About Encryption of Gateway Name Server Password Parameters

The siebns.dat file stores information required by the Siebel Gateway Name Server. This includes operational and connectivity information as well as configuration information for the Siebel Enterprise and Siebel Servers. If a Gateway Name Server configuration parameter requires a password value, then the Siebel encryptor writes the password to the siebns.dat file in encrypted format.

Note: End user passwords are not specified as Gateway Name Server parameter values and are not stored in siebns.dat.

In the current release, passwords in siebns.dat are encrypted using the AES algorithm. The encryptor generates the encrypted password using an encryption key that is unique to each parameter. The encryption key itself is generated based on repository information.

If you choose, you can use Siebel Strong Encryption to increase the encryption key length for encrypting passwords. If you do increase the encryption key length for encrypted passwords in siebns.dat, then the passwords have to be encrypted again using the new key. For a list of some of the password parameters that are encrypted in siebns.dat, and for information on how to reencrypt them, see "Reencrypting Password Parameters in the Siebns.dat File".

Upgrading to Siebel CRM

In Siebel CRM Innovation Pack 2014 and later, passwords in the siebns.dat file are encrypted using 128-bit AES encryption. If you are upgrading to the current release, once the patch installation is completed, you must reset any passwords in the siebns.dat file on the Siebel Gateway Name Server that were previously encrypted using, for example, RC4 encryption so that they now use AES encryption. For information on performing this task, see "Reencrypting Password Parameters in the Siebns.dat File".

Note: When you upgrade to the current release, the Siebel Server system service password, which is required to connect the Siebel Server to the Gateway Name Server, is automatically reencrypted using AES encryption. The Gateway Name Server Password parameter, which is set at the Siebel Enterprise level, is also automatically reencrypted. You do not have to reencrypt these passwords manually.

Determining Encrypted Parameters and Values in the Siebns.dat File

Passwords in the siebns.dat file are encrypted using 128-bit AES encryption. If you have many components in your system and you want to obtain a list of the encrypted passwords including the encryption value for each password, then complete the following procedure. This procedure assumes that Siebel Application Object Managers have been created for the components in your system.

To determine the encrypted parameters and values in the siebns.dat file 

1. Obtain the list of components and component types in your system.

2. For each component type, list the parameters for the component using the following srvrmgr commands:

   list params . . .

   list advanced params . . .

   list hidden params . . .

   In the list of parameters returned, the encrypted parameters and their associated values are preceded with an asterisk (*) symbol.

3. Reencrypt the parameter values using srvrmgr as required.

   For more information, see "Reencrypting Password Parameters in the Siebns.dat File".