GeeKs Blogging @ dotCOM

Siebel Server Architecture – an Introduction

by Nitin Jain

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You may call this an introductory tutorial. Siebel as we all know, is quite a complex maze of many different objects and components working together to provide a successful CRM implementation. This topic is very trivial. Yet, I have noticed many professionals with multi-year experience discussing basic Siebel Architecture questions with me.

I am trying to outline a general architecture in a simple environment. Some of the most common jargon that you would come across when thinking in this direction are:

Siebel File System:

This refers to the actual hard disk space that is configured at the time of setting up of Siebel Servers. Siebel writes a lot of files on its own, for eg. the Log Files. Siebel Servers will use Siebel File system to store data and the physical files used by Siebel Thin Clients and the Enterprise Servers.

Siebel Database Server:

All data at the end of the day, has to be stored in a Database. In case of Siebel, the backend database may be IBM DB2, Oracle DB, etc. This database may be set up on the same server box as the Siebel Server, however, it is strongly recommended to set it up separately on a separate machine in the Network.

We create a lot of records when working with any CRM system. These may be Account Data, Contacts data, List of Products, etc. All this data is saved in the Siebel Database. All Siebel tables, indexes, seed data, etc. are saved in this Database.

Siebel Application Server:

This is the actual Siebel Application Server which performs the tasks. A Siebel Server Installation is implied to mean a Siebel Application Server Installation.

Siebel Enterprise Server:

This is a logical grouping of the Siebel Application Servers discussed above. An Enterprise Server may have just one Siebel server, but, generally in Production environment, it contains, multiple Siebel Application Servers in the grouping. Lots of components, and their groups are defined at this level in the hierarchy, and control most of the Siebel Server environment.

Siebel Gateway Server:

It generally contains the Siebel Name Server, which is from amongst one of the most important components in Siebel System. This is a logical server which has the grouping of single/multiple Siebel Enterprise Servers. The Gateway Server provides a consistent backing of the Siebel Enterprise Server configuration data. It has the Siebel Connectivity information, and controls connectivity via the Siebel Connection Broker, also called SCBroker.

Siebel Web Server:

This is the Web Server which will receive all requests and forward it to the Siebel Servers, just like in a typical Web Access scenario. This could be IIS on Windows, or Apache, or anything similar.

Siebel Clients:

These are of many types, all with different characteristics – Sample, Dedicated, Thin, Mobile. These are the different clients which access the Siebel Application. I will not dwelve into the details of each one of them here.

The type of client most commontly used is the Siebel Thin Client. In this case, the user accessing the Siebel Application, need not install any component on his local machine. He can just type in the URL of the Siebel Application in his Web Browser, and Siebel Login page pops up. The user may login with his valid credentials, and continue with his processes within the Application.

Siebel does install a few add on components for the Web Browser on its own. However, if the user has Admin rights on the machine, most of this stuff will be automated. In case the user is not the Administrator of the machine, some of the components may not install properly, leading to a hampered navigation in the Application.

The above is a simple outline, which can vary greatly with each environment, its requirements and limitations. Especially, when it comes to clustered, failover, high availability systems, and all, things begin to get complicated.

I will try to cover each one of these in more detail in further posts.

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