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Documentation
This Help Center provides documentation on all aspects of the HCL Commerce+ product, from installation and deployment to operating and customization.
Reference
Topics in the Reference section contain all of the Commerce+ reference documentation.
Utilities
In Commerce+ utilities are scripts that perform operations such as loading access control policies, loading store data, and cleaning the database of obsolete objects. In runtime environments, run utilities from the Utility server Docker container. In the development environment, run utilities from the bin directory.
Running utilities from the Utility server Docker container
This document provides instructions on running utilities from the Utility server Docker container for HCL Commerce+.

Documentation
This Help Center provides documentation on all aspects of the HCL Commerce+ product, from installation and deployment to operating and customization.
- Overview
  Welcome to the HCL Commerce+ overview. Explore these feature overviews to learn how Commerce+ operates. Refer to the related links listed at the end of each topic to access expanded product documentation.
- Deploying
  This section provides details on deploying HCL Commerce+. It explains how to download the Docker images and Git bundles that comprise the product, how to create a minimal environment, and how to plan for a full deployment. It details supported software versions, patches, and configurations to ensure the platform performs well.
- Migrating
  The following topics show how to migrate an existing HCL Commerce Version 9.1 environment to Commerce+. The process consists of an initial migration of your database contents. This is followed by a code migration. Both are fully described.
- Operating
  The topics in this section focus on tasks that are performed by business users, marketers, and customer support representatives to connect with partners and attract and satisfy customers.
- Administering
  The site administrator performs the tasks needed to support day to day operations of the Commerce+ site.
- Extending
  Using Commerce+'s xC programming model, you can use HCL-provided extension points to extend existing Commerce logic. You can implement these extensions with the xC Customization toolkit provided by HCL. Commerce+ also provides Packaged Business Capability integrations that extend the product's reach and functionality.
- Securing
  These topics describe the security features of Commerce+ and how to configure these features.
- Performance
  Topics in the Performance section describe the means by which to plan, implement, test, and re-visit the optimization of Commerce+ site performance.
- Troubleshooting
  Topics in the Troubleshooting section highlight common issues that are encountered with Commerce+, and how they can be addressed or mitigated.
- Reference
  Topics in the Reference section contain all of the Commerce+ reference documentation.
  - REST API
    The REST API reference describes the available endpoints for customizing the system. Essential information such as the resource path, descriptions of each operation, and samples of the request and response payloads is provided.
  - Run Engine commands
    The following Run Engine commands are available by default for you to configure the applications that are running inside the containers.
  - Commerce+ database schema
    The Commerce+ database model was designed for data integrity and optimal performance. Commerce+ provides several hundred tables that store Commerce+ instance data. To maintain data integrity, and to ease maintenance referential integrity, constraints are widely used in the database model. Indexes are used carefully on tables to avoid over-indexing and to provide a good balance between data retrieval and data manipulation activities (insert and update). The business rules are implemented at the application level rather than by using database trigger. Triggers, however, are used to facilitate data staging and optimistic locking. A limited number of SQL-based database stored procedures are used for data intensive activities.
  - Payments subsystem
    In Commerce+, payment processing uses the Payments subsystem.
  - Dynamic caching
    In general, caching improves response time and reduces system load. Caching techniques are used to improve the performance of World Wide Web Internet applications. Most techniques cache static content (content that rarely changes) such as graphic and text files. However, many websites serve dynamic content, containing personalized information or data that changes more frequently. Caching dynamic content requires more sophisticated caching techniques, such as those provided by the Open Liberty Server dynamic cache, a built-in service for caching and serving dynamic content.
  - Cache-entry elements
    The root element of the cachespec.xml file, <cache>, contains <cache-entry> elements. The WebSphere dynamic cache service parses the cachespec.xml file during start-up, and extracts a set of configuration parameters from each <cache-entry> element.
  - Commerce+ web services
    Commerce+ provides many web services.
  - Utilities
