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Upgrade Guide for UNIX > Upgrading the Siebel eBusiness Application >

Performing a Repository Merge

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CAUTION:  Repository merge procedures only apply to development environment upgrades. If you are performing a production environment upgrade, skip to Upgrading the Custom Database Schema.

During the repository merge, objects from the Prior Siebel Repository, Prior Customer Repository, and New Siebel Repository are compared by name to identify the total set of object differences. The process also determines how conflicts between repository changes are resolved as they are merged into the New Customer Repository.

There are three basic categories of object differences:

• New
• Deleted
• Modified

The repository merge executes the following processing steps to identify object differences:

• New or deleted objects. Identify objects that the customer has added by comparing their names in the Prior Customer Repository with the Prior Siebel Repository.

  All new customer objects are carried over from the Prior Customer Repository to the New Customer Repository. The repository merge typically avoids deletion of objects. Most of the objects that are deleted in the Prior Customer Repository reappear after the merge. The merge does this to avoid accidental deletion of objects which may be required. It does, however, allow deletion of specific types of objects. Such objects are deleted from the New Customer Repository during the merge.

  Objects of the following types are deleted from the New Customer Repository:

  Control	Chart
  List Column	Applet Web Template Item
  Page Tab	View Web Template Item

• Objects with altered attributes. Identifies objects that exist in both the Prior Customer Repository and the New Siebel Repository, and compares the attributes of each object to determine if they have been modified. Attribute comparisons are of interest only for those attributes which were changed by the customer.

  If an object attribute was altered in the Prior Customer Repository, but not in the New Siebel Repository, the customer's attribute value is merged into the New Customer Repository.

A conflict occurs, however, if an object attribute was altered in both the Prior Customer Repository and the New Siebel Repository, in which case the values in all three repositories would be different. In this event, the repository merge process uses the setting of the object attribute's StandardWins flag to determine how to resolve the conflict. If this is set to Y, the attribute value from the New Siebel Repository is used; if this is set to N, the attribute value from the Prior Customer Repository is used. Conflict resolutions can be overridden for each object attribute in the New Customer Repository. For examples of conflict resolution, see Examples of Conflict Resolution.

Improving Performance of the Merge

There are several ways in which you can reduce the time required to complete the merge.

1. Optimize the machine on which you are running the merge.
   • Use a workstation with a minimum of 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM.
   • Allocate at least 2 GB of virtual memory, and a 2 GB page file. If the amount of virtual memory on the system is too low, performance degrades significantly.
   • Close all other applications.
   • Close all services.
   • Defragment the disk. Fragmentation significantly affects system performance.
   • On the workstation, check that the environment variable SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS is set to zero. To check, enter the following command at the MS DOS prompt: echo %SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS% If this variable is not set, no action is required. However, if SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS is returned with a value other than zero, you must set it to zero by performing the following steps:
     • Close Siebel Tools and any other Siebel client applications.
     • Navigate to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Environment.
     • In the Environment dialog box, in the System Variables box, select SIEBEL_LOG_EVENTS. Enter 0 in the Value box, and click Set. Click OK.
     • Relaunch Siebel Tools. The new setting becomes active.

       NOTE:  The steps you need to take to set this variable may vary depending on the operating system you are using.

2. Optimize your database, since database performance can cause the merge to slow down considerably.
   • Make sure the database has sufficient rollback segments. For more information about rollback segments, see Siebel Server Installation Guide for your operating system.

     NOTE:  If your RDBMS is Oracle, verify that you have only one large rollback segment on line that is appropriately sized so that the largest of transactions can be accommodated. Take all other rollback segments off line.

   • Make sure that temporary tablespace has enough space allocated
   • Make sure the database has enough space allocated.
   • Make sure that the top-most logging applet in tools has no extra rows (from previous merge runs) when starting the merge.
   • Make sure that the database is not loaded with users when merge is run (no other users should be connected).
   • Delete extra repositories from the database using Siebel Tools. Running the merge on a database with more than the four (4) repositories which are needed for the merge degrades merge performance. Before deleting extra repositories, make backups.

     NOTE:  Deletion of extra repositories may take a few hours.

3. Run the merge on a different machine than the database server. When you run the merge on a different machine, you can increase the foreground performance of the merge. To do this, increase the application performance setting on the machine and ensure that the Siebel Tools application is the foreground application.

