When working with Adobe Experience Manager (AEM), cloning an environment typically involves moving content, configurations, code, and sometimes users. Your approach to packaging is generally correct, but it’s crucial to ensure you capture all the necessary nodes to replicate the environment fully. Here’s a more comprehensive checklist for the items you might need to include in your packages:

1. Content:

   • /content/{site} for the site pages.
   • /content/dam/{site} for digital assets associated with the site.
   • /content/experience-fragments/{site} if you’re using experience fragments.
   • /content/forms/af/{site} for adaptive forms content, if applicable.

2. Configurations:

   • /conf/{site} for context-specific configurations.
   • /etc/designs/{site} or /apps/{site}/settings/wcm/designs (depending on AEM version) for design-related content.
   • /home/users and /home/groups if you need to migrate user and group data (be cautious with user data for privacy reasons).
   • /etc/cloudservices if you have any third-party integrations configured.

3. Templates and Components:

   • /apps/{site} for templates, components, client libraries, and any custom code.
   • /apps/settings/wcm/templates/{site} for editable templates (AEM 6.3 and later).
   • /etc/tags/{site} for tagging structure, if you use tags extensively.

4. Workflows:

   • /etc/workflow/models/{site} for custom workflow models.
   • /var/workflow/packages for workflow packages, if any are relevant.

5. OSGi Configurations:

   • /apps/{site}/config for OSGi configurations that are part of your site’s codebase.
   • /apps/system/config for OSGi configurations at the system level (be cautious, as this might affect the entire instance).

6. Other Important Directories:

   • /var contains runtime data, versioning information, etc. Be selective about what you need from /var.
   • /etc/clientlibs/{site} for older versions of AEM where client libraries are still stored under /etc.

When creating packages, it’s recommended to:

• Test on a Non-Production Environment: Always test the package installation on a non-production instance first to ensure that it doesn’t break anything.
• Use Filters: Use filters in your package to include or exclude specific nodes. This can help prevent the package from becoming too large or containing unnecessary items.
• Validate Packages: After creating a package, always validate it to ensure there are no errors or missing dependencies.
• Incremental Packaging: For large sites, consider breaking down the package into smaller, incremental parts to avoid performance issues or timeouts during download/upload.

Remember to verify that the AEM versions of both the source and the target environments are compatible, especially if there are customizations that might not transfer cleanly between versions.

Lastly, check with your AEM system administrators or consult Adobe’s official documentation for any environment-specific considerations. Adobe’s package manager provides detailed logs and reports that can also guide you to any missing dependencies or issues with the packages you create.