    In Commerce+ utilities are scripts that perform operations such as loading access control policies, loading store data, and cleaning the database of obsolete objects. In runtime environments, run utilities from the Utility server Docker container. In the development environment, run utilities from the bin directory.
    - Running utilities from the Utility server Docker container
      This document provides instructions on running utilities from the Utility server Docker container for HCL Commerce+.
    - create_workspace_schema utility
      The create_workspace_schema utility creates a workspace schema in the database. This utility can be executed on all three commerce dbs, such as db2, oracle, or postgres. Its purpose is to create workspace schemas and add sample data to them.
    - acpload
      The acpload utility loads the XML files that contain the main access control policies into the appropriate databases.
    - acpnlsload
      The acpnlsload utility loads the XML files that contain display names and descriptions into the appropriate databases.
    - acugload
      The acugload utility loads the XML files containing the user (access) group definitions into the appropriate databases.
    - dataload
      This utility loads data from a source file into a target database. Loading the file populates and updates the Commerce+ database. You can also use the Data Load utility to delete data from a database.
    - dataextract
      The Data Extract utility, which uses the Data Load utility framework, extracts data from the Commerce+ database into an output file.
    - dbclean
      The Database Cleanup utility (dbclean) removes unused or obsolete objects from the database.
    - MigrateEncryptedInfo
      MigrateEncryptedInfo is a utility for changing the merchant key and re-encrypting all encrypted data in the database.
    - runSQL
      The runSQL utility runs SQL statements defined in one or more files against a database.
    - seourlkeywordgen
      When you are installing the search engine optimization feature to create shorter SEO friendly URLs, Commerce+ needs SEO keywords for the product and category pages of the store. The seourlkeywordgen utility creates these SEO keywords that are based on the object name.
    - stagingcopy
      The stagingcopy utility copies data from the production database to the production-ready data on a staging or authoring environment.
    - stagingprop
      The stagingprop utility propagates staged data and managed files from the production-ready data to the production environment. It consolidates the changed data from the production-ready database, and then it propagates the necessary changed data into the production database if the connection is available.
    - updatedb
      The updatedb utility updates the Commerce+ database to the latest release level that is installed on your system.
    - wcs_encrypt
      The wcs_encrypt utility encrypts sensitive information with an optional encryption key.
    - wcs_password
      The wcs_password utility is used for encrypting user passwords to be stored in the Commerce+ database.
    - di-parallel-process
      The di-parallel-process utility indexes preprocessed shards by using a configured input properties file.
    - di-buildindex
      The di-buildindex utility is a wrapping utility that updates the information in the Master Index with the Data Import Handler (DIH) service to build the index. The information is updated either partially through delta index updates or completely through full index builds.
    - di-preprocess
      The di-preprocess utility extracts and flattens WebSphere Commerce+ data and then outputs the data into a set of temporary tables inside the Commerce+ database. The data in the temporary tables is then used by the index building utility to populate the data into search indexes with the Data Import Handler (DIH).
  - Messaging system URLs
    The following URLs relate to the Messaging system.
  - Scheduler URLs
    The server subsystem consists of functions that are associated with URLs that are run by the scheduler.

Running utilities from the Utility server Docker container

This document provides instructions on running utilities from the Utility server Docker container for HCL Commerce+.

Before you begin

To run utilities, access the Utility server Docker container and use a bash shell.

About this task

Persistence of Configuration and Data Files:

Files stored directly in the Utility server Docker container will belost upon upgrading or restarting the container.
Avoid storing large amounts of data in the container. Containers are not designed for this purpose.

Procedure

Use a separate volume mounted to the container as a writable directory for storing any files that may change.
Ensure all configuration and data files are written to this mounted directory.

Results

This setup ensures:

Files remain intact when upgrading the Utility server Docker container image.
The mounted volume can be re-attached to the new container.
Files in the mounted directory are accessible from the host machine, simplifying editing and management.

What to do next

Regularly back up configuration and data files stored in the mounted volume.
Use descriptive names for mounted volumes to simplify identification and management.

By following these steps and recommendations one can effectively manage and run utilities while minimizing data loss.