Deploy a new Commerce Connect site

11 min

When is this applicable? This is an onboarding scenario for a first-time deployment when you want to set up a site and run development in a cloud environment from the beginning. Through Visual Studio you can deploy an empty database. A new site like this does not require database restore, and the database schema will be created during initial deployment.

Before you start

This topic uses Visual Studio with the Optimizely extensions and publish profiles. However, you can also use other deployment methodsother deployment methods.

See DXP requirementsDXP requirements for recommended software versions, tools, and services when deploying.

See Get started with DXP for deployment information.

Deployment steps

This section describes how to create a website with an Optimizely Content Management System (CMS), Commerce Connect, and Azure and deploy the code and database with content to the Integration environment in DXP. The deployment is done from the deployment API using the publishing profiles provided with your DXP setup.

Important A Commerce Connect solution consists of two databases: one for CMS and one for Commerce Connect. So, you need to repeat some deployment steps for each site.

Step 1 – Create Optimizely project


dotnet new epi-commerce-empty

Go to Tools > NuGet Package Manager > Manage NuGet Packages for Solution to update the website to the latest Optimizely NuGet packages.

In the NuGet Package manager:

Select Updates.

Select Optimizely Packages in the Package source field to locate the latest updates.

Enable Select all packages.

Click Update and confirm the updates.

update-packages.png

Add a cloud platform to the website. In the NuGet package manager:

Select Browse.

Enter Optimizely Azure in the search field.

Select the EPiServer.CloudPlatform.Commerce package.

Select your project.

Click Install and confirm the installation.

imagedh69s.png

To configure the EPiServer.CloudPlatform.Cms package, you need to add this code in ConfigureServices method in startup.cs file.

Important AddCmsCloudPlatformSupport is required for all DXP environments because it is needed for cache events and BLOB storage.

public class Startup 
{ 
    private readonly IWebHostEnvironment _webHostingEnvironment; 
    private readonly IConfiguration _configuration; 
 
    public Startup(IWebHostEnvironment webHostingEnvironment, IConfiguration configuration) { 
        _webHostingEnvironment = webHostingEnvironment; 
        _configuration = configuration; 
    } 
 
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services){ 
       ... 
       services.AddCmsCloudPlatformSupport(_configuration); 
	  services.AddCommerceCloudPlatformSupport(_configuration); 
    } 
}

Note If you only want to add the EPiServer.CloudPlatform.Cms package to specific environments, you can run something similar to the following code to check the environment.

public class Startup 
{ 
    private readonly IWebHostEnvironment _webHostingEnvironment; 
    private readonly IConfiguration _configuration; 
 
    public Startup(IWebHostEnvironment webHostingEnvironment, IConfiguration configuration) { 
        _webHostingEnvironment = webHostingEnvironment; 
        _configuration = configuration; 
    } 
 
    public void ConfigureServices(IServiceCollection services){ 
       ...        
        if (!_webHostingEnvironment.IsDevelopment()) { 
           services.AddCmsCloudPlatformSupport(_configuration);				services.AddCommerceCloudPlatformSupport(_configuration); 
        } 
    } 
}

Run the solution.

Step 2 – Publish the website to create a code package

Right-click the project in Visual Studio's Solution Explorer and select Publish.

In the Pick a publish target dialog box, select New Folder.

Click Next.

Choose a location or keep the default.

Click Finish.

Zip the contents of the publish directory and rename to ProjectName.cms.app.00001.nukpg.

Step 3 – Deploy the package

Get API credentials. See Deployment API authenticationDeployment API authentication.The following sample uses PowerShell to deploy the code. Any deployment API method will work as long as you deploy a package.

# Connect EpiCloud using credentials from portal
Connect-EpiCloud -ProjectId "projectId" -ClientKey "key" -ClientSecret "secret"

# Upload .NET Core Alloy to blob storage
$sasUrl = Get-EpiDeploymentPackageLocation
Add-EpiDeploymentPackage -SasUrl $sasUrl -Path .\AlloyNetCore.cms.app.0.1.0.nupkg

# Deploy package to environment. This will first build a docker image out of the package and then deploy it to the target environment.
Start-EpiDeployment -DeploymentPackage "AlloyNetCore.cms.app.0.1.0.nupkg" -TargetEnvironment "Integration" -DirectDeploy -Wait

Step 4 – Verify the website

Go to the default access URLs for the environment, for example http://\[projectNNNNinte\].dxcloud.episerver.net.

Verify that the website is working.

An index is automatically set up and configured as part of DXP. In this step, you add Optimizely Search & Navigation (formerly Optimizely Find) as the default search for your solution and publish the changes to Integration.

In the NuGet package manager for your project, locate the EPiServer.Find.Cms package and click Install.

locate the EPiServer.Find.Cms package and click Install

add-find.png

In Solution Explorer, right-click the project in Visual Studio and select Publish.

Caution In the Edit > Publish > Settings screen, ensure that Update database is not selected (deselect if needed).

Click Publish.

Verify that the website is working.