Siebel Admin [Cheat Sheet]

I see many Siebel consultants(including me) searching web everytime to get correct syntax for Siebel server manager commands.

Although the syntax is so simple we still somehow manage to forget it :) I have created this cheat sheet from list of commands which I use day in day out. List contains command to increase log levels, shutdown startup components, creating components, starting server manager.

Feel free to download and print one for your desk.Download Here

Hopefully no more searching for commands to increase log level of siebel components :) cheers!

Siebel Integration Interview Questions - JMS Transport

This article only covers Siebel integration interview questions related to EAI JMS Transport , see Siebel EAI Interview Questions for other Integration interview questions.

Question 1: When should JMS be used over web services in Siebel integration requirement?

Answer: JMS queues are based on store and forward guaranteed delivery mechanism. That means source system sends the message to middleware which holds the message in queue until Siebel server reads it thus message is never lost.

However on other side web services doesn't have retry mechanism in architecture. In case of heavy load or server unavailability message can be lost if source system can't resend it. Benefit of using web services is that they are faster to develop, setup and maintain.

Question 2: How does JMS integration works in Siebel?

Answer : Siebel has JMS receiver server component which can pull XML messages from JMS queue for data transfer. For JMS components to get messages from JMS server Siebel needs to have JAVA installed on Siebel server.

Question 3 : What is the difference between queue and a topic of JMS?

Answer: Queue is is implementation of first in first out data structure, and can be used only between one source and one consumer. Once XML message is consumed by consumer it is deleted from the queue.

Topics also have queue like store and forward mechanism but with the difference that they do not delete XML messages immediately after it has been read, the same message can be read by another consumer (application). Thus well suited for 1 to many integration scenario.

Questions 4 : What steps are involved in JMS component setup in Siebel?

Answer:  Siebel JMS setup involves minimum three items :
- Setup of JVM (Java) subsystem
This tells where is Java files and server details of JMS server.
- Setup of JMS subsystem
This contains queue or topic information
- Setup of receiver component
This component pulls XML messages from JMS server mentioned in JVM sub system from queue mentioned in JMS subsystem.

Question 5: What is jndi.properties file? What it is necessary?

Answer: Java subsystem required for JMS integration required JMS server location information such IP address and port. This information is kept in jndi.properties file in Siebel filesystem.
It looks something like this: https://docs.oracle.com/javase/jndi/tutorial/beyond/env/src/jndi.properties

Questions 6: what kind of logging is available for JMS transport?

Answer:  EAI JMS Transport  provides two logging methods, first one is the traditional Siebel logs which can be turned on by increasing log level of receiver component.

Second type of logs are Java logs which generated by Java virtual machine installed on Siebel server , they can get turned on by setting VMOptions in Java subsystem.

See more Siebel EAI Interview Question

[Download] EAI JSON Converter v2

Pleased to bring you the complete EAI JSON Converter v2. It happened a lot sooner than I expected.

Siebel EAI JSON Converter

Below is the code which converts JSON string to property set. The heart of the code is eval statement, which converts the JSON string into eScript Object. 

Siebel eval statement

Remaining code is just the recursive traversing to convert object into property set. I have tested the code for couple JSON strings, it passed everytime with flying colours every time. Feel free to change the code as required. 

You can download the complete sif from git hub. https://github.com/Jimjson/eScript-based-EAI-JSON-Converter-

EAI JSON Converter Demo: 

How to force shutdown siebel server < 2ms

This is in continuation to my earlier post on How to shutdown Siebel server in less than 5 secs. 

And is suggested by a reader of this blog, who seems to be even more impatient than me(in a good way), and had automated the step to query Siebel server and step to use task kill command to bring down Siebel server as mentioned on my earlier post.

Final batch file looks something like : 

FOR /F "tokens=3" %%A IN ('sc queryex siebel_service_name  ^| findstr "PID"') DO (SET pid=%%A)
IF "!pid!" NEQ "0" (

taskkill /pid %pid% /f 

)

taskkill /im siebmtshmw.exe /f

taskkill /im siebmtsh.exe /f

taskkill /im siebsess.exe /f

taskkill /im siebprocmw.exe /f

taskkill /im siebproc.exe /f

Once executed with admin privileges, it brings down Siebel server at very instant. I have tested this, and it works beautifully.

Memory Release

Why this is faster than usual way? 

Usual way of bringing down service does memory cleanup and waits for long running processes to complete, gives some time to gracefully complete the tasks I think it copies the log files around as well.

