- Platform & environment
OrderCloud environments
OrderCloud provides three distinct environments, each accessible through a unified Portal interface:
- Free Sandboxes for development and testing
- Staging for pre-production validation
- Production for live business operations
Environment definition
An environment represents an isolated OrderCloud API instance that includes:
- Unique hostname for direct access
- Dedicated computing resources for performance
- Independent data storage for security
- Complete system isolation
This isolation enables:
- Independent development and testing
- Separate resource management
- Controlled data handling
- Environment-specific configurations
Each environment operates in any of OrderCloud's five regions, requiring the correct base URL for your specific region/environment combination.
Production environment
Production environments serve live applications with real business transactions. These environments provide:
Performance features
- High-performance infrastructure
- Maximum availability
- Geo-redundant data protection
- Optimized resource allocation
Access control
- Reserved exclusively for live applications
- Created after contract finalization
- Managed creation process
- No self-service provisioning
Implementation recommendations
- Begin data loading well before go-live
- Establish sustainable data migration pace
- Enable thorough Staging environment testing
- Support comprehensive UAT processes
Staging environment
Staging provides a testing environment with weekly Production data synchronization:
Synchronization details
- Weekly restore at 3 UTC Sunday
- Complete data refresh
- Overwrites weekly changes
- Requires explicit access request
Modified resource handling
-
Message Senders:
- Nullified URL property
- Removed assignments
- Prevents unintended notifications
-
Webhooks:
- Preserved configurations
- Disabled functionality
- Empty ApiClients array
- Prevents external system triggers
-
Integration Events:
- Complete removal
- Prevents integration conflicts
- Maintains system isolation
-
API Clients:
- Nullified integration references
- Affects multiple event types:
- OrderCheckout
- OrderReturn
- AddToCart
- Prevents unintended integrations
Post-restore automation
- Configure automated setup
- Use Staging Post-Restore webhook
- Restore test configurations
- Maintain consistent environment
Sandbox environment
Sandbox environments provide development and testing capabilities:
Access details
- Free environment access
- Expandable for active customers
- Flexible usage options
Ideal use cases
-
New application development:
- Initial setup
- Feature testing
- Integration validation
-
Persistent testing:
- Long-term test data
- No automatic overwrites
- Consistent test scenarios
-
Subset testing:
- Focused data sets
- Specific feature validation
- Performance testing
When to use Staging instead
- Full production data testing
- Complete system validation
- Integration testing
- UAT processes
Performance considerations
Staging and Sandbox environments operate with scaled resources:
Resource allocation
- Reduced computing power
- Limited storage capacity
- Optimized for development
- Cost-effective operation
Performance expectations
- Lower response times
- Reduced concurrent capacity
- Basic availability guarantees
- Development-appropriate performance
Usage guidelines
- Avoid production-level loads
- Plan for lower performance
- Consider resource limitations
- Monitor system usage
Rate limits
OrderCloud implements marketplace-wide rate limiting:
Current implementation
- Unpublished limit values
- Automatic enforcement
- 403 Forbidden responses
- Marketplace-level application
Error handling
- Verify 403 error sources
- Check error response data
- Implement appropriate retries
- Monitor usage patterns
Future considerations
- Potential endpoint-specific limits
- More granular control
- Enhanced monitoring
- Updated enforcement rules