What's new for administrators in WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.0.0

As an administrator you install, configure, and maintain WebSphere Commerce and the associated software and hardware. Learn about the new features and functionality offered by WebSphere Commerce that will help you be successful in performing your administrative tasks. This section describes the new additions and changes within only the initial WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.0.0 release. For more information about new additions and changes for WebSphere Commerce Version 9 available through update packages, see:

• What's new in the latest update packages for WebSphere Commerce

• What's new in earlier update packages for WebSphere Commerce

For more information about update packages, including how WebSphere Commerce releases update packages, see Maintenance.

Deployments

WebSphere Commerce Version 9 uses Docker to make the set up, deployment, and management of commerce system environments quick and easy. Now deployment engineers (IT, organizations) can configure development, and test environments in a matter of hours with more automated processes and intervention. Installing new instances is fast and error free and upgrading to new releases is seamless. These enhancements give your business the agility needed to seize market opportunities, launch sites, and innovate the customer experience more quickly than ever before.

WebSphere Commerce Version 9 is packaged as Docker images (except the database server). These Docker images run on the Docker engine, which can be built on xLinux systems that support Docker. WebSphere Commerce Version 9 Docker images are built with Docker Community Edition(CE), while the images can deploy on compatible Docker editions, including Docker CE and Docker Enterprise Edition (EE). By using Docker images, we can benefit from reduced time to install and configure, easier maintenance, and less computing resource waste.

WebSphere Commerce Version 9 provides a sample implementation of a CI/CD pipeline For more information and to download the sample code and documentation, see Implement a continuous deployment pipeline for WebSphere Commerce Version 9.

The adoption of Docker in WebSphere Commerce Version 9 drives many related changes:

• Distributed deployment topology

• Certificate management approach

• Quick Deploy (with Docker-Compose) without any additional configuration.

Important: The concept of instance is eliminated from the WebSphere Commerce V9 deployment procedure. WebSphere Commerce V9 does not support creating instances with Configuration Manager. Because WebSphere Commerce V9 is docker based, a new concept of environment is introduced. A WebSphere Commerce V9 environment plays the same role as an instance in WebSphere Commerce V7 and V8. That mean, if to create multiple instances with WebSphere Commerce V8 or V7, in WebSphere Commerce V9, deploy multiple sets of the WebSphere Commerce environment.

Distributed servers

WebSphere Commerce is modularizing into loosely coupled components. In this release, the Store server and Search server are decoupled from the larger WebSphere Commerce server, now called the Transaction server. This separation is along well-defined service interfaces that allow for better horizontal scaling of your e-commerce system. WebSphere Commerce Version 9 evolves the traditional architecture into a microservices architecture with separate servers as Docker images. In this version, the Transaction Server is separated into five major functional servers:

Transaction server

Runs the transactional business logic and APIs that serve other WebSphere Commerce servers. The Transaction server container where all transactional operations run. For instance, the server is used for completing the following operations:

• Processing transactions from the storefront.

• Processing REST calls from the store, and, if needed, routing calls between servers.

• Hosting all business user and administrative tools.

• Processing database and utility operations, such as to load data or rebuild the search index.

Utility server

A WebSphere Application Server-based server that runs application administration utilities. Unlike the other servers, the Utility server does not exist in the development environment.

Search server

A WebSphere Liberty-based server that provides search engine capabilities for front end applications.

Customization server

A WebSphere Liberty-based server that runs custom business logic in the form of xC extensions for supported components.

Store Server

A WebSphere Liberty-based server that runs the storefront for all stores. It includes all custom storefront assets, such as JSP pages and widgets.

The separation of servers allows developers to work in parallel with fewer dependencies.

Learn more...

Db2 version 11

In previous versions, support was provided for the Derby database within the development environment. In WebSphere Commerce Version 9, both the development environment and the runtime environment support Db2 version 11.

Installing the IBM Db2 database.

(Oracle)

Oracle version 12c Release 2

In WebSphere Commerce Version 9, both the development environment and the runtime environment support Oracle 12c Release 2.

Install and configure Oracle 12c Release 2 database.

Security

In WebSphere Commerce Version 9, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) is enabled and used by default. In previous versions the use of AES was optional.

All security related utilities are now run from the Utility server Docker container. In previous releases, utilities were run from the command-line on the WebSphere Commerce server.

In previous versions, the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console was used for security related configuration. WebSphere Commerce Version 9 does not provide the WebSphere Application Server Administrative Console. As an alternative, use scripts to configure security on the application server.

Migration

In WebSphere Commerce Version 9 a tool is provided to help you migrate from EJB beans to JPA. See Migrating WebSphere Commerce Version 8 EJB entity beans to Java Persistence API.

Related concepts
What's new in WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.1.x