Magnolia (CMS)

Magnolia is an open-source content management system (CMS). It is developed by Magnolia International Ltd., based in Basel, Switzerland. It is based on Content repository API for Java (JSR-283).

Original author(s)Boris Kraft & Pascal Mangold
Developer(s)Magnolia International Ltd
Initial release15 November 2003 (2003-11-15)
Stable release
6.2.39 / 18 September 2023 (2023-09-18)
Repository
Written inJava
Operating systemCross-platform
TypeContent management system
LicenseCommunity Edition: GPLv3
DX Core: EULA
Websitewww.magnolia-cms.com

Magnolia enables organizations to create, manage, and deliver digital content across various channels and platforms. It offers features such as content versioning, workflow management, personalization, and multi-language support. It also supports headless CMS capabilities, enabling content to be delivered through APIs for use in different front-end applications.

One of the key strengths of Magnolia CMS is its decoupled architecture, which allows for easy integration with other systems and technologies. It is known for its flexibility and scalability, making it suitable for both small websites and large enterprise-level applications.[1]

Major releases
VersionDateKey Features
6.22020-03-27Visual SPA Editor; Multisource content through declarative REST; Integrated User Experience; DAM Connector Pack; Marketing Automation Connector Pack.[2]
6.12019-06-26Product repackaging: DX Core and Community Edition; Connector Packs, Live Copy, many Find Bar and UI improvements.[3]
6.02018-11-30Find Bar with AI-based search result ranking, image recognition and tagging, content models via content types, new UI framework, overhauled user interface.[4]
5.72018-06-25GDPR readiness, Apache Solr for asset indexing, field name aliases, runtime compatibility with Java 9 and Java 10, Java specification baseline at Java EE 8.[5]
5.62017-11-15Content tags, new REST API delivery endpoint, software BOM for 3rd-party dependencies, OAuth 2.0, Vaadin 8, Log4j 2.[6]
5.52016-11-15Definitions app, navigation functions, Magnolia CLI, themes in YAML, many UX improvements; CORE 5.5 uses H2 as the default db.[7]
5.42015-07-03Magnolia Templating Essentials, light development, configuration by YAML files, unified resource loading.[8]
5.32014-06-24Personalization (p13n), workflow tasks, improved DAM API, content connector, marketing tags manager app.[9]
5.22013-11-22REST module, more apps using new Vaadin UI, improved migration process.[10]
5.12013-10-09Internationalization (i18n), bulk actions, publishing workflow, customizable apps.[11]
5.02013-06-20New UI based on HTML5 and Vaadin. Framework for creating task-oriented apps.[12]
4.5.12012-03-13New templating API, multichannel publishing, JCR 2.0 [13]
4.12009-06-12Digital asset management, image generation, commenting.[14]
4.0.12009-03-06Standard templating kit.[15]
3.02006-11-15Enterprise edition with features such as LDAP authentication.[16]
2.02004-11-15Usability improvements.[17]
1.02003-11-15Initial release.[18][19]
  Latest branch
  Older branch, still supported
  Older branch in extended end of life, partially supported
  End of Life

Architecture

Magnolia CMS is a Java-based content management system[20] that uses a JCR repository to store, retrieve and search data. In this respect Magnolia is similar to Adobe Experience Manager, Hippo CMS and Jahia which also use JCR. Magnolia uses Apache Jackrabbit, the JCR reference implementation by default. It is possible to use another JSR-170 certified repository implementation such as Modeshape.

Persistent storage

In Magnolia, Jackrabbit persists data to the H2 database by default. A light-weight embedded H2 database contains the Magnolia software, configuration, and two demonstration websites in a single download for trying out the system. For production environments other databases such as MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL or Oracle can be used.

Modules

Magnolia CMS has a modular architecture. The system core and features such as the page editor, digital asset management and cache are packaged into separate modules. The module mechanism is also used to package and deploy websites built with Magnolia CMS. The templates, themes and functionality used on a website are split into separate modules.[21]

Modularity allows site administrators to install and uninstall functionality according to a project's requirements. Encapsulating functionality into discrete modules also promotes separation of concerns: one team can work on website templates while another team develops apps, for example.

At the file system level a Magnolia module is a JAR, a Java file format used to package Java class files and resources (images, CSS, JavaScript) into one file. Deploying a Magnolia module involves copying the JAR file into the Java application server and restarting the Magnolia instance. Magnolia CMS recognizes the JAR file during the startup process and installs the module.

Magnolia International Ltd. provides commonly used feature modules such as Commenting and Personalization. The user community has developed further modules for specific tasks such as for checking broken links.[22]

Users

Magnolia clients[23] come primarily from financial services, government, media and e-commerce. The system is best suited for organizations that have complex integration requirements and sufficient IT resources to customize the product to their needs. Significant Java expertise is needed to take advantage of Magnolia's open-source architecture and to integrate the CMS with existing systems. The company has indicated that a file-system based development approach[24] makes the product less demanding of Java skills.

Conference

Magnolia Conference is an annual event for CMS developers and digital marketing users. The conference is a place to meet other users, share best practices, and learn about product updates. A technical presentation track targets software developers, focusing on integrations and CMS implementation cases. In 2015, Magnolia added a digital business presentation track where talks focus on content challenges that businesses are facing and how they are using the product build their brands on the Web.

The conference also includes a community unconference where attendees themselves are responsible for proposing, voting for and presenting talks which everyone is free to choose to attend.

References
  1. "Magnolia Ratings Overview". gartner.com. Gartner. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  2. "Release notes for Magnolia CMS 6.2". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2020-08-06.
  3. "Release notes for Magnolia CMS 6.1". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2019-07-22.
  4. "Release notes for Magnolia CMS 6.0". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2018-12-04.
  5. "Release notes for Magnolia CORE 5.7". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2018-07-11.
  6. "Release notes for Magnolia CORE 5.6". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2017-11-16.
  7. "Release notes for Magnolia CORE 5.5". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2016-11-21.
  8. "Release notes for Magnolia 5.4". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  9. "Release notes for Magnolia 5.3". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  10. "Release notes for Magnolia 5.2". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  11. "Release notes for Magnolia 5.1". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2016-10-17.
  12. Hietala, Antti (2013-06-20). "Release notes for Magnolia 5.0". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 5 November 2014.
  13. Hietala, Antti (2012-03-13). "Release notes for Magnolia 4.5.1". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  14. Joseph, Grégory (2009-06-12). "Release notes for Magnolia 4.1". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  15. Joseph, Grégory (2009-03-06). "Release notes for Magnolia 4.0.1". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 2014-11-05.
  16. Natividad, Angela (2006-11-15). "Magnolia Turns 3, Updates Web CMS". CMSWire. Simpler Media Group. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  17. Dunwoodie, Brice (2004-11-16). "Magnolia 2.0 Released, J2EE Open-Source CMS". CMSWire. Simpler Media Group. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  18. Kraft, Boris (2003-11-17). "Magnolia 1.0 released". betterfasterbigger.com. Retrieved 2016-10-18.
  19. "Obinary Releases Free Java-based Enterprise CMS". CMSWire. Simpler Media Group. 2003-11-20. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
  20. Karaca, Amandari (2019-08-06). "Magnolia Recognized by Gartner in the Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management". Cision (PRWeb). Cision. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  21. Meier, Christoph. "Modules". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  22. Kerkhoff, Marvin. "Deadlink App". Magnolia Community Wiki. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
  23. "References". Magnolia International Ltd. Archived from the original on 10 February 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
  24. Meier, Christoph (2015-07-03). "Release notes for Magnolia 5.4". Magnolia Documentation. Magnolia International Ltd. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
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