However this batch file just pulls the trigger and knock down the server in one shot. There is a risk of data corruption, use it at your own risk!

If you have done something like this with Siebel which is not recommended but saves you time then please share it with us in comments section below.

Siebel EAI Interview questions - Web services

View latest 2020 Interview questions here:
Siebel REST API Interview Questions
Siebel EAI Interview Questions - JMS Transport

Question 1: What is the difference between outbound and inbound web services?

Answer: Inbound web services are hosted/served by Siebel and is invoked by external application to send data or to query data from Siebel.

Siebel Inbound Web Service

Outbound web services are web services which are hosted by external applications like SAP or Middle-ware and is invoked by Siebel workflows/business services to send or query data from external system.

Siebel Outbound Webservice

Question 2: What is WSDL?

Answer: WSDL stands for Web Service Definition Language. It's a standard for describing web service end point, it contains information about what all methods external system can call and what are input and output arguments for the service.
For Inbound web services Siebel dev team needs to provide WSDL, which is created from Adminstration Integration> Inbound Webservices view.
For outbound web-services external system like a billing system provides WSDL which is imported into Siebel.

Generate WSDL in Siebel

Question 3 : How WSDL is imported into Siebel?

Answer : Siebel inputs WSDL in two steps. Firstly WSDL is imported into Siebel tools which creates proxy business service and IOs for arguments.

WSDL Import in Siebel Tools

Second step involves creating web service end point in Administration integration> outbound web service which is done by imported by xml generated in first step.

Question 4 : What is filter business service in Siebel?

Answer: Filter business service is a custom business service which can be configured to be invoked at web service invocation just before or after actual workflow call. This service is used to handle custom soap headers of web service .

Question 5: What is SOAP Message? Which version of SOAP is supported by Siebel ?

Answer : SOAP Stands for Simple Object Access Protocol it is a XML format which exchanged by web services, SOAP 1.1 is supported by Siebel.

Question 6: When would you recommend using web services over queue based integration?

Answer: Web services should be used when business process can not wait for response from external system. For example : Order can not proceed without checking the inventory and user cannot wait before submitting order.

Question 7: What is the difference between EAI HTTP Transport and web services?

Answer : Web services is a HTTP based standard which uses WSDL to describe structure of input and output arguments and methods which can be invoked on server.
HTTP Transport can also be use to transfer data in and out if Siebel server however there is no description of input and output data structure and types.

Question 8: Can workflow be published as inbound web services?

Answer: Yes workflow and business service both can be published as web service in  Siebel.

Question 9: What is proxy business service in Siebel? and How does proxy BS works internally in Siebel?

Answer : Proxy business services are business services in Siebel which are created for each WSDL import in Siebel tools. Proxy business service converts in the input arguments into SOAP message and invokes HTTP transport to send data to external system.

EAI JSON Converter - v2 (No Java)

I published EAI JSON Converter business service based on Siebel Java business service back in 2013, and many people seemed to like it and implemented it. See the old post here. It was great to see that code getting implemented in production by many people. Surprisingly equal number of people faced difficulty in implementing the Java business service which is required to get EAI JSON Converter working.

Thus I started working towards removing dependency on JAVA business service and created complete eScript based solution as ver2 of EAI JSON Converter business service.

Generate JSON in Siebel without Java

This service will have the same methods and arguments, and will outputs similar JSON string and property set as previous version did but without the need of JDK. It is complete plug and play service, just copy paste the code and start using the service.

function CreateJSON(Inputs){
/*********
Created By: Jim
Support: http://howtosiebel.blogspot.com
*********/
    var str,j;
    var propName = "";
    var propVal = "";
   
    str = "{";
   
    propName = Inputs.GetFirstProperty();   
   
    //Type and value
    if(Inputs.GetValue() != null && Inputs.GetValue() != ""){
        str = str + '"' + Inputs.GetType()  + '"' + ":"  + '"' + Inputs.GetValue() + '"';   
        if(propName != "") str= str + ",";
    }
   
   
    //Properties
    while (propName != "") {
        propVal = Inputs.GetProperty(propName);
        str = str + '"' + propName +  '"' + ":" + '"' +propVal + '"';
        propName = Inputs.GetNextProperty();
        if(propName != "") str = str + ",";
       
    }
    propName = Inputs.GetFirstProperty();
    if(propName != "" && Inputs.GetChildCount()> 0)str = str + ",";
   
