Administering the Siebel File System

This topic provides background information and administration tasks applicable to the Siebel File System. This topic includes the following information:

"About the Siebel File System"
"About the File System Upload and Download Process"
"Partitioning the Siebel File System"
"Cleaning Up the Siebel File System"

About the Siebel File System

The Siebel File System is a shared directory or a set of directories that contain the physical files used by the Siebel clients. All of the File System directories must be network-accessible to the Siebel Server. You can create each File System directory on a server computer where you have installed a Siebel Server, or on another network server that can share the directory, so that the File System directories are available to the Siebel Server. For more information about the requirements for networked file systems, see the third-party documentation.

To gain access to files, Web clients connect to the appropriate Siebel Server to request file uploads or downloads. The Siebel Server then accesses the Siebel File System using the File System Manager (alias FSMSrvr) component. File System Manager processes these requests through interaction with the Siebel File System directories. For more information about data transfer, see "About the File System Upload and Download Process".

At the server component level, most server components, including all Application Object Managers, access the Siebel File System through the File System Manager server component when administering attachments. Application Object Managers, however, access the Siebel File System directly when saving user preference files.

When using Siebel Developer Web Client for administrative tasks, you might want to connect directly to the Siebel File System without going through the File System Manager. For examples of these cases, their potential ramifications, and client setup instructions in each case, see Chapter 4, "Configuring the Browser for Siebel Web Clients."

Files stored in the Siebel File System are compressed at the Siebel Server-level and appended with the extension .saf. (The file size displayed in the GUI represents the size of the compressed .saf file, not the actual file size.) The Siebel File System storage locations of the compressed files are set by the enterprise parameter Siebel File System (alias FileSystem). For more information about this parameter, see "Siebel Enterprise Server Parameters". The files stored in the Siebel File System are not directly accessible by users and must be retrieved (and decompressed) by the user through normal Siebel Web Client operations only.

Files stored in the Siebel File System are always compressed. That is, you cannot disable the compression feature of the Siebel File System.

You can exclude certain types of files from being saved into the Siebel File System, based on their file extensions. For more information about setting system preferences to enable this feature and to specify the file extensions to be excluded, see Siebel Security Hardening Guide.

Note:

Virus checking is not supported within the Siebel File System.

This topic is part of "Administering the Siebel File System".

About the File System Upload and Download Process

This topic describes what happens when files are uploaded to or downloaded from the Siebel File System.

This topic is part of "Administering the Siebel File System".

About the File System Upload Transfer Process

When a user saves a file or attachment to be written to the Siebel File System, the file is copied from the user's hard drive and transferred to the Siebel Server. The data transfer protocol for file transfer matches that of the Web client browser to Web server, for example, HTTP or HTTPS. The File System Manager (alias FSMSrvr) component compresses the file, and then stores the compressed file in the Siebel File System. The compression and naming convention of the files is automated by FSMSrvr.

About the File System Download Transfer Process

When a Siebel application user accesses a file (for example, a PDF document) that is stored in the Siebel File System, a file or attachment download request is received by the FSMSrvr component of the Siebel Server. This component interacts with the Siebel File System directories to retrieve and send the compressed file back to the user's Web browser. As with the file upload process, the data transfer protocol for file transfer matches that of the Web client browser to Web server. The compressed file is decompressed by the user's Web browser, where the file can be reviewed or saved.

In some cases, the file is decompressed by the FSMSrvr component and sent to the user's Web browser in an uncompressed format. An uncompressed file is sent back to the Web browser in the following cases:

The parameter Compressed File Download (alias CompressedFileDownload) is set to False. You configure this parameter in the Siebel Server Component Parameters view. For information about this task, see "Configuring Siebel Server Component Parameters".
The CompressedFileDownload parameter is set to False in the application configuration file for a Siebel Mobile Web Client. (If this parameter is not already in the configuration file, then you can add it to the [InfraUIFramework] section of the file.)
The Web browser does not support compressed files, which is determined by looking at the request header.
The file has the extension .zip, .z, .tgz, .gz, .gif, .jpg, or .jpeg.

Partitioning the Siebel File System

This topic describes how to perform the optional task of partitioning the Siebel File System.

This topic is part of "Administering the Siebel File System".

