Introduction to Siebel Architecture

Siebel Application Architecture consists of following elements displayed in given diagram

Siebel Application Architecture Dig.

(taken from bookshelf)

Web Client

There are number of web clients type which we can use for Siebel Application

• Siebel Web Client
• Siebel Mobile Web Client 
• Siebel Developer Web Client (limited support)
• Siebel Wireless Client 
• Siebel Handheld Client

Siebel Web Clients running in high interactivity mode use ActiveX controls and JavaScript,

and require Sun JRE. These items can be downloaded to the browser automatically.

Siebel Web Client

Siebel Web Client runs in a standard browser on the end user’s client computer. The browser connect through a Web server to the Siebel Server, which executes business logic and accesses data from the Siebel Database. Only the user interface layer of the Siebel Business Applications architecture resides on the user’s computer.

Siebel Mobile Web Client

Windows-based software containing Siebel applications and related services is installed on each client. The client also requires a Web browser.A local database and local Siebel File System are installed on each client.Applications access the local database.Users periodically synchronize the local database and Siebel File System with a remote Siebel Database and Siebel File System. Users synchronize data using Siebel Remote components of the Siebel Server. Mobile users synchronize with the remote Siebel Database and Siebel File System without going through the Web server or any other Siebel Server component.

Siebel Developer Web Client

Windows-based software containing Siebel applications and related services is installed on each client. The client also requires a Web browser.A direct connection is required to the Siebel Database. Appropriate

database client software must be installed on the client. This client can connect directly to the Siebel File System or connect through the File System Manager server component.

Siebel Wireless Client
The Siebel Wireless Client is a modified Siebel Web Client that runs on a mobile device. Users can view, edit, and create records in the Siebel Database through a wireless connection between a mobile device and a Web server. An Internet-enabled mobile phone, personal digital assistant, or other wireless device communicates with a wireless gateway server, which translates messages for display in a browser on the device.

Siebel Handheld Client
The Siebel Handheld Client is a streamlined version of the Mobile Web Client that runs on a handheld device. It includes only the functionality required by field technician end users. The Siebel Handheld Client supports the same data relationships, the same configuration in Siebel Tools, and much of the same functionality as the Siebel Mobile Web Client. Siebel Handheld runs on devices that support the Windows CE operating system.

Deployment Modes for Siebel Web Clients

There are two fundamental modes of deployment for a Siebel Web client:

• Standard interactivity
• High interactivity

The user interface characteristics of Siebel Business Applications, and the experience of your end

users, depends greatly on the interactivity mode in which you deploy your applications.Each Siebel application is preconfigured to use one of these deployment modes.

Standard Interactivity

The standard-interactivity client provides users of Siebel applications with a user experience similar

to that for users of traditional Web applications for customer applications, such as those for

consumers. The usability characteristics of this deployment mode are familiar to users of typical

consumer Web sites,such as eBay, Amazon, Flipkart.

Most user interactions in standard-interactivity deployment mode result in a page refresh. When

creating a new record, the user clicks the New button (which refreshes the page as the application

displays a new entry form), enters the relevant data, then clicks the Save or Submit button (which

again refreshes the page as the application re displays the original page). Similarly, when a user

browses through a list of records, the page refreshes each time a new record is selected.

High Interactivity

The high-interactivity client is designed to provide users of Siebel applications with a user experience similar to that for users of traditional GUI-based client applications, such as for Microsoft Windows.High interactivity reduces the number of page refreshes, compared to standard interactivity—when interacting with the application, browsing through records, and so on. This is made possible by making data-only updates from the Siebel Server, optimizing use of network bandwidth.

For example, a high-interactivity client does not require a page refresh for creating a new record. A user creates a new record by clicking the New button. A new row is created in a list dynamically, without a page refresh. The user enters the relevant data, then clicks outside of the record (“steps off of the record”) to implicitly commit the change—again, without a page refresh.

The high-interactivity framework provides performance and usability enhancements by taking advantage of capabilities supported by Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers. These capabilities include Document Object Model (DOM), Java, and ActiveX controls.

Siebel high-interactivity clients use a Siebel-specific remote procedure call (RPC) though HTTP or HTTPS, which is the fundamental communications channel for the client. The Siebel RPC sends and retrieves data over HTTP or HTTPS to and from the Siebel Server. There are no other communication channels in the Siebel high-interactivity client.

Web server

Client Web browsers connect to Web servers to access Siebel Business Applications.Supported Web servers and operating systems include:

•  Microsoft IIS (on Microsoft Windows)
•  IBM HTTP Server (on AIX and supported Linux operating systems)
•  HP Apache Web Server (on HP-UX)
•  Oracle HTTP Server (on supported Linux operating systems)
•  Sun Java System Web Server (on Sun Solaris)

Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE)

The Siebel Web Server Extension (SWSE) is a plug-in for supported third-party Web servers. It

identifies requests for Siebel application data coming from Web clients and flags these requests for

routing to a Siebel Server. When information is sent from the Siebel Server back to the Web client,

the SWSE helps complete the composition of the Web page for forwarding to the client.

The SWSE includes the Siebel native load balancing module. This module provides round-robin load

balancing for routing requests to Application Object Manager components running on Siebel Servers.