WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool 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.

Knowledge prerequisites

You are expected to have knowledge in the following to be able to set up and run the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool:

The software configuration management (SCM) that is used by the customization project
Deployment and execution of Apache Ant scripts
Deployment of customized WebSphere Commerce configuration, database, and EAR assets
Configuration and application update of WebSphere Application Server, particularly by using the wsadmin tool and Jython scripting
Remote file transfer protocols such as FTP, SCP, and SFTP

Tip: Skills in Apache Ant and Jython are important if you intend to customize the tool to support functions that is not provided by default.

Understanding your current build, development, and deployment processes helps you better plan the adoption of the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool and make the tool useful. Here are some questions to help you with the process. Keep the answers handy as you progress with the rest of the setup:

Is your customization project using an SCM? If so, which one? How do you extract the source code from the SCM?
Which database is used by your customization project?
How many server environments are used by your customization project? For example, production, staging, or testing. If you use more than one environment, do the environments have different configuration settings? For example, different data in the database, or different settings in the wc-server.xml file.
For each server environment, is your WebSphere Commerce Enterprise Application (EAR) deployed in a single-server environment or a clustered environment?
For each server environment, if you have a remote web server that hosts static web contents for the customization project, how do you deploy the web assets? Can you use remote file transfer methods such as FTP or SCP?
For each server environment, if you plan to deploy from a different system than the server that has WebSphere Commerce installed, can you use remote file transfer methods to access the server? For example, FTP or SCP. Remote file transfers are required for synchronizing the WebSphere Commerce configuration files between the master copy and the EAR copy.

You also need access to the servers in your WebSphere Commerce topology. You must access these servers for information that is required to set up the build and deployment processes. If you do not have access to these servers, ensure that an administrator can provide you with this information.

Knowledge resources

Build system prerequisites

The build system requires that either WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0 (any edition) or WebSphere Commerce Developer V8.0 (any edition), and the associated requirements that are met, be installed. It is recommended that the build machine be kept at the same WebSphere Commerce product level as your other servers. Although having the build machine kept at the same product level is not required for all custom changes, it is required for customizations made to Management Center files.

It is highly recommended that a server is dedicated to performing builds. In addition, the following requirements must also be met:

Match the WebSphere Application Server fix pack and interim fixes on your production environment, with the WebSphere Application Server of your development environment.
2 GB of extra disk space for the WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool, temporary files, and deployment packages that are generated by the build process.
EJB deployment can fail during the build process because of a long installation path of WebSphere Application Server or WebSphere Application Server Test Environment.
The ARG/ENV list size needs to be changed to 10 x 4 K byte blocks or larger to support the EJB deployment tool. As the root user, run the following command:
- chdev -l sys0 -a ncargs='#-4KB-blocks'
Apache Ant 1.7.1 or later installed. To install, download the binary distribution and extract it to a local directory.
The client software of the SCM used (for example, CVS, Subversion, or ClearCase) must be installed and available in command line (with the PATH environment set for the SCM client).
If you are using the email notification functions, access to an SMTP server is required.

Third-party library dependencies

The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool depends on third-party libraries that you can separately download and set up on the build system. Refer to the following table for examples of potential third-party libraries that you can use.

Note: IBM is not responsible for third-party libraries. IBM does not support issues that are caused by using these libraries.

Follow the instructions to set up the libraries on the build system:


Software	Used in	Required	Setup instructions
Ant-Contrib Ant-Contrib 1.0b3	Build Server deployment Toolkit deployment	Required	Download Ant-Contrib and extract it to a temporary directory. Copy ant-contrib/ant-contrib-`version`.jar from the temporary directory to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
Jakarta Commons Net 1.4.1	Server deployment	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `ftp` Ant task is used (for remote static web asset deployment or wc-server.xml synchronization via FTP)	Download Commons Net and extract it to a temporary directory. Copy commons-net-`version`/commons-net-`version`.jar from the temporary directory to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
Jakarta ORO 2.0.8	Server deployment	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `ftp` Ant task is used (for remote static web asset deployment or `wc-server.xml` synchronization via FTP)	Download Jakarta ORO and extract it to a temporary directory. Copy jakarta-oro-`version`/jakarta-oro-`version`.jar from the temporary directory to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
Java Activation Framework (JAF) 1.1.1	Build Server deployment	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `mail` Ant task is used (for email notification)	Download JAF and extract it to a temporary directory. Copy jaf-`version`/activation.jar from the temporary directory to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
JavaMail 1.4.1	Build Server deployment	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `mail` Ant task is used (for email notification)	Download JavaMail and extract it to a temporary directory. Copy javamail-`version`/mail.jar from the temporary directory to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
JSch 0.1.42	Server deployment	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `scp` Ant task is used (for remote static web asset deployment or `wc-server.xml` synchronization via SCP/SFTP)	Download the JSch JAR distribution, named jsch-`version`.jar, and copy it to `WCBD_installdir`/lib.
SvnAnt 1.2.1 Note: By default, SvnAnt 1.2.1 supports the SSLv3 protocol only, therefore does not work if WebSphere Application Server has SSLv3 disabled. If you want support for other protocols, you need to investigate alternative solutions. For more information, see Apache Subversion Ant Library.	Build	Optional: Complete the setup instructions if the `svn` Ant task is used (for source extraction from Subversion) and SSLv3 is enabled.	Download SvnAnt and extract it to a local directory (referred to as `SvnAnt_installdir` for the rest of the page). When setting up the source extraction Ant script for Subversion, set the `svn.ant.lib.dir` property to `SvnAnt_installdir`/lib `WCBD_installdir`/extract-svn.properties.

The third-libraries are included into the deployment packages by the build process, so they are not required to be downloaded and set up directly on the deployment systems. Refer to the Troubleshooting: Ant tasks and types fail to load or run due to missing classes topic if your build and deployment processes are failing due to Ant task and type loading issues that are related to third-party library dependencies.

Server deployment system prerequisites

The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool requires WebSphere Commerce Version 8.0, and the associated requirements met, on the server deployment system.

In addition, the following requirements must also be met:

The WebSphere Commerce level of the deployment system must meet or exceed that of your other servers.
1 GB of additional disk space for the deployment package and temporary files that are generated during the deployment process.
Apache Ant 1.7.1 or later installed. To install, download the binary distribution and extract it to a local directory.
Note: Apache Ant 1.8.1 is not recommended due to a bug that causes copies of large files to fail when max heap is set to a "high" value. This issue is resolved with Apache Ant 1.8.2.
If you are using the email notification functionality, access to an SMTP server is required.
The Oracle-specific environment variables must be set for the user that runs the deployment process so that the JDBC OCI driver can function properly when loading data.

Toolkit deployment system prerequisites

The WebSphere Commerce Build and Deployment tool requires WebSphere Commerce Developer V8.0, and the associated requirements met, on the toolkit deployment system.

In addition, the following requirements must also be met:

Match the WebSphere Application Server fix pack and interim fixes that is installed on the server deployment system, with the WebSphere Application Server Test Environment that is installed on the development environment.
1 GB of additional disk space for the deployment package and temporary files that are generated during the deployment process.
The Oracle-specific environment variables must be set for the user that runs the deployment process so that the JDBC OCI driver can function properly when loading data.