Distributing Upgrade Kits

After applying an upgrade kit, you must distribute it to one or more configurations. For general information about configurations, see "Upgrade Configurations".

This task is a step in "Process of Completing Upgrade Kit Creation"

Note: If a replacement upgrade kit uses the same values for New Version, Minimum Old Version, and Maximum Old Version as the deactivated upgrade kit it replaces, and if the deactivated upgrade kit was previously distributed, then you do not need to distribute the replacement upgrade kit.

Upgrade kits are distributed to one configuration at a time. The distribution process makes the upgrade kit's component version information available to all the subscribers who are associated with that configuration, giving the subscribers their first opportunity to download and install the upgrade kit. Neither required nor optional upgrade kits are available to subscribers until the version information is distributed.

The version information that is made available during the distribution process includes version information for all the related components of the configuration, not just the component that the new upgrade kit is designed to upgrade. Technically, therefore, when you distribute a new upgrade kit to a configuration, you make that upgrade kit's version information available to the configuration, and you redistribute the version information of other active upgrade kits for the configuration's related components. In practice, however, you generally can proceed as if you were distributing only the one upgrade kit.

After distribution, if the upgrade kit is required, then subscribers are automatically prompted to retrieve and install it. If the upgrade kit is optional, then subscribers use the Component Upgrades view and Upgrade Wizard to locate and install the upgrade kit.

Caution: Before you distribute an upgrade kit, you must define, activate, and apply it. Before you distribute an upgrade kit to any configuration containing production users, it is strongly recommended that you use the Siebel Test Client configuration to test the upgrade kit thoroughly. It is particularly important to test any required upgrade kit before distributing for general use, because Mobile Web Client users can suffer unnecessary delays while downloading a defective required upgrade kit, and they can lose read and write access to Siebel Business Applications until a correctly functioning upgrade kit is available.

The following procedure describes how to distribute an upgrade kit from the Upgrade Configurations view. The same procedure can also be performed from the Employees view.

Note: There are additional instructions for distributing Siebel Database Schema upgrade kits. For information, see "Process of Updating the Siebel Database Schema".

To distribute an upgrade kit 

1. Navigate to the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen, then the Upgrade Configurations view.

2. In the Upgrade Configurations view, select the appropriate Anywhere subscriber configuration.

3. Inspect the Upgrade Components list to verify that the components in the upgrade kit are related components for the selected configuration.

   For example, for a Siebel Innovation Pack release, the related components must include the Siebel Client Executables component for the base upgrade kit.

4. Click Distribute.

   This action makes the version information in the database available to subscribers with that particular configuration.

   A dialog box appears to confirm the intent to distribute the related components to the configuration.

5. Repeat Steps 2 through 4 for other configurations, as applicable.

For more information about special cases of distribution, see:

• "Limiting the Distribution of an Upgrade Kit"

• "Distributing Different CFG Files to Different Users"

Limiting the Distribution of an Upgrade Kit

You can limit the distribution of a upgrade kit to certain subscribers by temporarily assigning subscribers to a new configuration. For example, you might have a situation where you want to send a set of reports only to management, or you want to limit the users for testing an upgrade kit.

This topic is part of "Distributing Upgrade Kits".

To limit upgrade kit distribution for a new configuration 

1. Define the upgrade kit that you will be distributing.

   For more information, see Chapter 4, "Defining Upgrade Kits."

2. Activate the upgrade kit that you will be distributing.

   For more information, see "Activating an Upgrade Kit".

3. Apply the upgrade kit that you will be distributing.

   For more information, see "Applying an Upgrade Kit".

4. Either create a new configuration that you will use to distribute the upgrade kit to specific subscribers, or use the Siebel Test Client configuration for this purpose.

   For more information, see "Creating a New Configuration".

5. Associate the configuration with one or more components that correspond to the upgrade kit or upgrade kits that you want to distribute.

   For more information, see "Adding Components to a Configuration".

6. Add the logins for the subset of users that you want to receive this upgrade kit to the Employee view for this configuration.

   For more information, see "About Assigning Employees to a Configuration".

7. Distribute active upgrade kits to the configuration.

   For more information, see "Distributing Upgrade Kits".

