Disabling xDB and Xdb tracking
Customize your xDB configuration with Xdb.Tracker.Enabled
Sitecore Experience Manager contains the Sitecore content management system without the Experience Database (xDB) enabled and without the need to purchase xDB licenses.
In addition to running the Sitecore Experience Platform (XP) without xDB enabled, you can disable the Xdb.Enabled and Xdb.Tracking.Enabled settings in the Sitecore.Xdb.config file on the content authoring and content delivery servers to customize how xDB performs in different server environments. This provides you with flexibility when you implement a Sitecore solution.
When you configure xDB in a content authoring environment, you might want to disable the Xdb.Tracking.Enabled setting on content management servers. For example, you might not need xDB when a server node is not being used for reporting, or when servers are acting as email processing servers or publishing servers.
When you set Xdb.Tracking.Enabled to false and have xDB enabled:
Personalization conditions are not available, for example, you do not have access to goals, events, or outcomes.
xDB cannot identify contacts.
Contacts cannot be enrolled in engagement plans.
You cannot use IP Geolocation services.
You cannot perform content testing
When you set Xdb.Tracking.Enabled to true and have xDB disabled:
The following services are unavailable:
Reporting
Contact Segmentation Index
Interaction Registry
Outcome Manager
Contact Repository
Engagement plans cannot be created or processed.
Data cannot be collected in the Preview environment.
Contacts cannot be identified.
On a content delivery server, you might want to disable the Xdb.Tracking.Enabled setting when you do not want to collect information on visits to your website. For example, you can disable this setting if you are performing a server upgrade and testing a specific node because the data collected during the upgrade process is not relevant to your organization.
Additionally, you might not want to have tracking enabled on a content delivery server if you use it exclusively for content, such as digital assets. You might not want to personalize this content, in which case, you would not need to have Xdb.Tracking.Enabled enabled.
When you set Xdb.Tracking.Enabled to false and have xDB enabled:
You can use personalization rules based on goals, campaigns, and events.
Contacts cannot be identified.
Contacts cannot be enrolled in engagement plans.
IP Geolocation services are unavailable.
When you set Xdb.Tracking.Enabled to true and have xDB disabled:
Contacts cannot be identified immediately, and any data gathered from the contact is discarded at the end of the session.
You can use personalization rules for contact facets and segmentation.
IP Geolocation services are available.
Engagement plan processing occurs for the live session.
Contact repositories are available for the session, and outcomes that are triggered during the session are registered.