This one is a summary of my own experience for Sitecore Experience Commerce 9 Update 2 (aka Sitecore XC 9.0.2) installation on my machine. I’ve had much experience in Sitecore XC9 installation and Sitecore XC9 Update 1 installation so I decided to go only with:

• Installation Guide – On Premises (Thanks Sitecore team!)

I do hope that this blog post is helpful for your own journey as well.

Setup Prerequisites

Please refer to the Sitecore Experience Commerce 9 Compatibility Table for the software and version prerequisites:

• Windows 10
• Sitecore Experience Platform 9.0 Update 2
• Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.7.1 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading)
• Sitecore Powershell Extensions 4.7.2
• .NET Core SDK 2.0.0
• .NET Core Windows Server Hosting 2.0.0
  • Note: you may get Sitecore Commerce APIs 500 error so should upgrade to .NET Core Windows Server Hosting 2.0.8
• Packages for On Premises 2018.07-2.2.126 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading)

Step-by-step guide

1. install the ones below if not yet 😀
   • a fresh Sitecore 9.0 Update 2 instance , let’s say sc9com.local and sc9com.xconnect.local (xConnect site)
   • .NET Core SDK 2.0.0
   • .NET Core Windows Server Hosting 2.0.0
2. rebuild the Link databases for the master and core databases if not yet:
   • on the Sitecore Launchpad, click Control Panel, and in the Database section, click Rebuild Link Databases
   •  select the master and core databases and then click Rebuild
   • 
3. rebuild the search indexes if not yet:
   • on the Sitecore Launchpad, click Control Panel, and in the Indexing section, click Indexing manager
   •  in the Indexing Manager dialog box, click Select all, and then click Rebuild
   • 
4. DO NOT stop the xConnect site sc9com.xconnect.local
   • from the installation guide with love (Page 9)
   • 
   • ensure that Experience Analytics is working properly

     • This slideshow requires JavaScript.
     • Note: if there is any error
       • option 1: you will have to solve it before installing XC by opening the Sitecore log and then having a look at the error messages (normally, they’re certificate issues)
       • option 2: you may want to disable xDB and then fix the error later after installing XC successfully
5. create a new folder E:\sc9_com_install
6. create a certificate for the Sitecore Commerce Engine Connect to authenticate with the Sitecore XC Engine:
   • launch PowerShell as an administrator
   • create the certificate by running the following cmdlet:
     • New-SelfSignedCertificate -certstorelocation cert:\localmachine\my -dnsname “storefront.local”
   • export the certificate to a file by running the following cmdlet:
     • Export-Certificate -Cert cert:\localMachine\my\<Thumbprint-of-cert> -FilePath E:\sc9_com_install\storefront.local.cer
   • 
7. download MSBuild Microsoft Visual Studio Web targets (available from Nuget) then extract the Web targets package, copy the \tools\VSToolsPath\Web\Microsoft.Web.XmlTransform.dll file into E:\sc9_com_install
8. download Sitecore Experience Accelerator 1.7.1 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading) and put it into E:\sc9_com_install
9. download Sitecore Powershell Extensions 4.7.2 then put it into E:\sc9_com_install
10. download and unzip Packages for On Premises 2018.07-2.2.126 (Note: must log into https://dev.sitecore.net/ before downloading) then put it into E:\sc9_com_install
11. unzip E:\sc9_com_install\SIF.Sitecore.Commerce.1.2.14.zip and then rename E:\sc9_com_install\SIF.Sitecore.Commerce.1.2.14 to E:\sc9_com_install\SIF for a better practice
12. unzip the E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.BizFX.1.2.19.zip
13. unzip the E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.SDK.2.2.72.zip file then copy the E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.SDK.2.2.72\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.DB.dacpac file into E:\sc9_com_install
    • Note: you will see the following error message if you copy / paste the one of XC 9 Update 1
    • 

    • ERROR Message=SQL.InsertEntity.Fail: Id=’Entity-PolicySet-ControllerMethodRolesPolicySet’|Environment=’GlobalEnvironment’|Message=’Procedure or function sp_CommerceEntitiesInsert has too many arguments specified.

