Guide · updated
The AEM 6.5 to Cloud Service migration checklist
Print this page or save it as a PDF and tick items off as a team. Each line links to the detail elsewhere on this site, where the Adobe sources are listed.
1. Assess
- Run Best Practices Analyzer on a production-like author instance and load the report into Cloud Acceleration Manager.
- Group findings by code; note which ones Adobe's Content Transformer fixes automatically.
- List integrations, custom authentication, replication customisations and custom DAM workflows: they need decisions, not just code.
- Get a planning estimate (our free readiness scan), then a fixed quote (a Blueprint) before committing budget.
2. Code
- Remove APIs Adobe has enforced since 14 April 2026 (Log4j 1, Logback, Jetty, Guava, Sling Commons Auth and others) so Cloud Manager's Code Quality step passes.
- Fix the 31 March 2027 group in the same pass (Granite and CQ XSS, Commons FileUpload, Tika, Handlebars, org.bson, com.day.cq.commons.predicate).
- Replace administrative sessions with service users created by repoinit.
- Replace Sling Commons Scheduler use with scheduled Sling Jobs; route event-driven work that must happen through Sling Jobs.
- Stop writing to the local file system.
- Convert Felix SCR annotations to OSGi Declarative Services.
3. Repository and configuration
- Split mutable and immutable content: ui.apps, ui.content, ui.config and an all package.
- Move /etc configuration to /conf and other supported locations.
- Convert OSGi configurations to .cfg.json and map custom run modes to author/publish and dev/rde/stage/prod.
- Move secrets and environment differences to Cloud Manager environment variables.
- Convert custom Oak indexes to the -custom- naming convention and deploy them through ui.apps.
- Convert the Dispatcher configuration to the Cloud Service format and validate it with the SDK tools.
4. Authoring and assets
- Replace Classic UI dialogs and Foundation components; decide per component between Core Components and a rebuild.
- Move custom DAM Update Asset steps to asset microservices processing profiles and post-processing workflows.
- Replace replication agents with Sling Content Distribution or event-driven integrations.
5. Content
- Size the repository and plan Content Transfer Tool extraction and top-up runs.
- Agree content freeze windows with the business before the first production run.
- Fix asset validation findings (missing renditions or nodes) before transfer.
6. Test
- Regression-test each template: authoring, rendering, responsive layout, client libraries, metadata.
- Compare URLs, redirects and metadata between old and new for SEO parity.
- Load-test with realistic traffic and confirm CDN and Dispatcher caching.
7. Cut over and after
- Run a final top-up, switch DNS, and keep the old environment read-only for an agreed period.
- Watch Actions Center notifications and Adobe's deprecated-features page monthly; new removals keep coming.