Before You Start Developing with the Commerce Server Staging System

The Commerce Server 2009 R2 Staging (CSS) System provides a mechanism to update files, directories, the IIS metabase associated with Web sites, and Commerce Server 2009 R2 business data. In large enterprise businesses, e-Commerce solutions typically consist of several environments. These environments connect together for passing business data and site content. The primary reason for having multiple environments in a business is to review and validate both content and data before its release to production. In a typical environment, you can use CSS to deploy content and data from a staging or development to the production environment.

The CSS API provides a programmatic way for you to perform the following tasks:

  • Manage projects and routes and retrieve project and route information.

  • Manage replications of projects and individual files.

  • Retrieve detail information about the files that have been replicated for a project.

  • Manage the CSS service that is running on a server.

  • Retrieve information staging information defined on a server.

  • Retrieve information about projects, routes, and schedules.

  • Retrieve information about replications that are running on a server or for a project.

To start to use the staging API, we recommend that you review the following topics first.

To learn more about

See

How staging works and the major CSS components and CSS dependencies.

How Does Staging Work?

The types of data that can be staged and the functions supported by CSS.

What are the Staging Concepts?

The topologies that are supported when you stage different data types.

What Network Topologies does Staging Support?

How the staging APIs are used to manage projects, routes, schedules, the CSS service and replicate individual files.

What are the Staging API Concepts?

The options that are provided for staging different types of data.

What are the Staging Project Options?

The options available for securely staging data and setting authentication credentials required to stage data.

What are the Staging Security Configuration Requirements?

How to install and configure CSS.

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CSS must be installed on each server that is used to stage data. A license for CSS is required for each server that is defined in a route including those whose role is that of a waypoint.

Installation and Initial Configuration

Pre-staging requirements and how to use projects and routes to stage Web content.

How to Stage Web Content

Pre-staging requirements and how to use projects and routes to stage business data.

How to Stage Business Data

Pre-staging requirements and how to use projects and routes to stage the IIS metabase.

How to Stage the IIS Metabase

The command line utility available to support staging.

Staging Command Line Utility

See Also

Other Resources

What are the Staging API Concepts?

Managing Projects and Routes by Using the Staging API

Replicating Individual Files by Using the Staging API

Managing the CSS Service Using the Staging API

Developing with the Staging System