use the following worksheet to review the exam topics, and assess your own readiness. If you need to
prepare more for a certain topic, determine if you need training, on the-job-experience, or both.

Topic Yes No
Installing AEM platform instances
I can apply the appropriate procedure to configure the AEM
instance as an author or publish
I can apply the procedures necessary to configure the AEM
instance to use MongoDB, TarMK or other persistence layers to
develop a testing roadmap
I can apply the procedure to install Apache and dispatcher
module
I can apply the procedure used to set the runmode
Topic Yes No
Configuring AEM
I can apply the procedure to configure the replication agents
I can apply the procedure to configure custom loggers
I can apply the security checklist
I can apply the procedure to configure global AEM OSGi settings

I can apply the procedure to configure the AEM dispatcher

Topic Yes No
Maintaining and Optimizing AEM
I can apply the procedure to backup and restore AEM
I can determine when to use online compaction or offline
compaction
I can apply the procedure to configure regularly scheduled
maintenance
I can analyze specific storage usage by the application
I can apply different procedures to configure JVM runtime
settings
I can apply the procedure to take a publish instance out of
production
Topic Yes No
Administrating application operations
I can apply the procedure to deploy a package or bundle
I can apply best practices to setup a continuous deployment job
I can apply the procedure to install an AEM Hotfix or Feature
Pack to an existing AEM instance (Author and/or Publish)
Topic Yes No
Troubleshooting AEM

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
I can determine the cause of HTTP output issues to resolve the
issue
I can determine the cause of performance problems to resolve
the issue
I can evaluate the monitoring system for the AEM environment
(e.g., dispatcher, AEM instances, the operating system, disk
utilization, application metrics)
I can determine and resolve the rights management issues
I can determine and resolve the configuration and deployment
issues
I can apply the procedures to clone the AEM environment

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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

Sample questions
Try out these practice questions to get a feel for the types of questions on the exam. Please note that your
performance here does not indicate how you will do on the actual exam. To fully prepare for the exam,
closely review the topic areas and objectives in this Exam Guide. You will find the correct answers at the
end of the exam guide.

1. You are starting AEM by using the command line. How should you configure the runmode?
A. System hostname should have runmode defined
B. Provide java property to the start command starting aem jar -Distance.type=runmode
C. Provide runmode to the jar with and -r option
D. Provide -r runmode to the start.sh script
2. Which three types of persistence layers are supported for AEM? (Choose three.)
A. Tar Storage
B. Apache Solr based Storage
C. Mongo DB Storage
D. Relational DB persistence using Document Microkernel
E. Apache Hadoop based Storage
3. What is the purpose of the Adobe Dispatcher?
A. It is a binary module and an example configuration for Apache HTTP Server, Microsoft IIS, and
Oracle iPlanet Web Server.
B. It is an example configuration based on HTTP cache headers and load balancer scheduler for
Apache HTTP Server, Microsoft IIS, and Oracle iPlanet Web Server.
C. It is a Java web framework and asynchronous networking library based on Jetty and optimized
for AEM.
D. It is a hardware appliance for HTTP load balancing from Adobe.
4. Which method should be used to specify which run mode to use?

A. A custom run mode can be activated by using the -r option when launching the quickstart “java -
jar aem-6.1.0.jar -r author, prod”
B. A system property in the start script can be used to specify the run mode “-
Dsling.run.modes=author,prod”
C. The sling.properties file can be used by adding property “sling.run.modes=author,prod”
D. An application server property sling.run.modes in the file WEB-INF/web.xml

5. In the replication agent configuration, what HTTP methods should be used for a dispatcher
flush agent?
A. GET and PUT
B. POST and DELETE
C. POST and PUT
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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
D. GET and POST

6. For the Sling log rotation, which pattern will rotate the log file every minute?

A. '.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-**
B. '.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-mm
C. '.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-MM
D. '.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-*1

7. A DevOps engineer changes the AEM admin password but does not change the admin password
for the OSGi Web console after initial installation.

What is the result?

A. The default password can be used at startup.
B. The OSGi Web console password will be automatically replaced during the next restart.
C. Replication from Author to Publish will always fail
D. The next startup will fail

8. Which two bundle statuses exist in the bundle lifecycle? (Choose two).
A. INSTALLED
B. RUNNING
C. OFFLINE
D. ACTIVE

9. Which of the following statements improves author instance performance?

A. Set up dispatcher for author instance
B. Run aem as root
C. Put author instance behind the load balancer
D. Enforce HTTPS

10. A DevOps engineer needs to recover data.

In which order should the DevOps engineer consider recovery options?

