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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.
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.
Commerce+ environment
Kubernetes is the default tool for deploying a live HCL Commerce+ production site. HCL provides all the required applications as Docker images for you to use in a configuration of your choice. Also included are Kubernetes Helm Charts.
Preparing
This section describes how to prepare to install a full Commerce+ environment using Kubernetes. It focuses on deploying to a default data environment. You can base your production environment on this setup.

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.
  - Software stack
    The following table provides a list of generally available (GA) software levels, fixes, and settings for the latest HCL Commerce+ release.
  - Downloading
  - Minimal environment
    Best practice for installing HCL Commerce+ is to start with a preconfigured 'minimal environment.' To install Commerce+, first, set up and test the minimal environment, then plan for your production environment using your own organization's IT and business experts.
  - Commerce+ environment
    Kubernetes is the default tool for deploying a live HCL Commerce+ production site. HCL provides all the required applications as Docker images for you to use in a configuration of your choice. Also included are Kubernetes Helm Charts.
    - Production guidance
      Deploying Commerce+ on Kubernetes and operating it securely in a production environment requires comprehensive and careful planning, and security hardening considerations. To make it easier to deploy for non-production and testing environments, and to learn about how Commerce+ consumes data from Vault, Helm charts are provided alongside Commerce+ for deployment to a Kubernetes cluster. Once Vault is deployed and set up, you can deploy Commerce+ with different deployment topologies based on your site requirements.
    - Prerequisites
      There are multiple software, environment, and deployment configuration prerequisites to deploy Commerce+ on Kubernetes. Commerce+ provides a large degree of flexibility, and each available option should be considered for viability in your resulting production deployment.
    - Preparing
      This section describes how to prepare to install a full Commerce+ environment using Kubernetes. It focuses on deploying to a default data environment. You can base your production environment on this setup.
      - Vault
        The hcl-commerce-vault-helmchart Helm Chart deploys Vault for use as a remote configuration center, storing Commerce+ environment data, and acting as the certification agent to issue certificates to each Commerce+ application server based on their unique service names. The Vault must be deployed before deploying the Commerce+ application. Once Vault are deployed, it can be used to deploy and control multiple Commerce+ environments. After Vault is started, it can run scripts to load Commerce+ environment configuration data as specified in values.yaml, and can also configure a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) back-end to issue certificates, if enabled via the vault.vaultLoadData configuration.
      - Persistent storage
        Enable persistent volume storage for your deployment. This storage allows for assets that to be accessed and persisted.
      - Security certificates
        Vault is used to store configuration data, and it can contain the secrets for Commerce+ security. Vault is ideal for this implementation path because it can also act as a Certification Authority (CA) to issue SSL certificates.
      - Database configuration
        Prepare a Postgres, IBM Db2, or Oracle database to use as the Commerce+ database.
      - API password
        The spiuser password is used for API communication between the different servers in your Commerce+ setup (e.g., Store server, Search server, Transaction server). This password needs to be set the same way on all servers to ensure they can communicate properly. It must be the same on the Store, Search, and Customization servers, and also in the database for the Transaction server.
      - Build bitnami docker images
        For Commerce+, you must build the Bitnami Redis docker image and Bitnami ZooKeeper ( if you use Elasticsearch-based search) docker image by themself before deployment. After building the images, update the image registry, repository, and tag value in the values.yaml file referring the images in your container registry.
    - Planning
      Before you set up your production environment, ensure that you understand the Commerce+ application structure and that you are familiar with basic steps for setting up the environment.
    - Deployment steps
      Commerce+ supports several deployment configurations. The default configuration mode the provided Helm Chart uses is Vault configuration mode.
  - xC development environment
    HCL Commerce+ includes an xC service that you can use to create custom plugins .
  - References
    The following topics contain information that you can use in planning and implementing custom production and development environments.
- 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.

Preparing your Commerce+ environment

This section describes how to prepare to install a full Commerce+ environment using Kubernetes. It focuses on deploying to a default data environment. You can base your production environment on this setup.

Planning your Kubernetes deployment

The foundational deployment described here can be used to assess any production-type deployment. Use it as a reference for production deployments, but keep in mind that production-specific requirements (for example, scaling, monitoring, and high availability) should be assessed based on your business needs. This section aims to have a running instance of the Commerce+ application, not to provide you with an instance customized for your specific needs.

The production environment is a live environment that serves traffic to shoppers. Before opening your site to live traffic, it is essential to have a robust system designed to optimize and maintain the containers running your Commerce+ application. This section covers:

The infrastructure needed to manage and maintain your containers.
The steps required to deploy Commerce+ in Kubernetes.

Key considerations for Kubernetes deployment

Infrastructure Setup

Use a managed Kubernetes service or an on-premises Kubernetes setup.
Ensure the cluster meets Commerce+’s resource requirements for memory, CPU, and storage

Environment Preparation

Configure namespaces to isolate environments (for example, development, staging, production).
Secure access to your cluster with role-based access control (RBAC) and network policies.

Monitoring

Use Prometheus and Grafana to track the health and performance of your application.

Prerequisites

Kubernetes Cluster: A running Kubernetes cluster (version 1.35+).
Helm: Helm 3.21.x or greater installed and configured.
Vault: Vault 2.0.3 for secure configuration management and certificate handling.
Commerce Container Images: All required Commerce+ container images downloaded and available in your container registry.
Database: A supported database (for example, PostgreSQL, Db2, or Oracle) configured and accessible from the Kubernetes cluster.

The following topics describe the security, storage, and Vault settings needed by a robust production environment. See, Configuring a database for Commerce+ for more information.