Configuring and running the server delta deployment process

The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool provides the delta deployment feature that reduces deployment time significantly by deploying only the changes between two builds.

The delta deployment process requires a baseline and a target. The baseline is the installed deployment package that was used to deploy the customization assets currently running on the environment. The target is the installed deployment package that contains the new customization assets to be deployed. The overall delta deployment process is run in the target and consists of the two subprocesses:

1. The delta preparation process compares the baseline and the target based on the deployment settings in the target to identify changes (also known as delta) between them and configures the delta assets and deployment settings as appropriate.
2. The deployment process, when run in delta mode, deploys only the delta to bring the environment to the target build level.

The subprocesses can either be run separately or as a single step. Once a single full deployment is run, delta deployment can be used for any subsequent deployments. The time saving is most apparent when the delta is relatively small compared to the entire set of customization assets.