To increase the foreground performance of the merge

1. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > System.
2. Select the Advanced tab.
3. Select the Performance Options button.
4. In the Application Response box, click the Applications radio button and click OK.
5. While the merge process is running, click on the title bar of the Siebel Tools application to ensure that the Siebel Tools application is the foreground application on the machine.

   NOTE:  After the merge process has finished, set the Performance setting back to its former value.

Performing the Repository Merge

The configuration utility that you ran in the section Upgrading the Siebel Database Schema loaded two version 7.5 standard repositories. You must now use Siebel Tools to merge your existing custom configuration into one of these new repositories, creating a version 7.5 custom configuration that includes all of your previous configuration changes.

The four repositories that currently exist in your development database are listed in Table 15.

Table 15.  Development Database Repositories

Repository Name	Description
Prior version 6.x or 7.x Siebel Repository	Standard version 6.x or 7.x repository, depending on the version from which you are upgrading.
Prior Customer Repository	Customized version 6.x or 7.x repository, depending on the version from which you are upgrading.
New Siebel Repository	Newly loaded version 7.5 standard repository.
New Customer Repository	Newly loaded version 7.5 repository into which your custom configuration is merged.

Follow the guidelines provided in Improving Performance of the Merge to optimize performance of the repository merge.

• The merge is a memory-intensive process that fails if insufficient memory is available on the Siebel Tools workstation. Before beginning a repository merge, make sure that the following preparations have been completed on the developer workstation. Make sure that the developer workstation on which Siebel Tools is running has been upgraded to the newest available version.
• Use a workstation with a minimum of 512 megabytes (MB) of RAM and at least 2 GB of virtual memory or a 2-GB page file. Otherwise, the merge does not complete successfully.
• Close all other applications before performing a repository merge.

  NOTE:  Some repositories may require additional memory, based on level of customizations.

• If necessary, increase the swap space, using the Control Panel System applet, and then restart the development workstation before proceeding.
• Make sure you have a high-performing network connection.

  NOTE:  A slow network connection significantly increases the time required for the repository merge.

To merge the repository

1. Log on to a Siebel Tools client and use the File > Open Repository command to open the Prior Customer Repository.
2. Choose Tools > Upgrade > Upgrade Application.

   CAUTION:  Be sure to open the Prior Customer Repository, not another repository. Later steps in the repository merge process fail if you have the wrong repository open.

   The Merge Repositories dialog box appears.
3. In the Merge Repositories dialog box, choose the appropriate repository name from each picklist, using the repository names listed in the following table.

   Drop-Down List Item	Value to Choose
   Prior Standard Repository	Prior 6.x Siebel Repository or prior 7.x Siebel Repository, as appropriate for the version from which you are upgrading
   Prior Customized Repository	Prior Customer Repository
   New Standard Repository	New Siebel Repository
   New Customized Repository	New Customer Repository

4. Review the settings in the Merge Repositories dialog box, and then click Merge.

The repository merge process may take, on average, five to seven hours to complete. Timings may vary greatly depending on the kind of machine, the hardware configuration, virtual memory allocation, the use of the upgrade inheritance feature, and level of customizations in the customer repository (such as new records or changed attributes). In addition to merging the base repository, all locales are merged. Additional time should be planned for each language, including the base language.

Customizations are moved to the New Customer Repository, which results in a large number of database operations (inserts and updates). For each of these operations, logging records are created, and these log records also affect performance. If the repository is large, or the database setup is not optimal, this may take much longer.

Reviewing the Merge Results

This section provides an overview of the repository merge process and describes how to review and modify, if desired, the results of the repository merge.

During the merge, errors are reported in the status view and recorded in the merge.txt file. There are no acceptable errors for the repository merge. The only exception to this rule is errors that occur as a result of the upgrade ancestor feature. These errors are acceptable. For more information, see Automatic Upgrade of Copied Objects. After the merge has completed, you must review the results and resolve any errors and undesired conflicts before you proceed with the remainder of the upgrade.

NOTE:  If an object that does not exist in the 7.5 New Siebel repository is specified as an ancestor object, error messages appear in the merge.txt file. These errors are acceptable. An example of an error of this type is: !!ERROR::CANNOT upgrade objects which have Briefing Tracking Profile Applet - Product marked as 'Upgrade Anc'

Review errors through the Upgrade Applications Objects List screen. To get to the Upgrade Applications Objects List screen, from the Screens menu in Siebel Tools, choose Application Upgrader > Upgrade Application Objects List.

