1 Installation and Configuration

This chapter describes the procedure for installing the Siebel accelerator package, and configuring your application definitions within RUEI to enable the accurate monitoring of Siebel-based applications.

1.1 Why Use This Accelerator Package?

This accelerator package for RUEI enables out-of-the-box monitoring of Siebel applications. This monitoring supports user session tracking, the discovery of end-user performance issues, and the identification of Siebel application issues.

This accelerator package automatically discovers all Siebel applications, and translates network objects to business functions. This facilitates the measurement and monitoring of real-user transactions. Individual user actions are automatically matched to the correct screen, applet, or view in order to provide contextual analysis. This state-of-the-art monitoring solution supports the creation of KPIs for critical packaged applications, and the analysis of real-user business transactions.

1.2 Overview

The Siebel monitoring functionality provided with this package supports all out-of-the-box Siebel functionality. Although some level of customization is recognized, support for specific customizations is planned for later versions of this package. Therefore, it is possible that certain Siebel customizations may provide unexpected reporting results within RUEI.

In order to facilitate the correct monitoring of Siebel-based applications by RUEI, you need to do the following:

Install the package RPMs on the RUEI Reporter system.
Create and configure the Siebel suite(s) required for your Siebel-based applications.
Verify the cookie technology used to track user sessions.
Verify and evaluate the Siebel suite configuration.

Each of these steps are discussed in more detail in the following sections.

1.3 Installing the Package RPMs

Note it is assumed a working RUEI system has been installed and configured (as described in the Oracle Real User Experience Insight Installation Guide), and is fully operational. Install the Oracle Siebel support package on the RUEI reporter system using the following commands as the root user:

cd /root/RUEI/50
rpm -Uhv ux-suites-sbl-*.x86_64.rpm

Note the location of the RPM depends on where you unzipped the package.

1.4 Creating and Configuring the Siebel Suite Definition

Within the RUEI reporter, create and configure the suite definition(s) required for your Siebel-based applications. Do the following:

Select Configuration, then Applications, and then Suites^Foot 1. Click New suite. The dialog shown in Figure 1-1 appears.

Figure 1-1 New Suite Dialog

Description of "Figure 1-1 New Suite Dialog"
Specify a name for the suite. The name must be unique across suites, services, and applications, and is restricted to a maximum of six characters. Note that the suite cannot be renamed later.
Use the remaining fields to specify the scope of the suite. This is defined in terms of partial page URLs. Note that as you enter this information, you can see the effect of your definition through the Filter preview column. The use of blank filters is not permitted. All specified characters are interpreted as literals. When ready, click Next. The dialog shown in Figure 1-2 appears.

Note:
Filters definitions should be mutually exclusive across suites, applications, and services. For example, do not define a suite filtered on the domain "us.oracle.com" and then another suite, application, or service filtered on "us.oracle.com/application_servlet". The use of non-mutually exclusive filter definitions can lead to unpredictable results.

Figure 1-2 Suite Type

Description of "Figure 1-2 Suite Type"
This dialog allows you to specify the Oracle Enterprise architecture upon which the suite is based. The number of options available in this menu depends on the suite packages currently installed. Select the option Siebel. When ready, click Finish. The suite definition you have specified is displayed. An example is shown in Figure 1-3.

Figure 1-3 Suite Overview

Description of "Figure 1-3 Suite Overview"

1.5 Verifying the Cookie Technology

Within RUEI, session information is based on cookies. Therefore, RUEI needs to know and understand the cookie technology your applications are using. The procedure to configure this, together with the structure of supported cookie technologies, is fully explained in the Oracle Real User Experience Insight User Guide.

Select Configuration, then Applications, and then Session tracking. The currently defined cookie settings are displayed. The Siebel cookie should be available after installing the Siebel package, and is automatically selected for Siebel applications. If it is not already in the list of configured cookie technologies, click Add new cookie. The dialog shown in Figure 1-4 appears.

Figure 1-4 Edit Cookie

Description of "Figure 1-4 Edit Cookie"

Note that the selection of the Siebel cookie technology option is equivalent to defining a custom cookie, with the name "_sn". When ready, click Save.

1.6 Verifying and Evaluating Your Configuration

To ensure the quality of the data being collected and reported by RUEI for your Siebel-based applications, it is strongly recommended that you verify their reported details. You should pay particular attention to the number of associated pages detected for the defined suite(s).

Select Data Browser, then the All pages group, the Application sub-group, and then the pageviews and hits item. A screen similar to the one shown in Figure 1-5 appears.

Figure 1-5 Application Pageviews.

Description of "Figure 1-5 Application Pageviews."

Click down into each required application and verify that pageviews and hits are recorded correctly.

You can also open an overview of the monitored network traffic by selecting System, then Status, and then Data processing. This provides you with immediate information about hits, pages, and session processing, as well as the system load.

For further information on the user of this and other monitoring facilities, refer to the Oracle Real User Experience Insight User Guide.

1.7 Known Limitations

Currently, RUEI does not work with all Siebel functionality. In particular, the following known limitations exist:

Due to certain attributes of the Siebel user interface, it is not possible to define transactions based on individual Siebel screen elements. Therefore, transactions must be based on a combination of screen, view, and applet name.
RUEI attempts to report URLs in a human-readable format. This means the reported URLs, although they appear to be real URLs, cannot always be copied and pasted into the browser address bar. It is not possible to distinguish between the raw format (received by the Web server) and the more readable format (reported by RUEI). This is particularly important in the case of Siebel URLs. Consider the following argument examples that might appear in a Siebel URL, and how they are reported within RUEI:
```
&SWEView=Program Expense Trend Analysis View 
&SWEView=Program+Expense+Trend+Analysis+View 
```
The first URL probably went over the line as follows:
```
&SWEView=Program%20Expense%20Trend%20Analysis%20View
```
However, the second URL could have gone over the line as either of the following:
```
&SWEView=Program+Expense+Trend+Analysis+View
&SWEView=Program%2bExpense%2bTrend%2bAnalysis%2bView
```
IF it did not go over the line in the second format, the value may very well have been interpreted incorrectly by the Web server.

Footnote Legend

Footnote 1: It can take up to five minutes after the installation of the package RPMs, described in Section 1.3, "Installing the Package RPMs", for the Suites option to become available.