A. content package recovery, oak repository version recovery, full backup recovery
B. full backup recovery, content package recovery, OSGi repository recovery
C. full system recovery, differential backup recovery, component package recovery
D. incremental backup recovery, component package recovery, LVM snapshot recovery

11. A DevOps engineer has a CRX3 repository that grows.

What should the DevOps engineer do to decrease disk space usage?

A. Restart JVM to empty internal buffers and temporary files
B. Execute online or offline Tar compaction
C. Execute a workflow to empty the user’s temporary files
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Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide
D. Execute binary query logs compaction

12. With a multi-publish system setup, when should maintenance jobs be run?
A. In parallel on all publish systems to make sure the jobs are completed faster
B. Sequentially one publish after the other so that the impact on performance is less
C. When all publish systems are offline at once
D. In parallel on all publish systems so that the performance impact is less

13. A DevOps engineer needs to change default temporary files directory for Java Virtual Machine.

What should the DevOps engineer define to perform this task?

A. A <new-tmp-path> by using “export JAVA_IO_TMPDIR=/<new-tmp-path>” to the JVM process
user
B. A <new-tmp-path> by adding the JVM parameter “-Djava.io.tmpdir=’/<new-tmp-path>’” to the
server startup command
C. A <new-tmp-path> by setting the kernel state to “sysctl java.io.tmpdir=/<new-tmp-path”
D. A <new-tmp-path> by changing symlink in JAVA_HOME directory where the temporary files
directory is placed

14. How should a DevOps engineer determine the last version of a previously installed AEM package?
(Choose two.)
A. Accessing the package information in the package manager
B. Using CURL with the REST API
C. Using the OSGI console
D. Using JMX MBean

15. Which default directory should be used to install hotfix or service pack package?
A. Put a package under crx-quickstart/install
B. Place package in repository folder
C. Place package in launchpad folder

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 Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

Answer key
Try out these practice questions to get a feel for the types of questions on the exam. Please note that your
performance here does not indicate how you will do on the actual exam. To fully prepare for the exam,
closely review the topic areas and objectives in this Exam Guide. You will find the correct answers at the
end of the exam guide.

1. You are starting AEM by using the command line. How should you configure the runmode?
Correct Answer: C – Provide runmode to the jar with an -r option

2. Which three types of persistence layers are supported for AEM? (Choose three.)
Correct Answer: A – Tar Storage, C – Mongo DB Storage, and D – Relational DB persistence using
Document Microkernel.

3. What is the purpose of the Adobe Dispatcher?

Correct Answer: A - It is a binary module and an example configuration for Apache HTTP Server,
Microsoft IIS, and Oracle iPlanet Web Server.

4. Which method should be used to specify which run mode to use?

Correct Answer: A – A custom run mode can be activated by using the -r option when launching the
quickstart “java -jar aem-6.1.0.jar -r author, prod”

5. In the replication agent configuration, what HTTP methods should be used for a dispatcher
flush agent?
Correct Answer: D – GET and POST

6. For the Sling log rotation, which pattern will rotate the log file every minute?

Correct Answer: B - '.'yyyy-MM-dd-HH-**

7. A DevOps engineer changes the AEM admin password but does not change the admin password
for the OSGi Web console after initial installation.

What is the result?

Correct Answer: A – The default password can be used at startup.

8. Which two bundle statuses exist in the bundle lifecycle? (Choose two).
Correct Answer: A – INSTALLED and D- ACTIVE

9. Which of the following statements improves author instance performance?

Correct Answer: A – Set up dispatcher for author instance.

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 Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

10. A DevOps engineer needs to recover data.

In which order should the DevOps engineer consider recovery options?

Correct Answer: A – content package recovery, oak repository version recovery, full backup recovery.

11. A DevOps engineer has a CRX3 repository that grows.

What should the DevOps engineer do to decrease disk space usage?

Correct Answer: B – Execute online or offline Tar compaction.

12. With a multi-publish system setup, when should maintenance jobs be run?
Correct Answer: B – Sequentially one publish after the other so that the impact on performance is less

13. A DevOps engineer needs to change default temporary files directory for Java Virtual Machine.

What should the DevOps engineer define to perform this task?

Correct Answer: B – A <new-tmp-path> by adding the JVM parameter “-Djava.io.tmpdir=’/<new-tmp-
path>’” to the server startup command

14. How should a DevOps engineer determine the last version of a previously installed AEM package?
(Choose two.)
Correct Answer: A – Accessing the package information in the package manager and B- Using CURL with
the REST API

15. Which default directory should be used to install hotfix or service pack package?
Correct Answer: A – Put a package under crx-quickstart/install

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 Adobe Experience Manager Dev/Ops Engineer Exam Guide

Support
For information on certification visit the Solution Partner Portal website. To contact us, please send an
email to Certification Support.

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