About Partitioning the Siebel File System

Partitioning the Siebel File System allows you to store larger volumes of data on multiple devices. The original Siebel File System might use a single directory or might already use multiple directories on multiple devices or partitions.

In general, the term partitioning, as used in this topic, refers to running the sfspartition utility, which is provided for the purpose of adding one or more network directories to an existing Siebel File System and distributing the existing files among all of the participating directories. You can add each new directory on the same device as an existing directory or add it on a different device or partition in order to expand the overall capacity of the Siebel File System. (You must consider the future growth of the volume of data when you plan how to organize the file system directories.)

You can also use sfspartition to remove one or more existing directories from service for the Siebel File System, provided that the overall file system capacity remains sufficient.

To partition your Siebel File System, you first update the value of the enterprise parameter Siebel File System (alias FileSystem) so it specifies all of the network directories that you want to use for the Siebel File System, delimited by commas. You then run the partitioning utility and specify both the original directories containing the existing files and the updated target directories, corresponding to the updated FileSystem parameter value. The sfspartition utility distributes the files in the Siebel File System evenly across the target directories. The utility logs information into a file named sfspartition.log, which is located in the log directory within the Siebel Server root directory.

When the File System Manager component (alias FSMSrvr) starts, it verifies the existence of all of the file system directories specified using the FileSystem parameter. When new file attachments are inserted, FSMSrvr distributes them across these directories. If a file system directory is unavailable, then FSMSrvr logs an error message in the FSMSrvr log file and tries to write the file attachment to the next available directory. If no file system directory is available, then FSMSrvr terminates and writes an error message to the FSMSrvr log file.

In order to maintain the even distribution of files across file system directories, you must run the partitioning utility every time that you update the value of the FileSystem parameter, for example, if you add or remove a file system directory. The procedure in this topic describes in detail how to perform this task.

Before you partition your Siebel File System, note the following additional deployment options:

Mobile Web Client. A Mobile Web Client's configuration file must refer to a single directory location, unless you configure it to use the server-based data source.
Replication Manager requirements. Partitioning is supported on replicated nodes. For more information about replication, see Siebel Remote and Replication Manager Administration Guide.

Partitioning the File System Directories Using the sfspartition Utility

To partition the Siebel File System directories, run the partitioning utility sfspartition, as described in the following instructions.

The partitioning utility is named sfspartition.exe on Microsoft Windows or sfspartition on UNIX operating systems. This utility is located in the bin directory within the Siebel Server root directory.

Note:

Where necessary, before you run the sfspartition utility, you must manually create any file system directories (such as the examples siebelFS1, siebelFS2, and siebelFS3, and so on) and subdirectories (such as att, attmp, and so on) on each target file system directory and grant the appropriate permissions to all of these directories. All of the file system directories must be accessible to all of the applicable Siebel Servers using the notation by which they are represented in the value of the FileSystem parameter.

For more information about creating a Siebel File System, see the Siebel Installation Guide for the operating system you are using.

To partition the file system directories using sfspartition

Where necessary, create any new directories or partitions that you will use with the Siebel File System, create required subdirectories, and grant the appropriate permissions to all of the directories. Then verify access to these directories.
Note the current value of the enterprise parameter Siebel File System (alias FileSystem) for later reference.

Note:
You must note this value because you will use this information later when you specify the source directories by using the /O parameter when you run the sfspartition utility.

Set the value of the FileSystem parameter to include all of the directories that you want to use for the Siebel File System. Separate each directory with a comma (with no spaces), as in the examples that follow. Note the updated parameter value for later reference.

Note:

You must note this value because you will use this information later when you specify the target directories by using the /F parameter when you run the sfspartition utility.

For example, on UNIX, you might specify this value:

/export/home/siebelFS1,/export/home/siebelFS2,/export/home/siebelFS3

For example, on Microsoft Windows, you might specify this value:

\\\\server1\\siebelFS1,\\\\server1\\siebelFS2,\\\\server2\\siebelFS3

Note:

In this example, note that each backslash is doubled compared to the usual notation for such shared directories. For example, \\server1\siebelFS1 must be represented as \\\\server1\\siebelFS1. Alternatively, each file system directory can be represented using a mapped drive letter by which the directory can be accessed from each Siebel Server, such as D:\\siebelFS1 (note that each backslash must be doubled in this scenario also).

