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About the Siebel Database Configuration Utilities

Environments: Development, production test, production.

The Database Configuration Utilities are part of the Siebel Database Configuration Wizard. The Database Configuration Utilities interactively gather the information required to perform the following operations:

• Install the Siebel Database. These wizards set up the Siebel database in the RDBMS as part of a first-time installation of Siebel Business Applications. They can also add a language to the Siebel Database Server installation.
• Upgrade the Siebel Database. These wizards upgrade the Siebel database to a new release in a development environment, production test environment, or production environment.
• Import or export a Siebel repository. These wizards move entire repositories between database environments with the same schema definition. A wizard that adds installed languages to a Siebel Tools repository is also provided.
• Apply Additive Schema Changes. As part of upgrading to a new release, this wizard generates a SQL script. The script contains schema changes that you can make to the production database without taking it offline. This reduces the production database downtime required for the upgrade.
• Migrate a Siebel repository. This wizard migrates repositories between databases and synchronizes the target database schema with the migrated repository schema definition.
• Run database utilities. This group of wizards perform the following functions:
  • Synchronize a database schema with the Siebel Repository schema definition.
  • Add a license key to a Siebel database (Microsoft SQL Server only).
  • Convert existing time-keeping management to UTC.
  • Convert existing Lists of Values (LOVs) to Multilingual Lists of Values (MLOVs).

About the Upgrade the Siebel Database Function

When you run the Upgrade the Database function of the Database Configuration Wizard, the wizard prompts you for the upgrade environment (development or production) and the upgrade phase (upgrep or upgphys). The wizard then prompts you for the information required to perform the upgrade.

After collecting and confirming the information, the wizard creates an upgrade configuration file and calls a driver that uses the file to set up the SQL scripts required to upgrade your database.

After you run the Database Configuration Wizard, you run the Upgrade Wizard. The Upgrade Wizard opens a state file containing the steps for the upgrade. These steps execute the SQL scripts created after you ran the Database Configuration Wizard.

To upgrade a development environment, production test environment, and production environment, you run the Database Configuration Wizard (and Upgrade Wizard) several times, as shown in Table 9.

Figure 1 shows how the Database Configuration Wizard (and Upgrade Wizard) work together with the Siebel Tools repository merge to upgrade your environments.

Figure 1. Upgrade Flow

Development Environment Upgrades

For a development environment upgrade, you run the utility twice, once in each of the following modes:

• upgrep. This mode makes the following changes:
  • Removes interface tables and database triggers.
  • Populates columns that must change from NULL to NOT NULL.
  • Creates new tables. Merges existing tables.
  • Prepares for index creation. Verifies that there are no unique key violations.
  • Creates indexes.

    NOTE:  Indexes that have been previously deactivated will be recreated during the upgrep phase. Check to determine whether these indexes are required following the development upgrade. If they are not, then they might be deactivated again. To deactivate indexes, contact your Oracle sales representative for Oracle Advanced Customer Services to request assistance from Oracle's Application Expert Services.

  • Imports seed data.
  • Imports the version x.x Prior Customer Repository, New Siebel Repository, and New Customer Repository.
  • Makes modifications to repository objects to prepare for the repository merge.
  • Updates primary children foreign key references.
  • Performs miscellaneous file actions.
• upgphys. This mode makes the following changes:
  • Synchronizes the Siebel database schema to the logical schema definition in the merged repository.
  • Deduplicates intersection tables.
  • Exports repository object definitions to a file, custrep.dat.
  • Exports the logical schema definition to a file, schema.ddl.

    These two files are used as input to the production test environment and production environment upgrades.

  • Renames the New Customer Repository to Siebel Repository.
  • Updates the schema version in S_APP_VER.

Production Test Environment Upgrades

For a production test environment upgrade, you run the utility three times:

• Prepare for production.

  NOTE:  This topic is only applicable for upgrades from Siebel CRM release 7.5.3. For upgrades from later releases, you do not have to perform this step.

  This mode does the following in the production test database:

  • Examines the development environment database and generates SQL that deduplicates intersection tables and sets up support for database aggregation.

    In the production test environment, you must define an ODBC connection to the development environment database before performing this upgrade step.

