Commerce Server 2002 site and application support definitions (888655)

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Definitions

• Commerce Server site: A Commerce Server site is a collection of site resources and ASP or ASP.NET-based applications that use these resources through the Commerce Server object model. With a Commerce Server site, you can administer the applications in the site as a group.
  
  Note A Commerce Server site is not the same thing as the concept of a Web site in Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS).
• Commerce Server resource: A Commerce Server resource adds functionality to the applications in a Commerce Server site. You can use the Commerce Server Manager MMC snap-in to configure properties in a Commerce Server resource. Resources are either site resources or global resources. Global resources can be shared across Commerce Server sites. Site resources cannot be shared across Commerce Server sites. For example, the Product Catalog resource is a site resource, and the Data Warehouse resource is a global resource.
• Commerce Server application: A Commerce Server application is a logical representation of an application in IIS. The Commerce Server application appears in both the Commerce Server Manager and in IIS console trees. In the IIS console tree, a Commerce Server application is either at the root directory level of the Web site or at a subdirectory level of the Web site.
  
  A Commerce Server application may be one of the following:
  • A Business Desk application
  • A Web Service application, if Commerce Server Feature Pack 1 (FP1) is installed
  • A Web site application, such as the "Retail" Solution site.
• Commerce Server deployment: A Commerce Server deployment is made up of one or more physical installations of Commerce Server 2002 that are directed to or share a single Commerce Server 2002 administrative database (MSCSAdmin Database). All Commerce Server sites that share a common MSCSAdmin database make up a single Commerce Server deployment.
• Web server: In Commerce Server, a Web server is a computer that has IIS 5.0 or IIS 6.0 installed. The Web server contains the virtual directories, the files, and the subfolders for a Commerce site. A Commerce deployment can have multiple Web servers that together form a Web farm.
• IIS-based Web site: An Internet Information Services-based Web site runs on a specific TCP port number. For example, by default, the "Default Web Site" or "Administration" Web site is installed with IIS 5.0 or IIS 6.0.

Product limitations

Commerce Server has the following limitations, regarding the definitions that are in the "Definitions" section:

	Enterprise Edition	Standard Edition	Developer Edition
Commerce Server sites for each deployment	10	10	10
Commerce applications for each Commerce site	Unlimited	2*	Unlimited
Commerce Server sites for each Commerce Server global resource *	10	10	10
Physical servers	Unlimited	2	Unlimited
Physical processors	32	2	4

*Notes

• Feature Pack Web services do not apply against the limit of Commerce Server Standard Edition with Commerce Server 2002 Feature Pack 1 installed.
• Commerce Server Standard Edition is limited to two applications for each Commerce site. Therefore, the supported configuration for Commerce Server Standard Edition is made up of a single Web site with a Business Desk application.
• Commerce Server sites can share the following Commerce Server global resources:
  • CS Authentication
  • Data Warehouse
  • Direct Mailer
  • Predictor
  • Profiles

Evaluation Edition	Includes the same features as the Enterprise Edition. Upgrades to Enterprise Edition. Does not upgrade to Standard Edition. Has a 120-day limit.
Developer Edition	Includes the same features as Enterprise Edition. Cannot be used in a production environment. Cannot upgrade to Standard Edition or Enterprise Edition. You can migrate your work to those editions.

Additional information

As the number of Commerce applications increase on a single IIS Web server, you may experience potential usability issues with the Commerce Server Manager MMC snap-in and the Commerce Server Site Packager (Pup.exe). With each additional application, the query to obtain data from the Commerce administrative database grows. This behavior may cause performance degradation with the Commerce Server Manager MMC snap-in and Pup.exe.

The addition of multiple Commerce applications and sites may consume more memory, may increase processor use, and may potentially cause SQL contention. We recommend that you test your environment and add more physical IIS servers or other hardware resources as applicable, based on your individual site performance.