Caution:

You must specify the file system directories in the same order for the FileSystem parameter and for the sfspartition utility. If you specify the directories using a different order, then the Siebel File System files might not be accessible after you use sfspartition.

If it is not already set, then set the ServerDataSrc named subsystem parameter DSFileSystem to *FSM*.

For information about configuring named subsystem parameters, see "Configuring Siebel Enterprise Server Named Subsystem Parameters".
Restart the Siebel Server after updating the FileSystem and DSFileSystem parameter values.
Open a command prompt and change the directory to the bin subdirectory within the Siebel Server root directory.
Run sfspartition using parameters listed in Table 9-1, as in the examples that follow.

The following example for UNIX distributes the files from one file system directory into three directories, corresponding to the updated value of the FileSystem parameter from Step 1:
```
sfspartition /O /export/home/siebelFS /F /export/home/siebelFS1,/export/home/siebelFS2,/export/home/siebelFS3 /H Y
```
Tip:
Depending on how these network directories were created or mounted for use in UNIX environments, they might be on the same server or on different servers.

The following example for Microsoft Windows distributes the files from one file system directory on server1 into three directories on server1 and server2, corresponding to the updated value of the FileSystem parameter from Step 1 :
```
sfspartition /O \\server1\siebelFS /F \\server1\siebelFS1,\\server1\siebelFS2,\\server2\siebelFS3 /H Y
```

Parameters for the sfspartition Utility

Table 9-1 describes the parameters for the sfspartition utility.

Table 9-1 Parameters for sfspartition Utility

Parameter Value Description Required?

Parameter	Value	Description	Required?
/O	Paths for existing source directories	Set this value to the paths of the existing source directories for the file system. Separate multiple directories using commas, with no spaces. If any of the paths themselves contain a space, then enclose the parameter value in double quotes. Whether you must append `att` to each source directory depends on how you use the /H parameter: If you use /H Y, then do not append `att` to each source directory that you specify by using /O. (The purpose of /H Y is to eliminate the need to append `att`.) If you use /H N (or omit /H), then you must append `att` to each source directory that you specify by using /O. The utility looks both in the specified source directories and in the `att` subdirectories to find the files to be distributed to the specified target directories.	Yes
/F	Paths for target directories	Set this value to the paths of the target directories for the file system. Separate multiple directories using commas, with no spaces. If any of the paths themselves contain a space, then enclose the parameter value in double quotes. (Use the same value as the value of the FileSystem parameter.) Whether you must append `att` to each target directory depends on how you use the /H parameter: If you use /H Y, then do not append `att` to each target directory that you specify by using /F. (The purpose of /H Y is to eliminate the need to append `att`.) If you use /H N (or omit /H), then you must append `att` to each target directory that you specify by using /F. Otherwise, files will not be distributed to the `att` subdirectories of the target directories and will be inaccessible to clients.	Yes
/H	Y or N	Set /H Y if you want the utility to automatically append `att` to each source and target directory that you specify by using /O and /F. (Do not append `att` when you specify these directories.) Set /H N (or omit /H) if you do not want the utility to automatically append `att` to each source and target directory that you specify by using /O and /F. (Append `att` when you specify these directories.)	No

Paths for existing source directories

Set this value to the paths of the existing source directories for the file system. Separate multiple directories using commas, with no spaces. If any of the paths themselves contain a space, then enclose the parameter value in double quotes.

Whether you must append att to each source directory depends on how you use the /H parameter:

If you use /H Y, then do not append att to each source directory that you specify by using /O. (The purpose of /H Y is to eliminate the need to append att.)
If you use /H N (or omit /H), then you must append att to each source directory that you specify by using /O. The utility looks both in the specified source directories and in the att subdirectories to find the files to be distributed to the specified target directories.

Yes

Paths for target directories

Set this value to the paths of the target directories for the file system. Separate multiple directories using commas, with no spaces. If any of the paths themselves contain a space, then enclose the parameter value in double quotes. (Use the same value as the value of the FileSystem parameter.)

Whether you must append att to each target directory depends on how you use the /H parameter:

If you use /H Y, then do not append att to each target directory that you specify by using /F. (The purpose of /H Y is to eliminate the need to append att.)
If you use /H N (or omit /H), then you must append att to each target directory that you specify by using /F. Otherwise, files will not be distributed to the att subdirectories of the target directories and will be inaccessible to clients.