14. unzip E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip
    • open E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
    • replace the Database‘s value to “SitecoreCommerce9_Global” at line 109 (the default value SitecoreCommerce_Global is NOT correct)
    • ensure the Server‘s value is “.” at line 113 (it’s empty by default)
    • 
    • zip the folder E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126 as E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip file then overwrite E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip with it
15. download sc9_com_install.ps1 and put it into E:\sc9_com_install\SIF then open it to correct 09 parameters below:
    1. $SitePrefix
    2. $ScInstallDirectory
    3. $SiteHostHeaderName
    4. $SqlServer
    5. $SqlDbPrefix
    6. $CommerceEngineCertificatePath
    7. $SolrUrl
    8. $SolrRoot
    9. $SolrService
16. (optional): you can specify any local account (note: it will be created automatically if non-existent) to be set up for the various application pools that are created as part of the deployment at line 76-77 of sc9_com_install.ps1
    • 
17. (optional): if you play with SQL Server 2017, you will have to download DeployCommerceDatabase.psm1 then overwrite E:\sc9_com_install\SIF\Modules\DeployCommerceDatabase\DeployCommerceDatabase.psm1
18. (optional): if you have multiple instances of SQL Server on your machine, you will have to:
    • unzip E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip
    • open E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
    • replace the Server’s value to your SQL Server instance at line 113 (Note: double-backslash escape if any)
    • 
    • open E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\wwwroot\data\Environments\PlugIn.Habitat.CommerceAuthoring-1.0.0.json then replace the Server‘s value to your SQL Server instance at line 130 (Note: double-backslash escape if any)
    • open E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\wwwroot\data\Environments\PlugIn.AdventureWorks.CommerceAuthoring-1.0.0.json then replace the Server‘s value to your SQL Server instance at line 130 (Note: double-backslash escape if any)
    • zip the folder E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126 as E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip file then overwrite E:\sc9_com_install\Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip with it
19. (optional): you may get timeout exceptions (some tasks’ execution timeout is only 12 minutes by default and the remote query timeout of SQL Server is only 10 minutes by default) so I suggest:
    • download SitecoreUtilityTasks.psm1 then overwrite E:\sc9_com_install\SIF\Modules\SitecoreUtilityTasks\SitecoreUtilityTasks.psm1 in order to increase the execution timeout
    • download PerformanceTweak.config then put it into  \sc9com.local\App_Config\Environment in order to turn all Sitecore jobs off and disable xDB for a better installation (you know, it’s a super long operation :D)
    • configure the remote query timeout option of SQL Server:
      1. using SQL Server Management Studio
      2. in Object Explorer, right-click a server and select Properties
      3. under Remote server connections, in the Remote query timeout box, type or select a value from 0 through 2,147,483,647 to set the maximum number seconds for SQL Server to wait before timing out
    • consider to put $global:ProgressPreference = ‘silentlyContinue’ into the sc9_com_install.ps1 in order to speed up the operation
20. launch PowerShell as an administrator
    • 
    • hopefully there is nothing can stop the installation process now
    • 
21. open a browser then navigate to storefront.local/, you would see the default page of Sitecore webiste. That’s because we don’t use the default host name sxa.storefront.com so we need to correct it inside Sitecore
    • log into sc9com.local/sitecore/
    • access /sitecore/content/Sitecore/Storefront/Settings/Site Grouping/Storefront
    • update Host Name to storefront.local and then publish it
    • 
    • refresh storefront.local/, you would see something like this
    • 
    • I’m sure that you want to make it more fancy so access /sitecore/content/Sitecore/Storefront/Presentation/Page Designs
    • update Theme to Storefont Branded and then publish it
    • 
    • refresh storefront.local/, you would see something like this
    • 
22. DO NOT forget to perform Post-Installation Steps
    • remove \sc9com.local\App_Config\Environment\PerformanceTweak.config if existent
    • follow Chapter 4 Post-Installation Steps (Page 15 – 17) in Sitecore Commerce 9 Update 2 Installation Guide

The recommendations

• we can remove the tasks completed from E:\sc9_com_install\SIF\Configuration\Commerce\Master_SingleServer.json and re-do Step 20 if there is something wrong (especially for Note: some known issues below) so that we are able to save a lot of time 😀
• if there is something wrong during installation process, we always have a chance to correct it via json files (note: need to do IIS reset after updating):
  1. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SitecoreIdentityServer\wwwroot\appsettings.json
  2. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceShops_Sc9\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
  3. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceOps_Sc9\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
  4. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceMinions_Sc9\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
  5. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceAuthoring_Sc9\wwwroot\bootstrap\Global.json
  6. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceShops_Sc9\wwwroot\data\Environments\Plugin.SQL.PolicySet-1.0.0.json
  7. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceShops_Sc9\wwwroot\data\Environments\PlugIn.Habitat.CommerceAuthoring-1.0.0.json
  8. C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceShops_Sc9\wwwroot\data\Environments\PlugIn.AdventureWorks.CommerceAuthoring-1.0.0.json

How to uninstall it?

