1. Deploying Siebel CRM Containers on Kubernetes using Siebel Cloud Manager
  2. About Siebel Cloud Manager

About Siebel Cloud Manager

SCM is a REST-based continuous deployment tool that's used for:

  • Automating the deployment of Siebel CRM on CNCF compliant Kubernetes clusters (such as OKE on Oracle Cloud, OCNE on-premises or on cloud, Red Hat OpenShift, and so on) and in your data center on OC3 whether you start from an existing on-premises deployment of Siebel CRM or create a new greenfield deployment of Siebel CRM.
  • Ongoing maintenance of the Siebel Enterprise.
  • Deploying Siebel CRM Upgrade Factory that simplifies Siebel CRM application upgrade process by allowing you to upload your customized, pre-IP2017 repository to run an upgrade and IRM process on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI).

SCM also provides the Siebel Lift utility that:

  • Creates deployment kits consisting of artifacts derived from an existing on-premises deployment of Siebel CRM. The deployment kits are created in a staging location.
  • Reads the stored artifacts you created and uploads them to an object storage to populate the migration pipeline for your Siebel CRM deployment.

Greenfield deployments of Siebel CRM don't use the Siebel Lift utility.

For information about downloading and installing SCM, see Downloading and Installing Siebel Cloud Manager. For information about downloading and running the Siebel Lift utility, see Downloading and Running the Siebel Lift Utility.

For deploying a Siebel Enterprise, the Siebel CRM functionality is provided in the following base containers:

  • Siebel Gateway (CGW), sometimes called CloudGateway.
  • Siebel Application Interface(SAI).
  • Siebel Server (SES), sometimes called Siebel Enterprise Server.

The Siebel CRM database is migrated as an Autonomous Database for Transaction Processing in shared mode or Database Service for Oracle Database in virtual machine mode.

After you create and upload Siebel CRM deployment kits, you specify deployment parameters in a payload file that you prepare and then submit it to SCM using a REST request. SCM accesses the Siebel CRM artifacts in the object storage and performs the tasks to deploy your applications.

The following pipelines are used in your environment:

  • The migration pipeline, or continuous-integration pipeline, builds and stages software for making development changes or preparing for deployment. This pipeline is managed by the Siebel Migration application. (For more information about Siebel Migration, see Siebel Database Upgrade Guide.)
  • The deployment pipeline, or continuous-deployment pipeline, stages software for application deployment. This pipeline is managed by SCM, using the GitOps model of continuous delivery.

The overall flow of continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) is a multi-stage, cyclical process that's largely automated but includes various user interaction points, depending on your use case. In all cases, the migration pipeline is separated from the deployment pipeline.

SCM and the Siebel Lift utility include various third-party products and custom operators that play a role in pipeline operations. These products include the following:

  • Flux (Flux Operator): Flux (A CNCF Graduated project pioneered by Weaveworks) is a continuous deployment tool that synchronizes the Git repository and Kubernetes clusters. SCM uses Flux to automate Siebel CRM deployment in GitOps way. It ensures that Siebel CRM environment deployment in the cluster matches with the configuration defined in Git repository. If any differences found in Git repository, Flux syncs up and updates the deployment.
  • Helm: Helm charts is used for deploying Siebel CRM and supporting deployments.
  • kubectl: kubectl is used for administration tasks such as opening a session into a Kubernetes pod for running commands.
  • Config Operator: Config Operator does the Siebel CRM Configuration through Siebel Management Console (SMC) REST APIs. This operator is initiated by a Kubernetes job managed by Helm. This job will get triggered when:
    • Successful Siebel CRM database connection is established.
    • SMC is running.

    The Helm Git repository contains the Siebel CRM configuration and deployment definition yamls. The paramconfig directory in the Helm Git repository has the profile definition of the Siebel CRM infrastructure and fed to the config operator to perform Siebel CRM Configuration.

For more information on Git repositories, see Git Repositories for Siebel CRM Deployment.

  • Siebel Operator (An Incremental Operator): Siebel Operator is a metacontroller based custom controller that performs the incremental changes in existing SCM created Siebel CRM deployment. Siebel Operator facilitates GitOps to create a powerful, automated, and declarative approach to managing the Siebel CRM resources. For each upgrade or Flux reconcile that's performed, configure job runs to validate the application configuration. Siebel operator works based on monitoring the paramconfig config maps, detects the incremental changes, deploys the runtime additions at each level (Enterprise, Siebel CRM Server and Component level) of Siebel CRM deployment and restarts the Siebel CRM server when required. When there are incremental changes added in paramconfig on the below categories, the Siebel operator detects the changes and syncs up the config maps:

    • Enable a Component Group
    • Enable / Disable a Component
    • Enterprise parameter changes
    • Server parameter changes
    • Component parameter changes
    • Adding new named subsystem
    • Adding a new component definition
    • Adding new components to the server
    • Adding AI parameters
    • Adding a new Siebel server or AI
    • Changing log level