trackingServer

Last update: April 25, 2024

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Adobe collects data on your site by receiving an image request generated by the visitor. The trackingServer variable determines the location an image request is sent. If this variable is not defined correctly, your implementation can experience data loss.

WARNING
Changing this value makes AppMeasurement look for cookies in a different location. Unique visitor count can temporarily spike in reporting as visitor cookies are set in the new location.

Edge domain using the Web SDK extension

The Web SDK uses Edge domain to handle both Tracking Server and Secure Tracking Server. You can set the desired Edge domain value when configuring the Web SDK extension.

  1. Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
  2. Click the desired tag property.
  3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under Adobe Experience Platform Web SDK.
  4. Set the desired Edge domain text field.

See Configure the Adobe Experience Platform Web SDK extension in the Web SDK documentation for more information.

TIP
If your organization moves to the Web SDK from an AppMeasurement or Analytics extension implementation, this field can use the same value contained in trackingServerSecure (or trackingServer).

Edge domain manually implementing the Web SDK

Configure the SDK using edgeDomain. The field is a string that determines the domain to send data to.

alloy("configure", {
  "edgeDomain": "data.example.com"
});

Tracking Server using the Adobe Analytics extension

Tracking Server is a field under the General accordion when configuring the Adobe Analytics extension.

  1. Log in to Adobe Experience Platform Data Collection using your AdobeID credentials.
  2. Click the desired tag property.
  3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under Adobe Analytics.
  4. Expand the General accordion, which reveals the Tracking Server field.

If this field is left blank, it defaults to [rsid].data.adobedc.net.

s.trackingServer in AppMeasurement and the Analytics extension custom code editor

The s.trackingServer variable is a string that contains the location to send data.

Considerations for determining the value for trackingServer

You can choose to use Adobe’s tracking server domains (e.g. adobedc.net) or you can go through a special process to setup a tracking server that matches your sites domain (e.g. data.mydomain.com), also known as a CNAME implementation. Having a trackingserver that matches your site domain may have some benefits depending on other aspects of your implementation. When the tracking server does not match the domain of the current page, cookies set by AppMeasurement must be set as third-party. If the browser does not support third party cookies, this mismatch can interfere with certain Analytics functionality:

  • Setting identifiers: If you are using Experience Cloud Identity Service the tracking server has no impact on how cookies are set. However if you are using Analytics legacy identifiers (aka the s_vi cookie) and the collection server does not match the current domain, then cookies must be set as third party. In this case, if third-party cookies are blocked by the browser, Analytics sets a first-party fallback id (s_fid) instead of the standard s_vi cookie.
  • Link tracking will not work for internal links.
  • Activity Map will not work for internal links.
  • Cookie check.

First-party cookies

If you use a first-party cookie implementation, it is likely that someone in your organization has already completed the first-party cookie process. See First-party cookies in the Experience Cloud in the Core Services user guide for more information on the first-party cookie process.

The individual who initially configures the first-party cookie implementation also defines the domain and subdomain used. For example:

s.trackingServer = "data.example.com";

Third-party tracking server

TIP
Increasing privacy practices in modern browsers make third-party cookies less reliable. Adobe recommends following the first-party cookie workflow.

If you use a third-party cookie implementation, the value for trackingServer is a subdomain of data.adobedc.net. For example:

s.trackingServer = "example.data.adobedc.net";

Pick a subdomain unique to your organization, unlikely to be picked by another organization that uses Adobe Analytics. The visitor namespace assigned to your organization is recommended. Make sure that all implementations in your organization use the same tracking server. It can be helpful to maintain this information in a solution design document.

Your organization may already be using a 3rd party tracking server in the sc.omtrdc.net or 2o7.net domains. These were primarily used in previous versions of Adobe Analytics and are still valid.

NOTE
Do not use any subdomains deeper than example.data.adobedc.net. For example, custom.example.data.adobedc.net is not a valid tracking server.

More help on this topic

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