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

Siebel Cloud Manager is a new REST-based continuous deployment tool that is used for:

  • Automating the deployment of Siebel CRM on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, whether you start from an existing on-premise deployment of Siebel CRM or create a new greenfield deployment of Siebel CRM on OCI.

  • Ongoing maintenance of the Siebel Enterprise on OCI.

  • 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 OCI.

The Siebel Lift utility is available from Siebel Cloud Manager and has the following functions:

  • Creates deployment kits consisting of artifacts derived from an existing on-premise deployment of Siebel CRM. The deployment kits are created in a staging location.

  • Reads the stored artifacts you created and uploads them to OCI Object Storage to populate the migration pipeline for your Siebel CRM deployment on OCI.

Greenfield deployments of Siebel CRM on OCI do not use the Siebel Lift utility.

For information about downloading and installing Siebel Cloud Manager, 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 CRM Enterprise on OCI, the Siebel CRM functionality is provided in the following base containers:

  • Siebel Gateway (CGW), sometimes called Cloud Gateway

  • Siebel Application Interface (SAI)

  • Siebel Server (SES), sometimes called Siebel Enterprise Server

The Siebel database is migrated into OCI 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 to Siebel Cloud Manager using a REST request. Siebel Cloud Manager accesses the Siebel artifacts in OCI 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 Siebel Cloud Manager, 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 is 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.

Siebel Cloud Manager 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 GitLab project and Kubernetes clusters. Siebel Cloud Manager uses Flux to automate Siebel CRM deployment in GitOps way. It ensures that Siebel environment deployment in the cluster matches with the configuration defined in https://<gitlab_instance>/<namespace>-cloud-manager Git repository, where <namespace> refers to the environment name, passed in the payload for Siebel environment provisioning. 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 Configuration through Siebel Management Console REST APIs. This operator is invoked by a Kubernetes job managed by helm. This job will get triggered on:

    • Successful Siebel Database Connection
    • When Siebel Management Console is running

    The Git repository https://<gitlab_instance>/<namespace>-helmcharts/siebel-config/paramconfig/ contains the Siebel configuration and deployment definition yamls. This has the profile definition of the Siebel Infrastructure and fed to the config operator to perform Siebel Configuration, where <namespace> refers to the environment name, passed in the payload for Siebel provisioning.

  • Siebel Operator (An Incremental Operator): Siebel Operator is a metacontroller based custom controller that performs the incremental changes in existing Siebel Cloud Manager created Siebel deployment. For each upgrade or flux reconcile that is performed, configure job runs to validate the application configuration. Siebel operator works on the basis of monitoring the paramconfig config maps, detects the incremental changes, deploys the runtime additions at each level (Enterprise , Siebel Server and Component level) of Siebel deployment and restarts the Siebel 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