The HCL Commerce application

Every time you deploy the HCL Commerce application, you are deploying a set of Docker containers that communicate with each other to run your HCL Commerce site. Each HCL Commerce application deployment can contain one or more stores.

For more information about the set of containers, see HCL Commerce production environment overview

The set of applications depend on the topology and solutions that are used in the HCL Commerce deployment. This is based primarily on the search solution that is used.

The components of each topology are described generally as:

Elasticsearch-based search deployment

Commerce applications:
- ts-app
- ts-web
- tooling-web
- query
- Optional: store-web
- Optional: store
- Optional: graphql
- Optional: utils
- Optional: xc
- Optional: approval-app
  - Third-party:
    - postgresql
- Optional: nextjs-store
Data applications:
- Commerce Elasticsearch-based search:
  - nifi
  - data-query
  - ingest
  - registry
- Third-party:
  - elasticsearch
  - zookeeper
  - redis

Solr-based search deployment

Commerce applications (auth environment):
- ts-app
- ts-web
- tooling-web
- search_master
- redis (third-party)
- Optional: store-web
- Optional: store
- Optional: graphql
- Optional: utils
- Optional: xc
- Optional: cache-app
- Optional: approval-app
  - Third-party:
    - postgresql
- Optional:orchestration-app
Commerce applications (live environment):
- ts-app
- ts-web
- tooling-web
- search_repeater
- search_slave
- redis (third-party)
- Optional: store-web
- Optional: store
- Optional: graphql
- Optional: utils
- Optional: xc
- Optional: cache-app
- Optional: approval-app
  - Third-party:
    - postgresql
- Optional:orchestration-app

You can deploy an HCL Commerce application as an authoring environment or as a live environment.

Live: A live environment includes the capabilities that are required for a running HCL Commerce production site and serve end-user traffic.
Authoring: An authoring environment, commonly referred to as auth, includes extra capabilities beyond the capabilities of a live environment. In an authoring environment, site administrators or business users can make changes to your store and then test and preview the changes. Once confirmed to be correct, the changes can then be propagated to the live environment. The authoring environment also has workspaces enabled. This workspace feature allows business users fine-grained control over site changes before they are propagated to the live environment. For more information on the authoring environment, see Authoring environment.

You can create and deploy more than one HCL Commerce application. You can have multiple distinct and independent copies of the HCL Commerce Java Platform, Enterprise Edition application, each with its own EAR, database, and metadata.

For example, you might want to deploy an authoring and live environment in a non-production system as well as an authoring and live environment in a production system.

You can use the non-production system as a test or quality assurance environment where you first make an necessary changes in the authoring environment, then propagate the changes to the live environment where you can run performance tests. If you are satisfied, you can replicate the changes in your production system and promote the changes to your live environment that is serving real traffic.