14 Monitoring Siebel Application Performance with Siebel ARM

This chapter provides an overview of performance monitoring using the Siebel Application Response Measurement (Siebel ARM) feature. It contains the following topics:

For information about how to analyze the data that the Siebel ARM feature collects, see Chapter 15, "Analyzing Siebel ARM Data."

About Siebel Application Response Measurement

Siebel ARM is a framework for capturing critical performance data in Siebel Business Applications. This data is saved in binary file format. For information about how to analyze the data in these files, see Chapter 15, "Analyzing Siebel ARM Data."

Siebel ARM captures response times at key monitoring points within the Siebel Server infrastructure. These Siebel ARM monitoring points are classified in the following distinct areas within the Siebel infrastructure:

The Siebel ARM feature monitors system performance in the infrastructure and application-specific areas in the following list. The areas in Table 14-1 are listed as they appear in Siebel ARM output. The name in parentheses after the area name represents the area symbol, which also appears in Siebel ARM output. In this table, MWC represents the Mobile Web Client.

Table 14-1 Siebel Infrastructure and Application Areas Monitored by Siebel ARM

SARM Framework (SARM)

Assignment Manager (AM)

Fulfillment Engine (FSFULFILL)

Build Web Page (SWEPAGE)

Preventative Maintenance Engine (FSPREVMNT)

Web Server Plugin (SWSE)

Siebel Loyalty (LOY)

Database Connector (DBC)

Handheld Sync (HHSYNC)

Application Server (INFRA)

Siebel Anywhere (SIEBANYWHERE)

Communications Channel Manager (CSMM)

Request Broker (SRB)

Communications Server Service (CSS)

File System Manager (FSM)

Customer/Order Management - Configurator (COMCFG)

Business Service (BUSSRVC)

EAI Transports (EAITRANSP)

Email Response (EMR)

MWC Profiler (MWC)

Security / Authentication (SEC)

Communications Outbound Manager (COM)

Object Manager (OBJMGR)

Universal Inbox (UINBOX)

Siebel Repository (SRF)

Each area listed contains one or more subareas, which further define the timing and performance of their respective area. The number of areas and subareas present in Siebel ARM files depends on the granularity level, which is configured by the parameter SARM Granularity Level . For more information about this parameter, see "About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables". For more information about the format of Siebel ARM files, see "About Siebel ARM Files".

About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables

The following parameters on the Siebel Server and equivalent environment variables on the Web server enable and configure the Siebel ARM feature. The Siebel ARM parameters and environment variables are equivalent in function and similar in naming convention.

See Table 14-2 for a listing of each Siebel ARM parameter and its equivalent environment variable. Descriptions of each parameter and environment variable follow the table. For more information about enabling Siebel ARM using these parameters and environment variables, see "Enabling and Configuring Siebel ARM".

Table 14-2 Siebel ARM Parameters and Environment Variables

SARM Granularity Level

SARM Buffer Size

SARM Max Number of Files

SARM Data File Size

Not applicable for Siebel Server

Not applicable for Siebel Server

SARM Granularity Level

This parameter or equivalent environment variable specifies the amount of response measurement detail logged to Siebel ARM files, and effectively enables or disables the Siebel ARM feature. SARM Granularity Level has the following settings:

SARM Buffer Size

The Siebel ARM framework uses a buffered data generation mechanism. Siebel ARM collects data and stores it in memory. After the in-memory data size reaches a threshold defined by the SARM Buffer Size parameter or equivalent environment variable, Siebel ARM outputs the stored data to file on a physical disk. SARM Buffer Size is specified in bytes. The default value is 5000000 (5,000,000 bytes, approximately 5 MB). Valid settings correspond to values ranging from 100,000 bytes to 50,000,000 bytes.

For example, if the setting of SARM Buffer Size is 5 MB and there are five instances (processes) of the component, then the total memory used is 25 MB.

SARM Period

Siebel ARM collects data and stores it in memory. The time period specified by the SARM Period parameter or equivalent environment variable determines when Siebel ARM outputs the stored data to file on a physical disk regardless of the value set for SARM Buffer Size . The value of SARM Period is specified in minutes, and has a default value of 3 minutes. The valid settings range from 1 minute to 60 minutes.

