Guidelines for Siebel ADM Deployments

This chapter contains Siebel Application Deployment Manager (ADM) deployment guidelines and business case scenarios. It includes the following topics:

Selecting Siebel ADM Over Other Data Migration Options

Siebel CRM provides several data migration tools, including Siebel Application Deployment Manager (ADM), to migrate data based on the business scenario and volume of data to be migrated.

ADM is designed to migrate application customizations to same-version and same-language environments. For more information about this feature, see Migrating Customizations Using Siebel ADM.

Note: You can migrate data between environments of different languages if no language is specified for the data being deployed.

ADM cannot be substituted for the specialized operations performed by using some of the other Siebel CRM migration or deployment tools:

Siebel EAI is used for migrating small volumes of data for mostly daily or weekly changes. The ADM framework is built on Siebel EAI. For more information about Siebel EAI, see Overview: Siebel Enterprise Application Integration.
Siebel EIM is used for migrating bulk data between databases using migration tables and is used for mostly large volumes. For more information about Siebel EIM, see Siebel Enterprise Integration Manager Administration Guide.
Siebel Migration is used for migrating repository data and schema changes and is designed for large volumes. For more information about repository migration, see Siebel Database Upgrade Guide.

Managing Siebel ADM Deployment Dependencies

Review the following guidelines and recommendations when managing Siebel Application Deployment Manager (ADM) data type dependencies during an ADM deployment:

ADM supported data types might have a preconfigured dependency or prerequisites on the availability of certain data before carrying out an ADM deployment. For more information about the data type dependency, see Siebel ADM Supported Data Types and Summary of Siebel ADM Data Types.
Research and understand the dependencies included with business processes used by your organization. Addressing all deployment dependencies during an ADM deployment reduces errors and system downtime.
Formalize dependencies by creating relationships in the ADM GUI when preparing data types for packaging.

Managing Your Siebel ADM Package Content

Review the following guidelines and recommendations when managing your Siebel Application Deployment Manager (ADM) package content:

Follow the documented naming conventions throughout the ADM deployment process:
- During the creation of the ADM project
- When storing the exported database files in directories
- When storing files in directories with versions or tracked through a version tracking system
Follow a documented deployment strategy including procedures, checklists, and naming conventions.
Create the ADM package folder structure using the ADM Packaging Utility rather than creating it manually.
Use a stored file system or document tracking system when creating deployment units involves teams of users to make sure the package content is current and correct.
Validate packages before deployment.

Minimizing Downtime When Deploying Siebel ADM Packages

Use the following recommendations to minimize your Siebel CRM downtime when deploying Siebel Application Deployment Manager (ADM) packages:

Group data types and customizations based on the system impact.
For information about data type system impact, see Siebel ADM Supported Data Types. For example, group data types that have no system impact or do not require activation in the same package.
Test your ADM deployment between a development environment and a test environment. Create benchmark downtimes, if necessary, for specific deployment packages.
Use staged deployment. Staging the ADM deployment to a subset of Siebel Servers in a Siebel Enterprise Server rather than to the entire Siebel Enterprise Server minimizes downtime.
Identify the type of release to reduce downtime.