    //Loop for child
    if(Inputs.GetChildCount()> 0){
    if(Inputs.GetChildCount()> 1)str = str + '"Object"' + ":" + "{";
    for (var i = 0; i < Inputs.GetChildCount(); i++){
            j = Inputs.GetChild(i);
            str = str + '"' + j.GetType() + i + '"' + ":" + CreateJSON(j);// + ",";
            if(i+1<Inputs.GetChildCount()) str =str + ",";
    }
    if(Inputs.GetChildCount()> 1)str = str + "}";
    }
    str = str + "}";
    return str;   
}

Hope the code is self explanatory. Feel free to edit it for your implementation. I have tested the output and validated for RFC4627.

Creating JSON string from property set was easy I traversed through the property set using out of the box Siebel methods and created the string. Creating propset from JSON proved difficult, I am still working on solution for interpreting JSON and converting it into property set, I have made some progress will post it as soon as it is working satisfactorily.

If you want to contribute in nobel cause then contact me via comments below and don't forget to plus one this post on Google. All comments are welcome.

Guide to resolve Generic SSA NOTOK error message. SBL-DAT-00472

SBL-DAT-00472: Generic SSA NOTOK error message.

SSA NOTOK Error in Siebel

This error occurs in Siebel when there is some fundamental configuration mistake, like syntax errors or missing workflows or incorrect joins are configured. This error can be very difficult to fix, as it leaves very thin trace behind and there is no indication to start with. When I faced this error I narrowed it down by going through the most common reasons of this error and started to rule them out one by one.

Following is the list which I followed from various support web articles.

1. Deleted Workflows

Runtime events that are created automatically by workflow deployment have row id of workflow specified on them, and if that workflow does not exist in system then run time event can throw this error. To debug this turn on the personalisation logs and narrow down which runtime event is causing the trouble.

2. Explicit Joins on 1:1 tables

Someone has created explicit join based on 1:1 extention table and name of the join is same as the table name. For example table S_SRV_REQ1_FNX is extension table of S_SRV_REQ, so one should not create join in Service request BC with table S_SRV_REQ1_FNX to avoid getting this error.

3. Calculated Fields

This is the most common cause of this error. Any syntax mistake in calculation or calculation which compares a two different data types can result into SSA NOTOK Error.
For example following calculation will cause this error :

IIf ([Status] = 1, 10, 0)

This because the status field is DTYPE_TEXT and it is compared to integer value.

In my case I had a field in BC with syntactically incorrect calculation. Which was easy to find as it popped up as first thing in BC validation.

4. BC field Validations

This is another place where calculated fields can be referred and could cause this error. This might not error out every time as calculation might not be evaluated in all conditions. So do check field level validations as well when trying to fix this issue.

5. Run-time events or DVMs

Another place I would look for would be RTE and DVMs as they also use Siebel query language to identify records and validate things and any syntax goof up can cause this error to popup.

Another place you might get this error is while generating sample XML for BIP reports, this happens because application is not able to find the folder location specified in component parameter for XMLPReportDataDir .

Please feel free to share and discuss your experiences with this error in comments below.

7 Siebel Tools hacks every developer should know!

These are my favorite Siebel Tools tricks that I use day in day out. I thought of sharing this before good old Siebel tools is made completely obsolete by new "Siebel Composer". Would be good to compare this with composer features in future when it is fully developed and available.

Repository search

This is Siebel tools inbuilt search feature. It can be used to find all objects with specific keyword in entire repository. I use it to find the use of profile attributes in scripts or in calculated fields, search spec etc... Pretty neat.

To start search go to Tools> Search Repository

Enter keyword and click Search Now

It's not super fast but it's best way to be sure.

Alternative of genbscript.exe

I still meet few developers who run genbscript every time after compiling srf. There is much easier way to generate browser scripts available.

Scripting options

As shown above, one can configure tools to update browser scripts automatically after every compile.

Add multiple objects to one sif file. 

There is no need to create separate sif file for each object. After adding one object just leave the archive window aside and go to object explorer to pick another object and add to save archive.

Siebel sif files.

Create list of values from tools

Yes, One can create list of values from Siebel Tools. For this menu to appear your login needs to have Siebel administrator responsibility. I love this interface, it is so much better than Siebel client.

Compare objects 

Siebel Tools provide unique way of comparing objects, its not limited to comparing objects with a sif file. Once can compare two similar objects like two business components or applets in same repository or a different repository.

