The present page serves as an overview for the topic. All available documents for the topic can be found here.
DBInit is a tool for initially creating the database schema objects and for preparing the database content of one or more Intershop 7/Intershop Commerce Management cartridges. It is not designed to migrate the database content and structure (see DBMigrate).
DBMigrate is a tool used to migrate the database content and the database structure of an Intershop 7/Intershop Commerce Management installation from a defined previous release to an installed current release. It defines one global migration process, which can be executed in different environments. DBMigrate reuses some recurring migration steps (e.g., table creation), supports different development teams to create their own migration processes, and can minimize the effort to upgrade the development environment.
DBPrepare is a tool for creating and updating the database schema objects and for preparing required database content of one or more cartridges. The DBPrepare tool recognizes prepared or up-to-date cartridges and their declared preparer steps. As a result of stored execution protocol for each cartridge, DBPrepare only needs to execute new preparer steps, resulting in a significantly reduced execution time. Additionally, DBPrepare initializes new cartridges, so explicit initialization of new cartridge is no longer required.
DBPrepare uses the declaration files of DBinit and DBmigrate and replaces the functionality of DBInit and DBMigrate starting from ICM 7.10.14.0.