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About Cloning a Siebel Installation

You can copy or clone an existing installed instance of Siebel Enterprise Server or Siebel Web Server Extension on a source computer and then deploy the clone as a new instance on a target computer.

For a cloning operation, the existing installed Siebel software instance from which you create a clone is called the source instance, and the computer where the software instance is installed is called the source computer. The new Siebel software instance that you deploy is called the target instance, and the computer where you deploy it is called the target computer.

About Cloning a Siebel Enterprise Server Installation

The primary intended usage case for Siebel Enterprise Server cloning is to clone an installed and configured instance of Siebel Server.

When you deploy a Siebel Server clone, you can optionally create a new Siebel Gateway Name Server on the target computer. Alternatively, you can specify that the target instance of Siebel Server should use an existing installed instance of Siebel Gateway Name Server on another computer.

When you create the clone for the Siebel Server source instance, you can include certain configuration data sets, such as the Siebel Server configuration or the Siebel Enterprise configuration. Typically, you export the Siebel Server configuration as part of the clone. If you will create a new Siebel Gateway Name Server on the target instance, then you also export the Siebel Enterprise configuration. When you deploy the clone, you can import this configuration data into the new or existing Siebel Gateway Name Server for the new target instance of Siebel Server.

To specify these (and other) variations in how you create and deploy a clone, you use different settings in the cloning properties files, which are described in Properties File Settings for Cloning an Installation.

The files for the Siebel Database Configuration Utilities, Siebel EAI, and Siebel Management Agent are also included if you create and deploy a clone for a Siebel Server instance for which these modules were also installed. However, do not use the Database Configuration Wizard on the target instance, because you already have it on the source instance. You must configure the Siebel Management Agent instance separately on the target computer after deploying the clone.

Where to Obtain the Siebel Cloning Utility

The files that make up the Siebel cloning utility are provided in the file clone.zip. You can find clone.zip with the JAR files after you unpack the media zip files for the current release, Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.11 or version 8.2.2.4. For more information about obtaining the Siebel CRM media, see About Siebel CRM Releases and Obtaining Siebel Installation Media Files. See also the applicable Siebel Maintenance Release Guide on My Oracle Support.

You must save or copy the file clone.zip to any computer that will be used as a source or target computer for a cloning operation. On each source or target computer, you use a standard unpacking tool, such as WinZip or unzip, to extract files into a directory named clone.

Files Provided with the Siebel Cloning Utility

The Siebel cloning utility includes the following files:

• The Siebel cloning utility executable program for the operating system on which you run the utility: clone.bat (on Microsoft Windows) or clone.sh (on UNIX and Linux). These files are created in the clone directory that is created when you unpack the clone.zip file.
• The files cloneconfig.jar and orainstaller.jar are created in a subdirectory called lib.
• Several example properties files, which are text files that contain settings for use in different operations of the Siebel cloning utility. These files are created in a subdirectory called templates. For more information, see Properties Files Used in Cloning Operations.

  When you run the Siebel cloning utility at the command line, you specify the name of a properties file that you have updated to include all of the settings necessary for the operation that you are performing. For example, the properties file must include a pointer to the snapshot file that you are creating or deploying, the host name of the source or target computer, and so on. For more information, see Properties File Settings for Cloning an Installation.

About Running the Siebel Cloning Utility

Cloning an existing source instance includes separate tasks to create the clone on a source computer and to deploy the clone on a target computer. Both of these tasks involve running the Siebel cloning utility. These tasks are outlined in Process of Cloning a Siebel Installation.

• Creating the clone. The operation to create a clone creates a file called the snapshot file, which is a ZIP file representing the installed software that you are cloning, in compressed form. This task is referred to as creating a clone. The term clone, when it is used as a noun, refers to the snapshot file. What is included in the snapshot file depends on the settings that you specify for the operation to create the clone.
• Deploying the clone. The operation to deploy a clone uses the snapshot file to deploy the clone on the target computer. This task is referred to as deploying a clone. What is included in the deployed clone depends on the contents of the snapshot file and on the settings that you specify for the operation to deploy the clone.

About Creating and Deploying a Full Clone or a Delta Clone

A clone that you create and deploy can be either a full clone or a delta clone, as follows:

• Full clone. Creating and deploying a full clone copies a complete installation on the source computer and deploys it on the target computer, assuming that no existing installation is present on the target computer. For a source instance that has not been cloned before, you always create a full clone. To deploy a new target instance, you always deploy a full clone.
• Delta clone. Creating and deploying a delta clone (also called a partial clone) identifies differences in a source instance, relative to a snapshot file, and deploys new or updated files on an existing target instance that had been created using this same snapshot file. Creating a delta clone generates a delta snapshot file, which represents the differences between the source instance in its current state and the original full snapshot file. Deploying a delta clone updates the target instance to include these differences.

Excluding Files or File Types

You can specify files or file types that you want to exclude from a cloning operation. You do this by specifying a value for the Exclude File List parameter in the properties file. It is strongly recommended that you do not exclude any files from the cloning operation unless you are certain that the target instance does not require those files. Log files are never cloned and do not have to be specified for exclusion.

Related Topics

Requirements When Cloning an Installation

Limitations When Cloning an Installation

Process of Cloning a Siebel Installation

Properties Files Used in Cloning Operations

Properties File Settings for Cloning an Installation