Compare objects in Siebel Tools

Copy items from one object to other

This is one of the neat hidden feature of Siebel tools. While comparing two objects one can use this feature to copy some objects from one object to other.

Button to copy items from one object to other

 As shown on press of button one can copy fields from one BC to other.

Bookmarks!

This is one of my favorite hack. I bookmark all the objects of projects that I am working on, it makes really easy to navigate back an forth without typing.

To bookmark any object list just open the bookmark pane and click the plus sign. And double click on the list to find the objects again, no typing required!

Siebel Tools Bookmark icons

Siebel Tools Bookmarks in Action

Shown above is my current bookmark list. I have bookmarked Order BCs(thin and thick :)), Quote BCs, and custom business services.

Some bonus keyboard shortcuts :

F7 to compile all objects
Cntrl + F7 compile single object
Alt + H + R about record
F5 starting Siebel dedicated client
Shift + F5 restarting Siebel dedicated client

Scenario based Interview Questions - Part 3

This is the third post in series of Scenario based Interview Questions . I would highly recommend you to read the first two parts of this series.

 Scenario based interview questions Config - Part 1
Scenario based interview questions Workflows - Part 2

If you like the questions and would like to see more like this, then please +1 this post on google.

Interview with Yvette Francino

Recently I came across a very talented IT Manager Yvette Francino, unlike any another project manager blogging is one of her passions. She has worked as manager for Siebel Projects and have been working in Agile from a quite a long time, she has spent time in coaching teams for Agile. I took opportunity for asking hers some questions regarding Agile and she kindly shared some very useful resources which can help new team members to get started with Agile.

Here is the interview.

Question : Please shed some light on your experience with Siebel. Were you a Siebel developer?

Yvette: I was a development manager at Sun Microsystems from 1999-2009. For a short time around 2000, I managed a team that was using Siebel. I took the training, but didn't have much more hands-on experience than that.

Question : As almost every Siebel project suffers from scope creeps and effort overruns due to un-planned tech issues. Do you feel Agile is not suited for Siebel Projects?

Yvette: Projects that typically suffer from scope creep are the ones that are best suited for Agile methodologies. The more you don't know up front (which is true of most software projects), the better suited an empirical model, such as Agile, is because it allows you to let your requirements evolve and become refined over time as you learn more.


Question: What are the most important things without which you will never run an Agile project?

Yvette: Agile training for everyone, including management, is important, so that everyone has a common understanding of the processes they are using. Retrospectives, in which the teams regularly assess what worked well, what could be better, and what they want to do differently in the next iteration are also important so the team continually improves.


Question: How to plan for project with relatively un-known area of development? Do you recommend any special technique?

Yvette: Again, the more unknowns there are, the better it is to use an Agile methodology so that learning more is part of the process. There are techniques called "spikes" that allow development teams to do "time-boxed stories" to allow them to learn more about the unknown area.  They could do a small proof of concept or prototype, for example, to discover more and reduce the level of uncertainty.

Question : After so much experience do you feel Agile is actually more expensive than SDLC methodologies?

Yvette:  It depends on a lot of things. It can be expensive to change all your tooling and processes, so if the organization is heavily invested in traditional methodologies, it can be quite expensive to change. On the other hand, studies show that Agile projects are more successful than traditional Waterfall projects, and, obviously, unsuccessful projects are very costly.

Question: Please share a conflicting situation you had on project and how did you gone about resolving it.

Well, in the Agile world, one common conflict might be disagreement about how long it might take to code something (or how many "story points" a user story is). One way to resolve this is to maybe have a "spike" story (as described above), or to make the story smaller so there are less unknowns.  (A "story" is a small unit of working code or what might thought of is a "requirement" that results in working code.)


Do you have any or recommend cheat sheet/mantra for Agile projects for newbies?

Yvette: There are so many Websites and classes available that it's hard to recommend one. Scrum is the most common methodology by far, and the Scrum Guide is available for free. I also think Mike Cohn is a great teacher and there are online courses available from his site, Front Row Agile. You might also check The Agile Alliance for resources. It would be good, though, if teams were learning from the same courses or resources, though, since there can be quite a bit of variation in opinions, terminology, and Agile methodologies.

I would recommend all Agile newbies to download the scrum guide and refer Agile Alliance to get your head around the buzz words of Agile.
Thanks Yvette for your time!!