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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.
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.

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.
    - 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.
      - Commerce+ production environment overview
        Commerce+ is separated into different applications that run within Docker containers. HCL provides the following Docker images that you can deploy to run your Commerce+ application.
      - 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.
    - 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.

Planning your Commerce+ environment

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.

Commerce+ deployment overview

Commerce+ consists of multiple applications that run as Docker containers in a Kubernetes environment. Commerce+ provides container images for the core Commerce+ services, supporting services, search components, storefronts, utilities, and deployment tools. You can customize these container images to include your own extensions, configurations, and certificates.

Planning your deployment infrastructure

A production environment serves live shopper traffic and should be designed for scalability, reliability, and high availability. Before deploying Commerce+, ensure that your Kubernetes infrastructure is configured to support your business requirements.

When planning your deployment, consider the following:

Kubernetes cluster sizing and resource allocation.
High availability and disaster recovery.
Network configuration and security.
Storage requirements.
Monitoring and logging.
Backup and restore strategy.

Deployment scenarios

Commerce+ supports multiple deployment scenarios based on the search technology and storefront that you use, including:

Solr-based search with Aurora storefront.
Solr-based search with Next.js storefront.
Solr-based search with Aurora and Next.js storefronts.
Elasticsearch-based search with Aurora storefront.
Elasticsearch-based search with Next.js storefront.
Elasticsearch-based search with Aurora and Next.js storefronts.

Accessing Docker image Help

Each Commerce+ Docker image includes Help documentation that describes the deployment parameters and configuration options required to deploy the container successfully.

Environment configuration

Commerce+ stores environment variables, database settings, certificates, and integration parameters in Vault for Docker and Kubernetes deployments. You can manage certificates by using Vault or by providing certificate definitions locally when required.