Migration › Create the datastream
Step 05 of 13
38% complete
Create the datastream
The datastream is the bridge between the browser and Adobe's servers, and the place where you decide which report suite your data lands in. Without it, the Edge receives your events and quietly discards them; with it, the Edge knows to forward each payload to Adobe Analytics. The single most consequential setting here is which report suite ID you point it at. Through the entire build and test, that must be a validation suite, never your live one, because the moment a test page fires, that data is real, and a datastream aimed at production silently pollutes the numbers your business is watching.
What to do
1
Where Data Collection › Datastreams › New Datastream
Do Create three, Dev, Staging, Production.
2
Do Select your schema, then Add Service › Adobe Analytics.
Value Report Suite ID = your validation RSID on Dev/Staging[21]. The real production RSID goes on Production only at cutover (final step).
3
Do Expand Geolocation & network lookup → enable. Save. Copy each Datastream ID.
⚠ Common mistake
Pointing Dev or Staging at the production RSID "just to see it work." Test traffic then inflates live reporting for weeks before anyone notices, and you can't un-collect it.
Reality check
Three datastreams isn't bureaucracy; it's the only thing keeping test data out of live reporting and giving you a safe place to validate. How do you know it's wrong? Live numbers tick up when only your QA team is testing.
✓ You should see
Three datastreams, each listing an Adobe Analytics service with the right RSID (validation on non-prod).