• download sc9_com_uninstall.ps1 and put it into E:\sc9_com_install then open it to correct 07 parameters below:
  1. $EngineSuffix
  2. $Prefix
  3. $SolrService
  4. $PathToSolr
  5. $SqlServer
  6. $SqlAccount
  7. $SqlPassword
• launch PowerShell as an administrator
  • 
• hopefully, it runs well and cleans everything up

Note: some known issues

1. The service cannot accept control messages at this time
   • 
   • access IIS, start sc9com.local site and sc9com.local application pool manually (note: you may need to do it several times) if they’re in STOP status, somehow IIS cannot restart those ones after stopping them
2. The wait operation timed out: [SqlException (0x80131904): Connection Timeout Expired. The timeout period elapsed during the post-login phase. The connection could have timed out while waiting for server to complete the login process and
   respond; Or it could have timed out while attempting to create multiple active connections.
   • 
   • open E:\sc9_com_install\SIF\Configuration\Commerce\Master_SingleServer.json to remove the tasks completed
   • for instance, I would remove all the completed tasks before InstallSXAFrameworkModule then re-do Step 20 again
   • 
3. Request timed out:  Exception Details: System.Web.HttpException: Request timed out.
   • 
   • my suggestions:
     1. open E:\sc9_com_install\SIF\Configuration\Commerce\Master_SingleServer.json to remove the tasks completed
        • for instance, I would remove all the completed tasks before PublishExtensions then re-do Step 20 again
     2. consider to perform Step 19 as well if solution #1 does not work as expected then re-do Step 20 again
4. Something went wrong restarting SQL server again: Cannot validate argument on parameter ‘InputObject’. The argument is null or empty. Provide an argument that is not null or empty, and then try the command again.
   • 
   • somehow SQL Server window service cannot restart after stopping, ensure SQL Server window service is running
5. Install-SitecoreConfiguration : Cannot find path ‘C:\inetpub\wwwroot\CommerceOps_Sc9\wwwroot\config.json’ because it does not exist.
   • 
   • in Step 15, ensure to create Sitecore.Commerce.Engine.2.2.126.zip correctly (especially directory structure)
6. Get Token From Sitecore.IdentityServer: HTTP Error 503. The service is unavailable
   • 
   • my suggestions:
     1. ensure to install .Net Core stuffs
     2. correct connection string in “C:\inetpub\wwwroot\SitecoreIdentityServer\wwwroot\appsettings.json” and then do IIS reset
     3. correct the application pool of SitecoreIdentityServer site in IIS
7. Ensure/Sync default content paths for environment AdventureWorksAuthoring failed
   • 
   • ensure to perform Step 14 and Step 18 correctly
8. ERROR Exception when executing agent aggregation/pathAnalyzerHistoryAgent
   Exception: Sitecore.XConnect.XdbCollectionUnavailableException
   Message: The HTTP response was not successful: Forbidden
   Source: Sitecore.Xdb.Common.Web
   • have a look at https://sitecorecorner.com/2017/10/25/sitecore-9-xconnect-ssl-and-that-403-forbidden/
   • ensure to remove all non-self-signed certificates out of Trusted Root Certification Authorities certificate store (you can move them to Intermediate Certification Authorities certificate store)
     • Note: should use this Windows Powershell command Get-Childitem cert:\LocalMachine\root -Recurse | Where-Object {$_.Issuer -ne $_.Subject} to find them out
9. The specified module ‘sqlps’ was not loaded because no valid module file was found in any module directory
   • you may want to have a look at this one in order to solve it

Got issues?

Please send your issues (with screenshots if possible) to viet.hoang.sitecore@gmail.com so that I have a chance to understand your problem and be able to suggest the solution.

Happy Sitecore Installation!