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What's new
What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 7 to WebSphere Commerce Version 8 release.
New features and functionality
This section describes the new features and functionality available with WebSphere Commerce.
What's new for administrators
As an administrator you install, configure, and maintain WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. Learn about the new features and functionality offered by WebSphere Commerce that will help you be successful in performing your administrative tasks.
Installation enhancements
Learn about the new features and functionality that are offered by WebSphere Commerce that improve your installation experience. Significant installation enhancements in this release include zero downtime when you apply fix packs and mod packs, and a simplified WebSphere Commerce installation process.

What's new
What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 7 to WebSphere Commerce Version 8 release.
- ... in Version 8 Mod Pack 4
  What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 8 to WebSphere Commerce Version 8 Mod Pack 4.
- ... in Version 8 Mod Pack 3
  What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 8 to WebSphere Commerce Version 8 Mod Pack 3.
- ... in Version 8 Mod Pack 2
  WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0.2 was released for IBM Commerce on Cloud only.
- ... in Version 8 Mod Pack 1
  What's new includes information about new functionality and changes in existing functionality from WebSphere Commerce Version 8 to WebSphere Commerce Version 8 Mod Pack 1.
- New features and functionality
  This section describes the new features and functionality available with WebSphere Commerce.
  - What's new for administrators
    As an administrator you install, configure, and maintain WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. Learn about the new features and functionality offered by WebSphere Commerce that will help you be successful in performing your administrative tasks.
    - Maintenance strategy
      WebSphere Commerce delivers two types of maintenance packages: fix packs and mod packs. A fix pack contains code fixes and security fixes. A mod pack contains new features and enhancements to existing features. A mod pack also contains most of the fixes that are available at the time of its release. Both types of maintenance packages are cumulative: a fix pack includes all previous fix packs and a mod pack includes all previous mod packs.
    - Installation enhancements
      Learn about the new features and functionality that are offered by WebSphere Commerce that improve your installation experience. Significant installation enhancements in this release include zero downtime when you apply fix packs and mod packs, and a simplified WebSphere Commerce installation process.
    - Migration enhancements
      Learn about the new features and functionality offered by WebSphere Commerce that reduce the complexity of your migration tasks.
    - Performance enhancements
      Learn about the new features and functions that are offered by WebSphere Commerce Version 8 to improve your site performance.
    - Security enhancements
      Learn about the new security features and functions that are offered by WebSphere Commerce in the areas of authentication, authorization, and access control policies. These features and functions are important for the chief security officer or the security administrator responsible for securing your site.
  - What's new for developers
    Learn about the new features and functionality WebSphere Commerce offers developers.
  - What's new for business users
    Learn about the new features and functionality WebSphere Commerce offers business users.
- IBM WebSphere Commerce Validated Technology Partner Solutions
  IBM WebSphere Commerce Validated Technology Partners bring together innovative and relevant e-commerce services and solutions to help serve the global community of WebSphere Commerce customers across a wide range of industries. By leveraging prebuilt integrations, WebSphere Commerce customers can deliver additional value faster with complimentary capabilities that differentiate the customer experience.
- Deprecated functionality
  If you are migrating from an earlier version of WebSphere Commerce, be aware of the various features that are deprecated or removed from this and earlier releases.
- Discontinued functionality
  If you are migrating from an earlier version of WebSphere Commerce, be aware of the various features that are deprecated or removed from this and earlier releases.

Installation enhancements

Learn about the new features and functionality that are offered by WebSphere Commerce that improve your installation experience. Significant installation enhancements in this release include zero downtime when you apply fix packs and mod packs, and a simplified WebSphere Commerce installation process.

Software stack flexibility

The WebSphere Commerce installation process is improved to provide a new option for you to choose the appropriate prerequisite software components that you want to use with WebSphere Commerce. This capability is useful for environments that have different versions of the same software on a machine.

Easier maintenance installations

All maintenance package releases (fix packs and mod packs) can be installed while maintaining high availability and with zero downtime. Installing maintenance packages does not affect shoppers or your store's availability, hence the term zero downtime. The updatedb utility was enhanced to support zero downtime. If you ever encounter database update issues during a maintenance installation, you can simply rerun the updatedb utility without the need to restore the database. By skipping the restore process, you can avoid downtime. The utility skips the SQL changes that were committed and continues from the point of failure. For more information, see Updating the database.

You also do not have to manually update files or manually deploy changed code to successfully install a fix pack, which was needed in WebSphere Commerce Version 7.