To view all errors encountered during the merge, query for ERROR:: in the Status field of the Object Differences applet (second applet on this view). Typically, all error records are listed at the top.

Determining the Cause of Merge Errors

If errors are located, you need to review the merge.txt file. This file contains information that is logged while the merge is in progress. As errors are encountered during the merge, they are logged in the merge.txt file, preceded with an exclamation point (!).

NOTE:  Each time you run the merge process, the merge.txt file is incremented and renamed with numbers appended to it. For this reason, you may find that your file has a name such as merge1.txt.

All repository merge log files, including merge.txt, are generated in the Tools\log directory. You can specify an alternate directory for the repository merge log files by clicking the Advanced button on the Merge Repositories dialog box, then entering a path to the desired folder.

CAUTION:  The merge.txt file can be used to figure out the cause of the error. In case of performance issues, this file can help you to determine where the time is being taken. Do not proceed if you encounter any errors as a result of the merge. See Recovering from a Failed Merge. If you have any questions or require assistance in resolving these errors, please contact Technical Support or Professional Services.

Reviewing the Merge Process Outcome

After performing the merge, review the merge process outcome.

To review the overall outcome of the merge process

1. Navigate to the Application Upgrades object list view by choosing Tools > Upgrade > Upgrade Application. (You can also access the Application Upgrades object list view from the Screens menu by choosing Screens > Application Upgrade.)

   The Application Upgrades applet at the top of this view lists all of the merge processes performed by the current user.

   The Status field for a successful merge should read "Complete."

2. If an error occurs, your merge has failed and you need to perform procedures to recover from a failed merge. To recover from a failed merge, see Recovering from a Failed Merge.

Reviewing Object Differences

After reviewing the merge process outcome, review object differences.

To review object differences

The Applications Upgrade object list view should still be displayed from the previous step. If the Applications Upgrade object list view is not displayed, navigate to it by choosing Tools > Upgrade > Upgrade Application.

1. From the Applications Upgrade object list view, click the Object Differences applet.

   The Object Differences list displays new or deleted objects, or objects that had altered attributes. By default, the most important object differences are shown first, with errors appearing at the top of the list.

2. For each record, review the status field for errors. (You must tab to the right of the applet to see the status field.)
3. Query the applet for objects that do not have a check mark in the Attribute column; these are the new or deleted objects.

   The various In... columns show which repositories the object existed in before the repository merge. The Add to New Customer Repository column indicates whether the object was merged into the New Customer Repository.

There are two types of object differences that must be resolved:

• Objects you previously deleted
• Objects deleted by Siebel eBusiness Applications

Customer-deleted objects. Any object that has a check mark in the "In Prior x.x Siebel Repository" and "Added to New Customer Repository" columns, but not in "In Prior Customer Repository," was deleted during your customization of the Prior Customer Repository and automatically added back to the New Customer Repository. Typically, adding these objects back into your new repository does not cause a problem with your upgraded configuration. However, you need to examine the use of these objects carefully to make sure that this is the case.

Siebel-deleted objects. Any object that has a check mark in the "In Prior x.x Siebel Repository" and "In Prior Customer Repository" columns, but not in the "In New Siebel Repository" or "Added to New Customer Repository" columns, is obsolete in Release 7.5. Typically, when a new version of a similar object is introduced as part of a new release of Siebel eBusiness Applications, you must modify your upgraded configuration to make use of the new object.

The fields in the Object Differences list indicate common types of object definition differences. Table 16 lists four common differences.

Table 16.  Common Object Definition Differences from the Object Differences List

Common Object Type Difference	Conflict	Add to New Customized	In Prior Standard	In Prior Customized	In New Standard
Indicates an object definition that became obsolete in Release 7.5.			3	3
Indicates an object definition added by the customer.		3		3
Indicates an object definition that has been modified. The Attribute Differences list shows the property differences.	3	3	3	3	3
Indicates a new Release 7.5 object definition. This difference is not normally shown. To show these object definitions, the Skip Logging... check box on the Advanced Merge Options dialog box must be turned off.					3

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