Yes

Y or N

Set /H Y if you want the utility to automatically append att to each source and target directory that you specify by using /O and /F. (Do not append att when you specify these directories.)

Set /H N (or omit /H) if you do not want the utility to automatically append att to each source and target directory that you specify by using /O and /F. (Append att when you specify these directories.)

Cleaning Up the Siebel File System

This topic describes how to clean up the Siebel File System by removing orphan records using the Siebel File System cleanup utility, sfscleanup. Orphan records are those that remain if a user deletes a parent record in the application that has associated child records. The child records are not deleted from the Siebel File System with the parent record and so you must remove them by using file system cleanup utility.

The Siebel File System cleanup utility is named sfscleanup.exe on Microsoft Windows or sfscleanup on UNIX operating systems. This utility is located in the bin directory within the Siebel Server root directory.

The sfscleanup utility processes records for every file in the file attachment directories (the att subdirectories) of the specified Siebel File System directories and performs one of several operations to each record and file, depending on the file type and on the parameters that you set. Optionally, you can run sfscleanup for a limited period of time and resume the operation again later.

For descriptions of the run-time parameters that you can set when running sfscleanup, see Table 9-2. More information about some of the parameters follows the table. For descriptions of the file types and the associated operation performed by sfscleanup during processing, see Table 9-3.

Note:

In general, this book is for deployments of the current release, Siebel CRM version 15.0. For customers using earlier Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.x releases, note that Siebel CRM version 8.1.1.5 is the minimum version for some of the functionality described in Table 9-2, such as the command-line options /Q, /I, /S and /T.

This topic is part of "Administering the Siebel File System".

To clean up the file attachment directory using sfscleanup

At the command prompt, change directory to the bin subdirectory within the Siebel Server root directory.
Run sfscleanup using parameters listed in Table 9-2, in a command like the following example:
```
sfscleanup /U sadmin /P pwd /F \\server1\files /X \\server1\logs\sfscleanup.log
```

Parameters for the sfscleanup Utility

Table 9-2 describes the parameters for the sfscleanup utility. More information about some of the parameters is provided after the table.

Table 9-2 Parameters for sfscleanup Utility

Parameter	Value	Description	Required?
/U	Username	User name ID.	Yes
/P	Password	User name password.	Yes
/C	ODBC_data_source	Set this value to the ODBC data source. The default value is the setting of the environment variable SIEBEL_DATA_SOURCE.	No
/D	Siebel_table_owner	Set this value to the Siebel table owner. The default value is the setting of the environment variable SIEBEL_TABLE_OWNER.	No
/F	Paths for file system directories	Set this value to the paths for the file system directories. Separate multiple directories using commas, with no spaces. If any of the paths themselves contain a space, then enclose the parameter value in double quotes. (Use the same value as the value of the FileSystem parameter.) Whether you must append `att` to each directory depends on how you use the /H parameter: If you use /H Y, then do not append `att` to each directory that you specify using /F. (The purpose of /H Y is to eliminate the need to append `att`.) If you use /H N (or omit /H), then you must append `att` to each directory that you specify using /F. The utility looks both in the specified directories and in the `att` subdirectories to find the files to be cleaned up.	Yes
/X	Path for output file	Set this value to the path for the output file.	No
/M	Path for move directory	Set this value to the path for the directory where discarded files are to be moved.	No
/N	Y or N	Determines whether old versions of file attachments are to be removed. To remove old versions, set this value to Y. The default value is N.	No
/R	Y or N	Set this value to Y to generate only a report file. If it is set to Y, then the report file contains only the columns File Name and File Type. The default value is N.	No
/H	Y or N	Set /H Y if you want the utility to automatically append `att` to each directory that you specify using /F. (Do not append `att` when you specify these directories.) Set /H N (or omit /H) if you do not want the utility to automatically append `att` to each directory that you specify using /F. (Append `att` when you specify these directories.)	N
/G	Y or N	Set this value to remove garbage files or non-Siebel files. The default value is N.	No
/Q	Y or N	Set /Q Y if you want the utility to perform a query by file attachment records. This parameter allows you to run the utility for a limited period of time and provides other ways to manage how the utility runs. The default value is N. Note: When you are using /Q Y, you can also use the parameters /I, /O, /S, and /T. Otherwise, these parameters have no effect.	N
/I	Number of file IDs	Set /I to the number of file attachment records to query. The default value is 300. The utility processes records and files in batches based on the specified number of records. After those files have been processed, the utility processes more records and files in another batch. Note: This parameter has an effect only if you are using /Q Y.	N
/O	Y or N	Use /O Y when you want the utility to use an OR clause to constrain the query row IDs, like this: `(ROW_ID = 'Id1' OR ROW_ID = 'Id2' OR ...)`. The default value is Y. Use /O N to instead use a clause like this: `ROW_ID IN ('Id1','Id2',...)`. Note: This parameter has an effect only if you are using /Q Y. It determines the internal query executed in Siebel database. No row ID is entered as an argument.	N
/S	Y or N	Use /S Y to resume the previous run, from the next unprocessed record, where information about the last processed record is available in a temporary directory. The default value is N. Use /S N (or omit /S) to instead start a new run. Note: This parameter has an effect only if you are using /Q Y.	N
/T	Number of minutes	Set /T to the number of minutes to run the query. When the utility reaches that time, the last processed file attachment record is noted in a temporary directory and the utility exits. Later, you can resume the previous run by using /S Y. By default, the utility runs to completion, until all of the records and files are processed. Note: This parameter has an effect only if you are using /Q Y.	N

