IRM – Incremental Repository Merge

Siebel CRM
1 | Laura Maia
© 2011 Oracle Corporation – Proprietary and Confidential
 Topics Covered
• What is IRM
• Incremental Repository Merge (IRM) - FAQ and Troubleshooting (Doc ID 1623495.2)
• What is the difference between a regular Siebel db upgrade and IRM
• Case Study: Reproducing a customer IRM execution with the customer repository
• When do we need to reproduce a customer IRM execution
• Asking Customer Repository of the current release (source release)
• Setting up an environment with the current customer release
• Importing the customer repository into the internal environment
• Synchronizing the customer repository with the physical standard database
• Installing the patch and patchset to which customer is upgrading
• Using the Upgrade Guide IP2015 > 13 > Performing the Siebel Incremental Repository Merge

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 What is IRM?
• Incremental Repository Merge (IRM) - FAQ and Troubleshooting (Doc ID 1623495.2)
• It was introduced to add schema changes while installing the Innovation packs.
• Innovation packs installation (migration) is not a matter of installing binaries only
• They contain changes in the Siebel schema that must me implemented in the database
• For example, customers with Siebel 8.1.1.10 that wants to apply Siebel 15, have to run IRM
• All customers with environments SIA 8.1.1.x installing Innovation packs have to run IRM.
• First IRM implemented was to update schema with 8.1.1.9 installation (manually executed)
• With patch 8.1.1.10, IRM started using the Database Configuration Wizard.

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 FAQ about IRM
• Incremental Repository Merge (IRM) - FAQ and Troubleshooting (Doc ID 1623495.2)

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 Difference between IRM and a regular Upgrade
• IRM is a simplified upgrade execution without major pre-upgrade and post upgrade tasks required by a regular upgrade

• Customers with Siebel versions other than SIA 8.1.1.x wanting to install a recent Innovation Pack have to run the regular
(full) upgrade.

• IRM has the same basic phases of a regular upgrade:

– Upgrep, Repository Merge and Upgphys

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 Difference between IRM and a regular Upgrade

• Upgrep - perform a basic upgrade of the Siebel database schema and load repositories to prepare for the repository
merge

• Repository merge - uses Siebel Tools to merge the existing customer repository with the repository in
the new release.

• Actually four repositories will participate of the repository merge process:

Prior Customer Repository, Prior Siebel Repository, New Siebel Repository, New Customer Repository

• Upgphys - upgrade the Siebel database with changes resulting from the repository merge and
complete the database upgrade.

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 Reproducing a customer IRM execution
• When do we need to reproduce a customer IRM execution?

It can be necessary if Technical Support is not able to find the root cause of a behavior that customer is facing
during the IRM execution

• Before deciding to reproduce, TSE must analyze carefully the customer IRM execution logs:

• Upgrep output folders (example : upgrep_dev_81110, upgrep_dev_81111, upgrep_prod_81111)

• IRM_MERGE*.TXT logs

• Upgphys output folders (example : upgphys_dev_81110, upgphys_dev_81111, upgphys_prod_81111)

• Use the Knowledge Base and look for similar errors or behavior. Check if there is a bug.

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 Reproducing a customer IRM execution
• Consult the upgrade team. Discuss the problem with other engineers. Send email to group sebl_irm_ww_grp. Expose
the situation, share information, logs and the investigation you have already made.

• Use Forum: Incremental Repository Merge http://myforums.oracle.com/jive3/forum.jspa?forumID=5498

• Check communities.oracle.com : maybe another customer faced the issue and other customer or engineer
suggested a resolution. Communities are not supposed to have TSE questions, only answers, but may help to know if
someone faced an issue that was not reported via sr.

• If no one and no document can explain, it is recommended to run the customer upgrade and see if the same occurs
internally.

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 Asking Customer Repository
• Ask customer to attach to the service request his Siebel (customized) Repository of the source release
• The appropriate image of the Prior Customer Repository is obtained from the database back up taken before starting the
IRM

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 Setting up customer environment
• Set up an environment with the current customer Siebel and database releases
• Go to Labs site and see if you find an image ready to be mounted:
• https://vcap-s2.us.oracle.com/portal/main.aspx?ContentID=9
• Choose a box with at least 6 gb of memory and request the specific image to be mounted
• The image should have the same RDBMS and release of customer environment
• Test the odbc connection and in case this is Oracle db, check if you tnsping the db alias.
• If more disk space is necessary, open a COLLAB CEL service request. Labs will add disk space to your machine.
• The same for database back ups. CEL will back up the database during the major IRM phases.

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 Importing the customer repository internally
• Download customer repository into a folder of the labs box
• Check if you can log in Tools accordingly pointing to the server database
• Rename the current Siebel Repository to something like Siebel Repository old
• Use the Database Configuration Wizard to import customer repository (with customer source env release).
• Import/Export Repository function
• Be sure customer has a unicode or non-unicode environment before starting.
• You may ask directly and/or check in the Upgrade logs. …… CFG Entry (Unicode Flag=Y)

• Unicode/non-unicode mismatch may cause a big mess in the Siebel environment. Be always sure about it before starting.

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 Synchronizing the cust rep with the physical db
• After successful Customer Repository import, rename it to Siebel Repository (if you have not imported already as Siebel Repository)
• Synchronize the Customer Repository with the physical standard database
• Run the Database Configuration Wizard > Run Database Utilities > Synchronize Schema Definition

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 Installing the patch and patchset of target env
• Go to Build locator: http://sdcbld73.us.oracle.com:7778/pls/apex/f?p=100:1:1398308490290297

• Choose CRM: Full Release / Fix Pack

• Since we are going to upgrade Siebel from 8.1.1.10 to 8.1.1.15 patchset 5, look for :

• Release 15.x and , version 15.0 and Release Type GA

• \\slcnas529.us.oracle.com\engfs02\8.2\patch\15.0SIA[23048]
• You will need your ORADEV user to connect to this driver

• Be sure Siebel server and Gateway server are shut down

• Apply the patch 15 in SES and Tools (for this training purpose…).

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 Installing the patch and patchset of target env
• Back to Build locator: http://sdcbld73.us.oracle.com:7778/pls/apex/f?p=100:1:1398308490290297

• Choose CRM: Quick Fix

• Since we are going to upgrade Siebel from 8.1.1.10 to 8.1.1.15 patchset 5, look for :

• Release 15.x and , version 15.5 , Quickfix PATCHSET5 and Release Type GA
• \\slcnas529.us.oracle.com\engfs02\8.1\quickfix\15.5SIA[23048]PATCHSET5
• You will need your ORADEV user to connect to this driver

• Be sure Siebel server and Gateway server are shut down

• Apply the patchset 5 in SES and Tools.

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 Using the Upgrade Guide IP2015
• Go to docs.oracle.com > Applications > Siebel > Siebel Business Applications > View Library of IP2015
• Individual Guides
• Locate the Upgrade Guide IP2015
• Open Chapter 13 > Performing the Siebel Incremental Repository Merge
• Let`s run IRM!
• Before starting : download the appropriate Tools srf (bug) and ancestor repository
• Ancestor Repositories can be found in edelivery, but we are going to copy them from an internal location: \\
sdc1003pil.us.oracle.com\software\siebel\8.2.2.4SIA[23030]\Ancestor Repository
• We are going to copy only the one we need in this case: the 8.1.1.10 repository file ( r81110.dat)
• Download rectified Tools srf from MOS > Patches and Updates > Patch # 22145965
• Move the srf to tools-root/objects/enu as siebel_sia.srf

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