   When you select a configuration and click Distribute, the subscribers associated with the configuration gain access to version information for all of the related components for the configuration. This gives those subscribers potential access to all active upgrade kits for those components, including any new upgrade kits that have been defined, activated, and applied. Subscribers associated with other configurations do not gain access to your new upgrade kit until you distribute to their configurations.

8. Remove subscribers from the configuration.

   Give the subscribers who are associated with the configuration enough time to download the upgrade kit. However, you must disassociate these subscribers from this special configuration as soon as possible. Ending a user's dynamic configuration assignment returns that user to the original configuration assignment defined in that user's CFG file. Upgrade kits targeted for the original configuration are again available to the user.

   For more information, see "Removing Employees from a Configuration".

Distributing Different CFG Files to Different Users

It is possible to distribute different CFG files to different sets of users. For example, you might have two groups of users, Sales Group users and Engineering Group users, where each group uses a different CFG file with their respective Siebel applications.

This topic is part of "Distributing Upgrade Kits".

Distributing CFG Files to Different Groups of Users

The following procedure describes how to use Siebel Anywhere to distribute a new CFG file to each group of users.

To distribute different CFG files to different groups of users 

1. Prepare all of the CFG files your various groups will use.

2. Start the Siebel application.

3. Navigate to the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen, then the Upgrade Component List view.

   The Upgrade Components list appears.

4. Create a component for each applicable language, such as Sales Group CFG__ENU, that is similar to one of the default components for language-specific CFG files. Use the Copy Record option and set the values for the columns for each record as shown in the following tables.

   Example values for Record 1:

   Field Name	Value
   Name	Sales Group CFG__ENU
   Component Type	Siebel CFG File
   Min Version	100
   Max Version	Leave blank for a new component
   Locate Method	CFG
   Locate Information	Siebel,ClientRootDir,BIN\enu\SalesGrp.cfg
   Version Method	CFG
   Version Information	Siebel,Version
   Component Type	Sales Group CFG__ENU

   
   

   Example values for Record 2:

   Field Name	Value
   Name	Engineering Group CFG__ENU
   Component Type	Siebel CFG File
   Min Version	100
   Max Version	Leave blank for a new component
   Locate Method	CFG
   Locate Information	Siebel,ClientRootDir,BIN\enu\EngGrp.cfg
   Version Method	CFG
   Version Information	Siebel,Version

   
   

5. Create a configuration for each language combination for each group of users (such as Sales Group and Engineering Group), and add the appropriate CFG components you just created as related components.

   See Chapter 3, "Planning and Preparing to Use Siebel Anywhere," for details.

6. Navigate to the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen, then the Upgrade Kits view.

7. Use Auto Create to create one upgrade kit for each group of users.

   For example, you might create one upgrade kit for Sales Group users, using the Sales Group CFG__language-code component and SalesGrp.cfg file, and another for Engineering Group users, using the Engineering Group CFG__language-code component and EngGrp.cfg file.

8. Apply the upgrade kits, and click on the Require Upgrade Kit button in the Apply Upgrade Kit Version Information dialog box.

The following procedure describes how to test the distribution of different CFG files to different groups of users.

Testing the Distribution of CFG Files to Different Groups of Users

The following procedure describes how to test the distribution of different CFG files to different groups of users.

To test distributing CFG files to different groups of users 

1. Navigate to the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen, then the Upgrade Configurations view.

2. Add the new CFG components (such as Sales Group CFG__ENU and Engineering Group CFG__ENU) to the Siebel Test Client configuration.

3. Add two or more users to the Employees list for Siebel Test Client.

4. Distribute the Siebel Test Client to verify that you can retrieve the kit successfully.

5. Make sure that your test users' CFG files reflect the correct ComponentName in their CFG files.

   For example, Sales Group users must have this parameter set to Sales Group Configuration while Engineering Group users must have this parameter set to Engineering Group Configuration. Also, have these users verify that an exact match exists between the ComponentName in the CFG file and the configuration name in the Administration - Siebel Anywhere screen, Upgrade Configurations view.

6. Distribute the final configurations (such as Sales Group Configuration and Engineering Group Configuration) to send the kit to all applicable users.