HCL Commerce Version 9.0.0.1

Updating HCL Commerce overview

Learn about HCL Commerce release types, and learn how to update your custom HCL Commerce site deployments.

Releases and implementation lifecycles

HCL Commerce is provided in major, mod pack, and fix pack releases.

Typically, as you increase the time between HCL Commerce implementations, updates to HCL Commerce will become more difficult to implement. Jumps between major releases require migration, and more consideration with regards to tradeoffs and limitations between older and newer features, customizations, and solutions.

Inversely, smaller jumps between updates to HCL Commerce, such as between fix packs or mod packs, contain fewer challenges. These updates generally only include important fixes and improvements to functions that are specifically tailored to users of newer site features and solutions. Consequently, the update path for smaller updates is also much less intensive, requiring you to only rebuild your custom Docker images on newer base images before deploying them.

Release type Representation example Description
Major release Version 9.0 A major release of HCL Commerce contains new site solutions. Older features and solutions that you might rely on in previous releases can be supported, deprecated, or require some level of modification to continue using with a major release.

Major releases often include significant changes to deployment, architectural structure, and customization paradigms that require careful consideration to plan and perform.

To upgrade from one major release to another you must plan and perform a site migration. For more information, see Migrating from a previous version of HCL Commerce.

Important: Any previous customizations to your site must be re-applied once migrated, as some site files might be overwritten outside of the scope of the migration documentation. It is a best practice to fully test any site customization post-migration to ensure it is both fully functional and performant in comparison to the previous environment.
Mod pack release Version 9.0.1.0 A mod pack release of HCL Commerce contains new site features and builds upon the introduced major release solutions. In addition, mod packs contain functional, performance, and security-related fixes to HCL Commerce and relied upon third party solutions.

Colloquially these are referred to as releases, as they are delivered on a quarterly, or semi-annual basis.

Updates from one mod pack to another are intended to be far less intensive than between major releases. However, some changes to site functionality do exist between mod releases, and can break site functionality if they are not considered. It is therefore required to review each mod release release notes to ensure that your site remains functioning as expected.

For more information on each mod pack release, see What's new in HCL Commerce Version 9.0.1.x.

To upgrade your site from one mod pack or fix pack release to another mod pack or fix pack release, see:

Downtime considerations

You must review your environment upgrade plan and consider the required downtime for upgrading your production environments and this impact on the availability of your live site.

A significant site upgrade generally involves bringing down an active deployment, upgrading the database schema, re-deploying the environment with updated custom docker images, as well as building new or modifying existing search indexes. The sum of these processes will typically result in some level of downtime for the production environment. To minimize this downtime, and to avoid disruption to live site traffic, production environment upgrades must be planned carefully. You must consider various factors, such as the method of deployment, the deployment configuration, and the current CI/CD pipelines for deploying the updated custom docker images on the production environment.

Updating HCL Commerce

Updates for HCL Commerce Version 9.0 environments are delivered as new Docker images in HCL Commerce releases. Updated Docker images include code fixes, security fixes, new features, and other enhancements.

To update HCL Commerce production environments, use the new HCL provided Docker images as a base. Build custom Docker images with your custom code and then deploy new containers. For more detailed information and steps, review the following topics.

The following list describes key features of mod pack releases for HCL Commerce:
  • Delivered as Docker images, available from HCL License and Delivery portal.
  • Each new mod pack release is an accumulation of the previous updates, plus new fixes and enhancements. For example, HCL Commerce 9.0.1.3 contains all changes from 9.0.1.1 and 9.0.1.2.
  • Fixes to co-requisite software (WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Application Server V8.5.5 Liberty, and IBM HTTP Server) and other open source software and libraries are included as part of the Docker images.
  • A mod pack release is the only mechanism that HCL uses to deliver features and fixes. Interim fixes are not provided.
  • HCL intends to release updates quarterly, or more frequently if security vulnerabilities are identified. The timing and frequency is not guaranteed and can change without notice at the sole discretion of HCL.
  • New features, or enhancements to existing features, that can affect your custom code are disabled by default.