Search
Discover how Search enables catalog browsing indexing, and product discovery across Commerce+ storefronts while preserving core legacy configurations during migration.
Introduction
Search is a capability in Commerce+ that enables product discovery, catalog browsing, indexing, and search-driven business operations across storefront and management experiences. The primary purpose of this feature is to allow users to migrate to Commerce+ while preserving core search behavior, minimizing migration effort, and modernizing the platform.
Benefits
Search allows business teams to run critical catalog and merchandising experiences during and after a Commerce+ upgrade without reworking the configuration of the existing search model.
- Accelerates customer upgrades
- Supports legacy Solr setups so customers can move to Commerce+ quickly with minimal redesign.
- Reduces platform and database constraints
- Enables PostgreSQL support for legacy Solr indexing, which gives customers a lower-cost and more flexible database option.
- Modernizes the operating model
- Removes IBM-specific dependencies from Solr remote stores so Commerce+ can run on open, cloud-aligned technologies.
- Protects business continuity
- Preserves existing storefront, Commerce Management Center, indexing, and merchandising behaviors during migration.
- Lowers migration risk
- Minimizes changes to schemas, APIs, and extension points to protect existing customer implementations from service disruptions.
Workflow
Search in Commerce+ maintains continuous search operations. The system indexes catalog and business data, applies business rules, and delivers search results to storefront and administrative experiences. The workflow supports compatibility for existing Solr-based implementations, introduces PostgreSQL support, and removes IBM runtime dependencies.
- Preserving legacy Solr behavior during upgrades to Commerce+.
- Enabling PostgreSQL as an indexing data source.
- Removing IBM-specific runtime dependencies from remote store services.
Business Challenges and Solutions
| Business objective | Recommended capability | Operational task | Data flow logic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Migrate existing Commerce customers to Commerce+ without rebuilding search. | Deploy legacy Solr with Commerce+. | Deploy legacy Solr components, preserve existing schema and V1 API compatibility, and validate storefront, CMC, marketing rules, role-based access control, and Ruby orchestration behavior. | The system carries the existing Solr setup forward into Commerce+ so you can upgrade without redesigning search. |
| Move to PostgreSQL while keeping legacy search. | Support PostgreSQL with legacy Solr. | Update Data Import Handler (DIH) and transformation logic for PostgreSQL, validate indexing completeness, and confirm search behavior with PostgreSQL as the source database. | PostgreSQL becomes the indexing source without interrupting legacy Solr search behavior. |
| Remove IBM platform dependencies from search-related remote store services. | Remove IBM dependencies from Solr Remote Stores. | Identify IBM-specific dependencies, replace WebSphere Application Server components with Open Liberty, and validate deployment readiness. | Remote store services move to open runtime components while keeping search configurations intact. |
Prerequisites
Before you begin, verify that you have the following resources:
- Permission level
- Admin or implementation team access to Commerce+, deployment configuration, and search environment settings
- System requirements
- Commerce+ environment with legacy Solr components, supported runtime dependencies, and database connectivity for Db2, Oracle, or PostgreSQL as applicable
- Data needed
- Existing product catalog, search schema or configuration, indexing inputs, and current search-related business rules such as marketing rules and rules-based sales categories
Technical details
- Deployment of legacy Solr infrastructure into Commerce+.
- Compatibility of Solr schema and V1 search APIs with existing storefront and CMC behavior.
- Data Import Handler (
DIH) and transformation updates needed to support PostgreSQL. - Support for orchestration and service-layer connectivity between storefront, Ruby services, and Solr.
- Removal of runtime dependencies specific to IBM from legacy CRS and transition to open standards (such as Open Liberty).
- Validation that indexing, metadata handling, extensibility points, and integration behavior remain stable after migration.