Configuring the Sterling Configurator add-on for WebSphere Commerce integration

WebSphere Commerce uses Sterling Configurator catalog organizations for configuration model management. Configuration models are saved to, searched, and retrieved from the catalog organization. Each store in WebSphere Commerce can be linked to only one Sterling catalog organization, but many stores can share the same catalog organization. This functionality enables you to control how stores in WebSphere Commerce share models. You must decide whether you want to make all models accessible by all stores or divide up the models into different areas that can be shared by multiple stores. You can also create a catalog organization that serves as a default for WebSphere Commerce, and when needed, use a different catalog organization for special stores. In a typical scenario, the catalog asset store and the eSite store share models. To configure this scenario, ensure that the asset store and esite store share the same catalog organization.

For each set of independent configurator models, plan to create one Sterling Configurator catalog organization.

WebSphere Commerce uses enterprise organizations to link to Sterling catalog organizations. Several enterprise organizations can share the same catalog organization. Additionally, an organization can be both an enterprise organization and a catalog organization. This approach is relatively simple and is recommended in most cases.

Plan to use each Sterling catalog organization as an enterprise organization, or create new enterprise organizations to associate with catalog organizations.

To associate a WebSphere Commerce store with an enterprise organization, first create a Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store for the enterprise organization. Next, set the Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store in the Sterling transport for the WebSphere Commerce store. Each Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store has one enterprise organization, but multiple WebSphere Commerce stores can use the same Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store. You can set a default Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store for all WebSphere Commerce stores. Set the Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store in the Sterling transport at the site level and set the Sterling organization code to the enterprise organization for the Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store. If you use this method, you can set a different Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store for a specific WebSphere Commerce store because the WebSphere Commerce store-level transport overrides the site-level transport.

You can define multiple URLs called Skin URLs for a Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store. Also, you can use the Skin URL to customize the URL that is displayed to the user. You can set a different URL for each WebSphere Commerce store, although they can share the same Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store and Sterling enterprise organization.

For each Sterling enterprise organization, create a corresponding Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store.

You must decide if you want to create a site-level transport that is associated with one of the Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler stores. In versions prior to WebSphere Commerce FEP7, a site-level transport is required.

For each WebSphere Commerce store, decide whether to associate it with one of the Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler stores.

For each WebSphere Commerce store, determine the Skin URL to associate with the store.

Note:

• If a WebSphere Commerce catalog asset store and one of its eSite stores do not have the same catalog organization, they cannot share models.
• A simple plan: create a single Sterling catalog organization that is also an enterprise organization, create a Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store for the organization, and use a WebSphere Commerce site-level Sterling transport that acts as a default for all stores.

The following procedure provides the simplest setup of a single Sterling organization, Sterling Configurator Visual Modeler store, and site-level Sterling transport in WebSphere Commerce. When appropriate, the procedure provides guidance to users with more complicated setups.

Procedure