  • Compares the repository schema and the physical database schema. Generates a file that lists indexes present in the physical schema that are not present in the repository schema. You can decide whether to remove these indexes.
• upgrep. This mode makes the following changes:
  • Removes interface tables and database triggers
  • Populates columns that must change from NULL to NOT NULL
  • Uses the custrep.dat and schema.ddl files from the development environment upgrade to create new tables and merge existing tables
  • Prepares for index creation. Verifies that there are no unique key violations.
  • Creates indexes
  • Imports seed data
  • Updates primary children foreign key references
  • Performs miscellaneous file actions
  • The upgphys portion runs automatically. It makes several administrative changes to table data, including updating the schema version in S_APP_VER. It does not make schema changes.
• Upgrade Tuning. These steps are optional. You can use the Logparse utility to tune the SQL generated for the upgrade. Logparse identifies SQL commands that are not used, or that can be run in parallel. This reduces the time required to perform the production database upgrade.

  You can also test the Additive Schema Changes script to verify that it does not adversely affect the operation of the application. Additive Schema Changes allows you to run part of the schema upgrade without taking the database offline. This reduces production database downtime.

Production Environment Upgrades

After you have completed testing applications and have tuned the upgrade SQL commands, you perform the production upgrade. The production upgrade uses the SQL commands generated in the production test environment. In the production test environment, you perform the following steps to upgrade your production environment Siebel database:

• Define an ODBC connection to the production environment Siebel database
• Apply Additive Schema Changes. This step is optional and is run in the production environment. You can run this mode of the Database Configuration Utilities without taking the database offline. This mode makes schema changes that do not affect the operation of the application. This reduces the amount of time the production database must be offline to perform the upgrade.
• Prepare for Production. This step is not required. You ran it as part of the production test environment upgrade. The required changes have already been made to the upgrade SQL commands.
• upgrep. Run the Database Configuration Utilities in the production test environment. Enter information for the production environment (not the production test environment), including the new ODBC definition.

  The Database Configuration Utilities update the upgrade configuration file with production environment information. A lock file that was set when you ran the utility previously, prevents new SQL from being generated. This preserves the SQL you have revised and tuned.

  When you run the Upgrade Wizard, it reads the production environment information from the configuration file and uses the production test environment SQL commands to upgrade the production environment Siebel database.

  The upgrep step makes the same changes as when it ran in the production test environment. This includes automatically running the production upgphys portion of the upgrade.

How the Upgrade Configuration File and SQL Files Are Created

When you run the Database Configuration Utilities, the following actions are performed:

• Collect configuration information.
• Create a master upgrade configuration file (UCF). This file maps the information you entered in the Database Configuration Utilities to environment variables.
• Forward the information to an SQL generator that creates or populates SQL files with the required commands. The SQL generator extracts these commands from an intermediate XML file containing all the SQL commands required for an upgrade.
• Prompt you to start the Upgrade Wizard.

  In some cases, you must modify the generated SQL files as required by Articles, or Siebel Release Notes on My Oracle Support before you run the Upgrade Wizard. To do this, answer No when prompted to run the Upgrade Wizard. Then, edit the SQL files and manually launch the Upgrade Wizard.

How to Locate Master Configuration Files

Master upgrade configuration files are stored in the following location:

Windows: SIEBEL_ROOT\bin

UNIX: $SIEBEL_ROOT/bin

Master upgrade configuration files use the following naming convention:

master_UPGRADEOPTION_ENVIRONMENT_VERSION.ucf

where:

• UPGRADEOPTION indicates the upgrade process you are performing
  • upgrep indicates Siebel database schema upgrade
  • upgphys indicates Custom database schema upgrade
  • prepare_for_production_upgrade indicates Prepare for Production upgrade
• ENVIRONMENT indicates the environment that you are upgrading
  • dev upgrades Development environment
  • prod upgrades Production environment
• VERSION indicates the version from which you are upgrading

For example, if you are upgrading from Siebel CRM version 8.1.1, then the master configuration file generated from the development environment upgrep is as follows:

master_upgrep_dev_811.ucf

The master configuration file generated from the Prepare for Production mode is as follows:

master_prepare_for_production_upgrade.ucf

Related Topics

About the Siebel Upgrade Wizard and Driver Files