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Testing Siebel EIM Processes

This topic is part of Siebel EIM Usage Planning.

Fully and completely testing Siebel EIM processes must not be overlooked. Testing is more than simply mapping the data and then running a Siebel EIM process using the default Siebel EIM configuration file. Complete testing requires you to run a large number of identical Siebel EIM jobs with similar data. Testing in this way allows you to not only find areas that you might have overlooked, but also provides some insight into optimal sizing of the Siebel EIM batches and exposure to scenarios that can occur in a production environment.

Before using Siebel EIM, a database administrator must populate the EIM tables with data to be processed by Siebel EIM. Then, you can invoke Siebel EIM to process this data, with Siebel EIM making multiple passes through the tables to complete the specified process.

Siebel EIM reads a special configuration file that specifies the Siebel EIM process to perform (import, merge, delete, or export) and the appropriate parameters. The Siebel EIM configuration file (the default file is default.ifb) is an ASCII text file of extension type .IFB that resides in the admin subdirectory under the Siebel Server directory. Before running a Siebel EIM process, you must edit the contents of the Siebel EIM configuration file to define the processes that Siebel EIM will perform.

The Siebel EIM log file can contain information at different levels of detail depending on the values of three flags: the Error flag, the SQL flag, and the Trace flag. For more information on these flags, see Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide. Some of the recommended settings are described in the following list:

• As a starting point, it is recommended to set the Error flag = 1, the SQL flag = 1, and the Trace flag = 1. This setting will show errors and unused foreign keys. Setting the Trace flag = 1 will provide a summary (after each batch) of the elapsed time after Siebel EIM updates primary child relationships in the Siebel database tables as necessary and runs optional miscellaneous SQL statements.
• Set the Error flag = 1, the SQL flag = 8, and the Trace flag = 3. These settings will produce a log file with SQL statements that include how long each statement took, which is useful for optimizing SQL performance.
• Set the Error flag = 0, the SQL flag = 0, and the Trace flag = 1. These settings will produce a log file showing how long each Siebel EIM step took, which is useful when figuring out the optimal batch size as well as monitoring for deterioration of performance in a particular step.