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About Siebel Configurator Caching

This topic provides information about Siebel Configurator caching.

This topic is part of Siebel Configurator Deployment Planning.

Object Broker

The Object Broker is a service that extracts the customizable product definition from the database for use by other configuration services. To improve performance, the Object Broker also maintains a cache of objects in the memory to minimize interaction with the database. You can configure the number of objects that are cached by setting the eProdCfgNumOfCachedObjects server parameter. Normally, the size of the cache is quite small. Different users can share the same object cache.

Factory

The factory is a service that creates a translation of the customizable product definition that is retrieved by the Object Broker into a format that the worker (described as follows) can understand. Each factory can serve multiple users at run time. Factories are customizable product-specific, meaning that each customizable product requires its own unique factory. Factories can be cached in memory. You can configure the number of factories that are cached by setting the eProdCfgNumbOfCachedFactories server parameter.

Worker

The worker is shared: in other words, a session only locks a worker during a single configuration request. In between requests, the worker can serve additional configuration sessions.

While the relative number of workers now required to support a user base depends on the time between clicks of particular scenarios and the number of clicks that require worker interaction, the general guideline is that a given worker can now support two to three concurrent users for the same customizable product.

SnapShot Mode

SnapShot mode is a server setting that allows the Siebel Configurator to create and execute using cached objects, factories, and workers. If this setting is not chosen, then each user configuration session would be associated with the following:

• Extraction of the customizable product definition and all of the objects associated with it from the database
• Creation of a factory for the customizable product
• Creation of a worker for the user session

If SnapShot mode is chosen, then, depending upon the specified parameter values, objects, factories, and workers would be cached in memory and would be first examined for whether they can be used to initiate a user session. Only if the existing cache cannot support the user session are new objects extracted or factories or workers created.

Considerations About SnapShot Mode

Here are some things to remember about SnapShot mode:

• SnapShot mode determines the upper bound of caching.
• The cache is created as one goes along. The first user request results in the first set of cache data being created. The second user might end up using the same cache because the user wants to configure the same customizable product that the first user configured. Meanwhile, the third user, who wants to configure a different product, creates a new cache, and so on.
• Re-use of cache data occurs only for requests originating from the same Application Object Manager process, for any Siebel Configurator deployment.