What's new for WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.0.x
Note: Following the release of WebSphere Commerce 9.0.0.8, the 9.0.0.x versions have entered their maintenance phase. New features will be delivered in the Version 9.0.1+ releases, and only APARs and fixes will be released for for the designated Long Term Support Release (LTSR) branch of 9.0.0.x, starting with version 9.0.0.9. The 9.0.0.x LTSR branch will be supported with new fix releases only through December 30, 2019. See Maintenance
October 2018
- New JAVA code customization project
- A new customization project is available, crs-logic-ext. We can use this project to build custom JAVA extensions for remote stores.
- Running SQL during the CI/CD pipeline
- We can now run SQL from the utility Docker container during deployment, or at any time, by
calling the new RunSQL utility. This utility also takes
advantage of a new centralized design for configuring database access.
- Db2 Docker image for development and test environments
- Decrease the time it takes to set up development and test environments by using a preconfigured
Db2 Docker image as the database. This Db2 Docker image is not to be used in the staging or
production environments.
September 2018
- New integration with WebSphere eXtreme Scale
- For HCL Commerce version 9.0.0.7 and later, we can integrate with IBM WebSphere
eXtreme Scale to improve performance in your high-volume implementation. The WebSphere eXtreme Scale
licensed program is an elastic, scalable, in-memory data grid that we can use as an advanced cache
for WebSphere Commerce. WebSphere eXtreme Scale processes a massive transaction volume with high
efficiency and linear scalability. Integrating with WebSphere eXtreme Scale can provide significant
performance benefits for high volume WebSphere Commerce customers.
more...
- Search indexing performance enhancements using vertical sharding
- Sharding is a database operation that lets you apply parallel processing to index builds.
Sharding has several flavors, and horizontal sharding is already enabled in WebSphere Commerce.
Now we can do vertical sharding too. Vertical sharding speeds up the preprocessing stage of
indexing and can be used alongside horizontal sharding.
- Monitoring WebSphere Commerce using Prometheus and Grafana
- A new white paper is available to demonstrate how to monitor WebSphere Commerce with Prometheus
and how to check the sample dashboard in Grafana. Prometheus helps correct multi-dimension data,
while the sample dashboard only shows a portion of the useful data. If the sample dashboard does not
meet your business requirements, we can define our own dashboard based on the collected metrics
and alter rules for alerts.
- Sterling Omni-Configurator contracted price support
- Support Sterling Omni-Configurator integration in B2B store, including all the features
supported in B2C store and the B2B specific features, such as ontractual price, product entitlement,
requisition list, and saved order.
August 2018
- Integration with Sterling Omni-Configurator
- Sell complex and configurable products on the storefront by integrating WebSphere Commerce
with Sterling Omni-Configurator.
- OAuth 2.0 framework integration for social login on storefront
-
Implement OAuth 2.0 social login on the storefront, enabling users to easily log in to your store with their social networking accounts.
- Data manipulation REST APIs for personal information (PI) retrieval and deletion
- A new set of data retention REST APIs have been provided to help you integrate line-of-business
tools. These APIs make it easier for business users to retrieve or remove personal information, for
GDPR compliance or other business purposes.
- WebSphere Commerce deployment utilities
-
A deployment tool chain for WebSphere Commerce, WebSphere Commerce deployment utilities, is available to provide you with a set of reference utilities for deploying and operating WebSphere Commerce V9 in a Kubernetes environment.
This tool chain is available within GitHub and is provided for reference purposes only. IBM does not provide support for the usage of the tool chain.
- Index build time improvements
- Indexing has been optimized in this release. We can see improvements of up to 50% in index
build time, depending on your local configuration and which optimizations you choose to enable.
July 2018
- Oracle database support
- We can now use Oracle 12c Release 2 (12.2) as the database in development and production
environments. Support for Oracle databases is also added to the migration paths from version 7.0 and
8.0 to version 9.0.
- Search engine updated to use Apache Solr 7.3.1
- Your customers will experience faster search times due to the performance improvements in Solr
7.3.1.
Important: If we are migrating to WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.0.5+ from any previous version, we will need to update some database tables and configuration files. If you have customizations that use Solr 5.3.2, we can upgrade these customizations to work with the new Solr engine.
- Reference solutions for the Docker container platform
- Reference solutions are provided for the applications on the Docker container platform. Because
the Docker container platform can be set up based on varied technologies, the information provided
in this table is only for our reference. We need to adjust the provided reference solutions or
adopt other solutions based on your business needs in the production environment.
June 2018
- Run WebSphere Commerce Docker images as a non-root user
- By default, Docker images run with root privileges. We can now change this behavior and launch
the WebSphere Commerce Docker containers as any non-root user.
- Building indexes using multiple JAVA Virtual Machines
- We can distribute the index and the indexing workload across two or more Search servers to improve indexing performance. This process, known as sharding, enables you to distribute different data ranges within the same virtual or physical machine, or across multiple machines.
- Support for migrating Elite starter stores from Version 7 Feature Pack 6 and Feature Pack 7 to Version 9
- We can now migrate your Elite starter store directly from Feature Pack 6 or Feature Pack 7 to Version 9.
- Included in the migration document is a guide to transforming existing search BOD services to REST-based search services.
May 2018
- Support for direct migration from Version 7 Feature Pack 6 and Feature Pack 7 to Version 9
- We can now migrate your Madisons or Aurora starter store directly from Feature Pack 6 or Feature Pack 7 to Version 9 without having to install Version 8.
- Included in the migration document is a guide to transforming existing search BOD services to REST-based search services.
- Ability to pull Docker images from the IBM Cloud registry
- Easily download Docker images by pulling from the IBM Cloud registry instead of manually searching and downloading files from IBM Passport Advantage.
