Software Deployment Stages
The software deployment stages for B2C Commerce development include Sandbox, Build and Merge, Staging, Development, and Production.
The following table describes the software deployment stages :
| Instance | Description | Considerations |
|---|---|---|
| Sandbox | Each development team gets one sandbox per developer and one sandbox to be used as a Build/Merge instance. | Each developer is responsible for their own sandbox, where they build code, metadata, custom objects. |
| Build/Merge | As a project progresses and interval version points are reached, developers merge their code/data on a Build/Merge instance, where internal QA is done. | Designate one of your sandbox instances as the Build/Merge instance, specifically for testing major releases. This means that of the three sandbox instances provided for in a subscription, only two can be used by individual developers. |
| Staging | As development continues, builds are moved from the Build/Merge instance to the Staging instance, where they are replicated to the Development instance for internal/external QA. | Major releases can't be tested on the Staging, because they can include incompatible data definitions. Therefore, data replication can't be performed to the Production instance during the test phase. |
| Development | Some customers use the Development instance to test the data and code replication process before replicating to Production. Others use the Development instance as a secondary Staging instance, where another version is prepared in parallel. | When new code versions include changes to object or preference definitions or introduce new sites or catalogs, they can't be created and tested on a Development instance. This disqualifies the Development instance for the testing of major releases. |
| Production | When testing is complete, the release is pushed to the Production instance. | Having the same version on Development as on Production lets Support and Solution Support Engineers use the Development version for testing if problems occur on Production. |
This process is repeated as the development cycle continues. The development team must determine (based on the number and severity of bugs outstanding):
- When an internal build is ready to be deployed to the Build/Merge instance
- When the build is ready to be pushed to Staging for replication
- When the build is ready for Production