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User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
Deploying
The topics in this section describe how to publish stores to either a test or production environment, and how to deploy customized code.
WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool
The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is designed to address the error-prone and time-consuming nature of customized asset deployment. Manual customized asset deployment involves accessing and updating numerous systems, including your database, web server, application server, and WebSphere Commerce server. Manual customization can be problematic, especially for a production environment where downtime has a negative impact on the business. For a customization project with many developers, it is a challenge to ensure that each development environment setup is quick, easy, and repeatable to preserve productivity. The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool provides a starting point for you to automate your build and deployment processes in a standardized, controlled manner.
… build process
The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is highly configurable, in order to suit your current server environment, repository structure, and target environments.

User Guide
The information contained in this section applies to WebSphere Commerce Version 8. The documentation also applies to all subsequent releases and modifications until otherwise indicated in a newer section.WebSphere Commerce is a single, unified e-commerce platform that offers the ability to do business directly with consumers (B2C), directly with businesses (B2B), and indirectly through channel partners (indirect business models). WebSphere Commerce is designed to be a customizable, scalable, and high availability solution that is built to leverage open standards. It provides easy-to-use tools for business users to centrally manage a cross-channel strategy. Business users can create and manage precision marketing campaigns, promotions, catalog, and merchandising across all sales channels.
- Planning
  Creating a custom implementation of a WebSphere Commerce store requires a significant amount of planning. From gathering client needs, to deploying the live solution, much work is needed to successfully deploy a custom client store. Use the resources in here to help you plan every phase of store creation.
- Installing
  Review the following sections for information about installing the WebSphere Commerce product, associated maintenance, and WebSphere Commerce enhancements.
- Migrating
  Before you migrate to WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0, review this information to help plan and execute your migration.
- Deploying
  The topics in this section describe how to publish stores to either a test or production environment, and how to deploy customized code.
  - WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool
    The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is designed to address the error-prone and time-consuming nature of customized asset deployment. Manual customized asset deployment involves accessing and updating numerous systems, including your database, web server, application server, and WebSphere Commerce server. Manual customization can be problematic, especially for a production environment where downtime has a negative impact on the business. For a customization project with many developers, it is a challenge to ensure that each development environment setup is quick, easy, and repeatable to preserve productivity. The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool provides a starting point for you to automate your build and deployment processes in a standardized, controlled manner.
    - Prerequisites
      Before you begin, you must ensure that all prerequisites for the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool are met. In addition, you must learn about the current build, development, and deployment processes that are used in your project. Learning about the current processes helps in planning the adoption of the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool.
    - Location and file structure
      The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is installed as part of the WebSphere Commerce product installation to WC_installdir/wcbd/. If you are installing WebSphere Commerce Developer, it is installed to WCDE_installdir/wcbd/.
    - … build process
      The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is highly configurable, in order to suit your current server environment, repository structure, and target environments.
      - Repository structure
        The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is configured by default to use a specific reference repository structure. It is recommended that you use this repository structure because the default repository structure reduces configuration effort of the build process, and provides an intuitive structure that mirrors the WebSphere Commerce Developer workspace. If you are unable to use the default repository structure, the build process can be configured to adapt to your own repository structure.
      - Setting up the source extraction Ant script
        The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool requires you to provide a custom source extraction Ant build file. This file is run as part of the build process.
      - Configuring the build settings
        Before using the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool, you must edit script and properties files to set important information such as file paths to software installations and module lists to be built.
      - Advanced build features
        The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool provides many advanced build features to support complex configurations. Use these features to improve your build process.
      - Running the build process
        After the configuration steps are finished, you can run your build process to create deployment packages for your target environment.
      - Build configuration references
        Configuring the build process mainly involves setting properties in configuration properties files. Refer to the topics below for detailed description and usage of these properties.
    - … server deployment process
      After you create the deployment package, you can deploy it using additional Ant scripts provided as part of the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool.
    - … toolkit deployment process
      After you create the deployment package, you can deploy it to your development environment using additional Ant scripts provided as part of the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool.
    - … customizing
      Although the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool supports a wide range of configuration by default through samples and configurations, a WebSphere Commerce customization project may have very specific needs that are not easily supported. To tailor to such needs, the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool provides extension points which can be leveraged to develop customized build and deployment processes. This section provides customization guidelines and instructions.
  - Managed asset deployment
    Managed assets are files that are uploaded by business users to be used for store marketing, or to supplement products. They are added to WebSphere Commerce through the Assets tool or the Marketing tool in Management Center. By default, managed assets are extracted and deployed through the WebSphere Commerce EAR. To maintain performance in a large-scale production environment, site administrators must switch to alternative extraction and deployment methods for managed assets.
  - Deploying customized assets
    When you deploy customized assets for WebSphere Commerce, consider the two stages: packaging and deploying.
  - Minimizing downtime during deployment
    Your WebSphere Commerce site is an integral part of your company's revenue flow, so disruptions and any downtime should be minimized. Moreover, taking down a site for long periods of time or frequently, reflects on the store's credibility and impacts the customer's shopping experience with and potential return visits to the site.
  - How to increase your success with WebSphere Commerce deployment
    Use these tips and best practices to help you successfully deploy WebSphere Commerce.
  - WebSphere Commerce deployment checklist
    The WebSphere Commerce deployment checklist is based on lessons learned from IBM internal groups, external customers and business partners deploying WebSphere Commerce-based solutions. This checklist is intended to provoke discussion; it is not a detailed set of instructions.
  - Publishing a store archive
    Publishing a store archive to a WebSphere Commerce Server allows you to create a running store. You have two options for publishing a store archive: Publishing a store archive using the Publish wizard, Publishing a store archive using the publishstore utility.
- Operating
- Integrating
  Topics in the Integrating category highlight the tasks that are commonly performed for using WebSphere Commerce in combination with other products.
- Administering
- Tutorials
  WebSphere Commerce provides many tutorials to help you customize and understand your WebSphere Commerce instance and stores.
- Samples
- Developing
  The topics in the Developing section describe tasks performed by an application developer.
- Compliance
  The following section describes how you can leverage WebSphere Commerce features and functionality to help your site be compliant with different privacy and security standards.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of WebSphere Commerce and how to configure these features.
- Performance
- Troubleshooting

Configuring and running the build process

The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool is highly configurable, in order to suit your current server environment, repository structure, and target environments.