More Information About Some sfscleanup Parameters

The following provides more information about some of the parameters for the sfscleanup utility. The parameters are described in Table 9-2.

/N. By default, old file revisions are kept. Such files are marked ANCIENT in the log, and represent old revisions of an existing attachment record. That is, their row ID matches with the database record but not the file revision number. To delete such files, set the /N parameter to Y.
/G. If the file system contains files that were not created by the File System Manager component (alias FSMSrvr), then their deletion or move is controlled by the /G parameter. This parameter includes non-Siebel files or directories. By default these files are not deleted. The directories are not affected or moved by sfscleanup.
/Q. By default, the sfscleanup utility processes all of the files in the file attachment directories in a single long-running operation. For a Siebel File System that includes a very large number of files, such an operation might affect performance or inconvenience production users.

Alternatively, the /Q parameter allows you, for example, to process files in batches based on a query of a given number or file attachment records (by using /I), to modify how the utility queries these records (by using /O), to run the utility for a specific period of time (by using /T), and to resume a run later where it left off (by using /S). For example, you might decide to run the sfscleanup utility only when most of your users are not logged in. For more information, see the descriptions in Table 9-2.

About the sfscleanup Log File

If you specified an output file using the /X parameter, then sfscleanup generates a log file listing the operations that were performed. The output file is a tab-delimited text file that contains the following columns:

File Name. This column lists the name of each file that was processed.
File Type. This column lists the type of each file that was processed. Table 9-3 lists the possible file types and the associated operation performed by sfscleanup during processing. For descriptions of each operation, see Table 9-4.

Table 9-3 File Types and Associated Operations for sfscleanup Utility

File Type	Description	Operation
CURRENT	The file has a corresponding record in the file attachment database table.	KEPT
NEW	The file is less than one hour old. The `sfscleanup` utility does not check for the file in the file attachment database table.	KEPT
ORPHAN	The file does not have a corresponding record in the file attachment database table. If you used the /M parameter to set a move directory, then the operation performed is MOVED, not DELETED.	DELETED
INVALID	The file (or directory) is not a file attachment. If `sfscleanup` tries to delete a subdirectory that is not empty, then the operation errors out. Review the files contained within the directory before deleting them. If you set the /G parameter to Y, then the operation performed is DELETED, not KEPT.	KEPT
ANCIENT	The file has an associated record in the database with a different revision number. If you set the /N parameter to Y, then the operation performed is either MOVED (if you used the /M parameter to set a move directory) or DELETED, not KEPT.	KEPT

Operation. This column lists the type of operation that was performed during processing. Table 9-4 lists the types of operation that sfscleanup might have performed during processing.

Table 9-4 Operations for sfscleanup Utility

Operation	Description
KEPT	The file was kept.
DELETED	The file was deleted.
MOVED	The file was moved to the directory specified by the /M parameter. Files are moved if you used the /M parameter.
KEPT_DIR	The item was kept because it was a directory and requires manual processing.
KEPT_ERROR	The file was kept because an error occurred while trying to move or delete the file.