How to Install / Start AEM aka Adobe CQ5

It is great to know that you are going to start with Adobe Experience Manager ( previously called CQ ). But before you install it you should rename the quickstart jar file following the conventions to get it working as per expectations.

Naming convention of quickstart jar

cq<string> - <runmode> -p<port>.jar 
example :  cq-author-4502.jar for author instance and cq-publish-4503.jar for publish instance.

1. 'cq' must be there in the first place of the name.
2.  It is recommended to write -p before port number ( it is a must if there is any other number in complete name of jar )
3. If mentioned port number is not available then aem will automatically pick port number as following 4502, 8080, 8081, 8082, 8083, 8084, 8085, 8888, 9362, <random>.
Following are two ways to install CQ / AEM : 

1. Double click the cq quickstart jar , it will automatically install the AEM.
2. You can run it through command prompt / console by running following command.
java -Xmx1024m -Xms512m -XX:MaxPermSize=512m -jar cq-author-4502.jar -nofork

Following are four ways to start CQ/AEM
1. Double click the cq quickstart jar
2. Through command prompt / console by running the command used for installation
3. You can go to \crx-quickstart\bin\ folder and start.bat . You can configure various options in start.bat to start aem as per your custom requirements , like memory parameters , runmode etc.
4.  AEM can also be installed and started as windows services from service.msc console. ( Not explained in this post to avoid complexity )

note:  starting cq by start.bat doesn't use the quickstart jar present at root folder , but the one which is present at crx-quickstart\app\

List of start up additional parameters which can be used while starting jar from script or command prompt.

Command Parameter	Description
-help (--help,-h)	Show this complete list of commands
-quickstart.server.port (-p,-port) <port>	Set server port number
-contextpath (-c,-org.apache.felix.http.context_path) <contextpath>	Set context path
-debug <port>	Enable Java Debugging on port number; forces forking
-gui	Show GUI if running on a terminal
-unpack	Unpack installation files only, do not start the server (implies -verbose)
-v (-verbose)	Do not redirect stdout/stderr to files and do not close stdin
-nobrowser (-quickstart.nobrowser)	Do not open browser at startup
-fork	Force forking the JVM if running on a console, using recommended default memory settings for the forked JVM.
-nofork	Do not fork the JVM, even if not running on a console
-forkargs <args> [<args> ...]	Additional arguments for the forked JVM, defaults to '-Xmx1024m
-r <string> [<string> [<string>]]	Runmode(s) - Use this to define the run mode(s)
-b <string>	Base folder - defines the path under which the quickstart work folder is created
-low-mem-action <string>	Low memory action - what to do if memory is insufficient at startup
-use-control-port	Start a control port
-ll <level>	Define launchpad log level (1 = error...4 = debug)
-a (--interface) <interface>	Optional IP address (interface) to bind to
-pt <string>	Process type (main/fork) - do not use directly, used when forking a process

               

Reference : 

Set up a Local AEM Development Environment