- New logging folder in Docker containers
- By default, log files (such as trace.log, SystemOut.log) are now output to a unique folder name that is derived from the container type and the containerId. This new behavior helps you organize log files. Now, we can simply persist all container log files into the same folder on our Docker host machine or your central log server. Since every container has its own unique log folder, we can easily browse the log files of each container through our Docker host.
- Remote caching solution using Apache Kafka and Apache ZooKeeper
- WebSphere Commerce performs frequent cache invalidation to ensure that a customers have access to the most up-to-date product listings, prices, offers and stock availability. We can now synchronize remote cache invalidation using Apache Software Foundation's Kafka and ZooKeeper services. Kafka is an open-source solution for coordinating real-time data feeds. ZooKeeper provides high data availability for distributed systems. Together they ensure that multiple store servers operate seamlessly as one storefront.
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- Integrate Watson Commerce Insights with WebSphere Commerce and Watson Content Hub
- Previously, WebSphere Commerce did not support integration with Watson Commerce Insights if the WebSphere Commerce environment was using Watson Content Hub. WebSphere Commerce removed the limitation and we can now integrate with both Watson Commerce Insights and Watson Content Hub.
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- Search repeater and search slave port change
- To start Search server Docker container by retrieving parameters from container environment variables, if we are configuring a Search repeater or Search slave for WebSphere Commerce V9.0.0.3 or later, you need to specify the -e SOLR_MASTER_SERVER_URL=<Search_master_hostname:3738>.
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April 2018
- Improved Docker container deployment process
- The following changes were made to simplify the deployment of Docker containers and the WebSphere Commerce environment.
(v9.0.0.0)
(v9.0.0.1)
Note: Review the changes and reconfigure the deployment process as needed. For example, if the container deployment process uses the OVERRIDE_PRECONFIG parameter, reconfigure the process by using CONFIGURE_MODE instead of OVERRIDE_PRECONFIG. Also, ensure that you provide the mandatory start up parameters (such as SPIUSER_PWD, and MERCHANTKEY_ENCRYPT) for each container. Otherwise, the deployment will fail with the new Version 9.0.0.2 Docker images.
- Replaced the OVERRIDE_PRECONFIG parameters with CONFIGURE_MODE. This new CONFIGURE_MODE provides options to either fetch Docker container start up parameters from Vault (CONFIGURE_MODE=Vault), or from container variables (CONFIGURE_MODE=EnvVariables).
- Added Quick Help documents to the Docker images.
View the new help documents to learn more about the variables that we can pass in when you start a container.
- Added support to leverage Vault to issue internal certification between containers for a custom host names.
By default, each WebSphere Commerce Docker container is configured to use a specific host name and default certificate to connect to other containers. With this new feature, we can pass in a custom host name and embedded scripts will leverage Vault as the certificate authority to apply the internal certificates for the containers.
- Added support to specify a custom spiuser password, merchant key, and datasource
configurations during container start up through container variables.
Previously, you needed to create a Dockerfile and build a new Docker image to update the configurations.
- Replaced the OVERRIDE_PRECONFIG parameters with CONFIGURE_MODE. This new CONFIGURE_MODE provides options to either fetch Docker container start up parameters from Vault (CONFIGURE_MODE=Vault), or from container variables (CONFIGURE_MODE=EnvVariables).
- Persisting log files to the Docker host machine
- Learn how to persist log files to the Docker host machine so that we can still troubleshoot
issues when a container is inaccessible or destroyed.
- Updates to support GDPR
- WebSphere Commerce is updated to assist organizations with the European Union's new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which goes into effect on May 25, 2018. The following enhancements support companies responding to customer requests about their personal data, such as:
- Providing SQL queries to help enable the deleting and updating of personal data.
- Enable SSL communication between WebSphere Commerce servers.
- Providing more granular logging so that changes to personal data can be tracked.
- Providing storefront configuration to help enable just-in- time privacy notices to be displayed in the storefront.
- Providing the ability for shoppers to opt-in or opt-out of targeted personalization.
- WebSphere Commerce Search improvements
- Parallel processing of large indexes has been enhanced. If you have very large catalog indexes,
we can use parallel processing along with sharding and merging to index the data. Both horizontal
and vertical sharding is supported.
- Store publish enhancements
- The store publish Gradle script now supports custom data template files using the dataTemplate parameter. As a result, the custom data template file is then
used by the RemoteDataload scheduler job to populate the store's bootstrap
data and optionally the store's sample data.
In addition, the store publish Gradle script publishes sample data by default using the crsGenerateSampleData parameter. As a result, a custom store can leverage sample data for the store, such as sample categories, products, marketing activities, and store locations.
January 2018
- Support for direct migration from Version 7 Feature Pack 8 to Version 9
- We can now migrate directly from Version 7 Feature Pack 8 to Version 9
without having to install Version 8.
- WebSphere Commerce Developer delta updates
- The WebSphere Commerce Developer update process creates a log of any files were added, updated or
removed by the developer since the last installation, and also added, updated or removed by the update. This feature eliminates the need for a developer to manually scan through source code to see
what was changed. The log (merges.log) records files that we might need to modify or merge to re-implement custom code.
- WebSphere Commerce Build tool support in runtime environments
- The WebSphere Commerce Build tool is now available in the Utility server Docker container. Leverage the tool in runtime environments to package and prepare
custom code for deployment.
- Support for Right to Access and Right to Erasure policies
- WebSphere Commerce provides a set of SQL queries we use to satisfy data retention
policies and adhere to data privacy laws.
Related concepts
What's new in WebSphere Commerce Version 9.0.1.x
New features and functionality within WebSphere Commerce Version 9
List of available Update Packages