SARM Max Number of Files

This parameter or equivalent environment variable specifies the maximum number of Siebel ARM files created per component instance. The default value is 4, and there is no predefined upper limit to the number of files Siebel ARM creates. ( SARM Data File Size configures how large a file becomes before a new file is stored on the physical disk.)

The number of active Siebel ARM files per component process is the value of SARM Max Number of Files plus 1. Siebel ARM removes the oldest file for that process only after the file representing SARM Max Number of Files plus 1 reaches the value of SARM Data File Size . For an example of how to calculate memory usage, see "SARM Data File Size".

SARM Data File Size

This parameter or equivalent environment variable specifies how large a file becomes before Siebel ARM stores data in a new file on the physical disk. The value of SARM Data File Size is specified in bytes. The default value is 15000000 (15,000,000 bytes, approximately 15 MB), and there is no predefined upper limit to file size.

Until the specified size is reached, Siebel ARM continues to append file segments to the current file. When the file limit is reached, Siebel ARM creates a new file. ( SARM Max Number of Files configures the number of files maintained by Siebel ARM.)

When Siebel ARM reaches the file number specified by SARM Max Number of Files (that is, the number of files of size SARM Data File Size has reached the value of SARM Max Number of Files ), Siebel ARM removes the first file (that is, the oldest file) when the next file reaches the SARM Data File Size limit.

Therefore, the maximum amount of disk space used is approximately SARM Max Number of Files plus 1 times the number of bytes represented by the value of SARM Data File Size . This amount of memory is per-process (per component instance).

For example, if SARM Data File Size is 15 MB, SARM Max Number of Files is 4, and there are 5 instances (processes) of the component, then the maximum amount of disk space consumed is approximately 375 MB; that is, 15 MB per file, times 5 files per process, times 5 processes (instances of the component).

SIEBEL_SARMThreshold Environment Variable

If you are using the Siebel ARM Analyzer Tool, then set the SIEBEL_SARMThreshold environment variable to 0 on the Web server computer. Otherwise, user session data will not be available to the Siebel ARM Analyzer Tool, and the XML output file will be blank.

Enabling and Configuring Siebel ARM

Enabling and configuring Siebel Application Response Measurement (Siebel ARM) involves two tasks:

Setting Siebel ARM Parameters on the Siebel Server

Perform the following procedure to enable and configure Siebel ARM on the Siebel Server. By default, Siebel ARM is disabled.

To enable and configure Siebel ARM an the Siebel Server

  1. Set the parameter SARM Granularity Level (alias SARMLevel ) to a value of 1 or 2 to enable Siebel ARM on the Siebel Server. You can enable Siebel ARM at either the enterprise, Siebel Server, or server component level. For more information about this parameter and its settings, see "About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables".
  2. Set the other Siebel ARM-related parameters to configure the Siebel ARM file characteristics on the Siebel Server. You can configure Siebel ARM at the Siebel Server or server component level. For more information about these parameters, see "About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables".

For more information about setting Siebel Server parameters using the Server Manager GUI or command-line interface, and for background information about parameter administration, see Siebel System Administration Guide .

Setting Siebel ARM Environment Variables on the Web Server

Perform the following procedure to enable and configure Siebel ARM on the Web server computer.

To enable and configure Siebel ARM on the Web server

  1. Set the environment variable SIEBEL_SARMLevel to a value of 1 or 2 to enable Siebel ARM on the computer hosting the Web server. For more information about this environment variables and its settings, see the description for SARM Granularity Level in "About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables".
  2. Set the other Siebel ARM-related environment variables to configure the Siebel ARM file characteristics on the computer hosting the Web server. For more information about these environment variables, see "About Siebel ARM Parameters and Variables".

For more information on setting environment variables on both Microsoft Windows and UNIX, see Siebel System Administration Guide .

Guidelines for Converting Siebel ARM File

Review the following information as recommendations when converting Siebel ARM files.

Tip: Use a third-party utility to concatenate Siebel ARM files on Windows. Use the command cat list_of_files > filename .sarm to concatenate Siebel ARM files on UNIX.
Note: Only concatenate Siebel ARM files of the same process.