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About the Siebel File System

The Siebel File System is a shared directory, or a set of directories on different devices, which is network-accessible to the Siebel Server. The Siebel Server contains the physical files used by the Siebel clients. You can create each File System directory on a server machine where you have installed a Siebel Server, or on another network server that can share the directory, so that the File System directories are available to the Siebel Server. For more information on the requirements for networked file systems, see the third-party documentation.

To gain access to files, Web clients connect to the appropriate Siebel Server to request file uploads or downloads. The Siebel Server then accesses the Siebel File System using the File System Manager (alias FSMSrvr) component. File System Manager processes these requests through interaction with the Siebel File System directories. See About File System Upload Transfer Process and About the File System Download Transfer Process for further data transfer details.

At the server component-level, most server components, including all Application Object Managers (AOMs), access the Siebel File System through the File System Manager server component when administering attachments. AOMs, however, access the Siebel File System directly when saving user preference files.

When using Siebel Developer Web Client for administrative tasks, you may want to connect directly to the Siebel File System without going through the File System Manager. For examples of these cases, their potential ramifications, and for client setup instructions in each case, see Configuring the Browser for Siebel Web Clients.

Files stored in the Siebel File System are compressed at the Siebel Server-level and appended with the extension .saf. (The file size displayed in the GUI represents the size of the compressed .saf file, not the actual file size.) The Siebel File System storage locations of the compressed files are set by the Siebel Enterprise Server parameter Siebel File System (alias FileSystem). See Siebel Enterprise Server Parameters for details on the parameter Siebel File System. The files stored in the Siebel File System are not directly accessible by users and must be decompressed and returned to the user through the Web client.

NOTE:  Files stored in the Siebel File System must be compressed; that is, the compression feature of the Siebel File System cannot be disabled.

The administrative tasks for cleaning up the Siebel File System and moving the Siebel File System are detailed in sections Cleaning Up the Siebel File System and Moving the Siebel File System respectively.

NOTE:  Virus checking is not supported within the Siebel File System.

For information on creating a Siebel File System, see Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.

For a list of Siebel File System administrative tasks, see Administering the Siebel File System.